Oxnard, CA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Section 16-303(A) sets the baseline rule that runs through the whole zoning chapter: no building can be erected, reconstructed, or structurally altered to exceed its zone's height limit, measured from average finished grade within five feet of the building. Subsection (B) lets publicly or semi-publicly owned buildings, such as schools, hospitals, and churches, exceed their zone's limit up to six stories or 75 feet, whichever is lower, but only with a special use permit, and the required front, side, and rear yards must then grow by one additional foot for every four feet the building rises above the normal limit.

Subsection (C) allows penthouses, roof equipment housings, parapet and fire walls, skylights, towers, flagpoles, and chimneys to rise above the height limit, but bars using that extra space for additional floor area. Subsection (D) exempts antennas: in residential zones, satellite receiving dishes cap out at 15 feet above grade, other television antennas at 30 feet above the roof ridge, and radio antennas such as citizens band or amateur radio at 75 feet above grade; commercial and industrial zones apply the same height limit as the underlying building unless a special use permit allows more.

As a reference point for an actual zone limit under this citywide rule, Section 16-260 caps the C-R Community Reserve zone at two stories and 25 feet.