Putnam County, FL Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Sec. 45-501's Table 7.02A sets a flat 35-foot maximum building height for the RE, R-1, R-1A, R-1HA, R-2, R-2HA, R-3, RMH, CPO, C-1, C-2, AE and A districts, covering nearly every single-family and mobile-home zone in unincorporated Putnam County. The R-4 multifamily district and the C-3, C-4, IL and IH districts instead allow a 45-foot base height that can extend as high as 105 feet, but only if the building trades the extra height for room: the front, rear and side setbacks in those districts each grow by one foot for every two feet the structure rises above 45 feet, and the corner-side setback in R-4 grows by five feet for every five feet of added height.

Sec. 45-503(d) defines how height is measured, from the average ground elevation at the front wall to the highest point of a flat roof, the deck line of a mansard roof, or the average between the eave and ridge of a gable, hip or gambrel roof, and from the base flood elevation instead of grade inside a mapped flood zone. Steeples, clock towers and smokestacks can be excluded from the height count if the feature is typical for the use, does not exceed twice the district's height limit, and is set back from every property line by a distance equal to its own height.

A property owner who wants to build above the table's number without qualifying for one of these exceptions has to go to the zoning board of adjustment for a variance under article IX, division 4.