Rowlett, TX Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

1-1 of the Development Code (Sec. 5 stories, and MF-S apartments at 35 feet or 2 stories. MF-S carries an extra restriction under Note 7: any apartment building adjacent to land zoned single-family or two-family, or where existing single-family homes are one story, is limited to one story for a distance of 50 feet from that district boundary, a mandatory step-down meant to keep taller apartment massing away from smaller neighboring homes. Section 77-402(B) supplies two ways the flat district cap can move. First, a building may exceed its district's height limit if the owner enlarges the required rear-yard depth and side-yard width by one additional foot for every two feet the structure rises above the prescribed limit, an automatic trade rather than a discretionary variance.

Second, spires, belfries, cupolas, flagpoles, chimneys, antennas, HVAC equipment, elevator housings and stairwell towers are exempt from the numeric height cap outright, provided the appurtenance does not extend more than 25 feet above the maximum permitted building height, does not interfere with FAA Part 77 navigable-airspace rules, is not built to add usable floor area, and complies with the mechanical-equipment screening standard in Sec. 77-507. Height compliance is checked at building permit and certificate-of-occupancy review by the planning department under Chapter 77-800.