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

Stanislaus County Code § 21.24.040, titled "Height limits," sets the vertical envelope for the R-A district, the county's baseline rural-residential zone applied to unincorporated land surrounding Modesto, Turlock, Ceres, Riverbank, Oakdale, Patterson, Newman, Waterford and Hughson. Subsection A states plainly: "Maximum of thirty-five feet for all buildings." That figure covers the primary residence as well as barns, shops and other accessory buildings on R-A parcels, and it sits alongside the district's other bulk standards in the same chapter, a minimum building site area that ranges from eight thousand square feet on public sewer and water up to three acres in estate-residential areas (§ 21.24.060), and front yard setbacks of forty to seventy feet from the street centerline depending on street classification (§ 21.24.080).

A property owner who wants to exceed thirty-five feet, for a barn with a taller roof pitch, a water tower, or an agricultural structure, must seek relief through the county's planning and community development department, since the code does not carve out an administrative exception within § 21.24.040 itself. The ordinance traces to Ord. CS 106 § 3 (1984) and was most recently amended by Ord. CS 1408 (effective December 9, 2025), so the thirty-five-foot cap is current law, not a superseded draft.