Scottsdale, AZ Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Scottsdale's Zoning Ordinance sets the baseline single-family height limit at thirty (30) feet, spelled out almost word for word for the R1-43 (Sec. D), R1-35 (Sec. D), and R1-18 (Sec. D) districts: no building shall exceed that height except as provided in Article VII. Article VII carves out specific exceptions. Under Sec. 101, public, semi-public, or public service buildings, hospitals, and schools may rise to sixty (60) feet if the building steps back one additional foot from every yard line for each two feet of extra height, and churches, temples, and hospitals holding a use permit may reach seventy-five (75) feet under that same stepback formula.

Sec. 102 lets rooftop appurtenances, chimneys, church steeples, elevator bulkheads, water towers, stacks, and similar mechanical equipment climb to one hundred (100) feet if the equipment and its required screening cover no more than fifty percent of the roof, and lets nonresidential ornamental towers and spires reach sixty (60) feet, though no occupied space inside them may exceed the zone's regular maximum. A separate, stricter cap applies inside the Environmentally Sensitive Lands program: Sec. b limits every building in a single-family (R1) district, including the Foothills Overlay, to twenty-four (24) feet unless a Sec.

1022 exemption applies. On hillside landform, the cap drops to whichever is lower of the underlying district limit or thirty (30) feet, though the Development Review Board may approve up to forty (40) feet under Sec. d if the added height reduces visual impact and grading disturbance. A property owner seeking relief from any of these numeric limits must apply to the Board of Adjustment for a variance under Sec. 804, which requires proof of special circumstances tied to the lot itself and not self-created hardship.