Valencia County, NM Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

105(F)(7) sets the height standards for the Rural Residential Districts (RR-1 and RR-2) that cover most of unincorporated Valencia County outside the agricultural, commercial and natural-resource districts. Any dwelling is capped at 30 feet, while non-residential structures on the same parcel can rise to 45 feet. That 45-foot ceiling drops to 35 feet specifically for accessory structures sited on a parcel smaller than 10 acres, tying the height allowance to how much land backs up the accessory building. The section carves out a list of rooftop appurtenances that are not counted toward any of these limits at all: spires, belfries, cupolas, antennas, water tanks, ventilators, chimneys and wind generators can extend above the capped height because they are not intended for human occupancy.

The height rule sits alongside the district's other standards in the same subsection (F), including density, parcel size, setbacks, parcel coverage, access and off-street parking, adopted and most recently amended by Ordinance 2021-02 on 7-21-2021. A property owner planning a two-story home or an oversized barn on a small RR parcel needs to check both the 30/45-foot dwelling-versus-structure split and the 10-acre threshold before pulling a building permit from the county.