Victorville | Parking, Setbacks and Height

Victorville Parking, Setbacks and Height: Garages, Apartment Parking, Yards and Height Limits

Three sets of numbers decide how much fits on a Victorville lot: the parking count in Article 21 of the Development Code, the setbacks (the required open distance between a building and each property line) and the height limits, both in Table 8-2. This page sets out all three for houses, urban dwelling units and apartments, along with the rules for garages, recreational vehicles, accessory buildings, fences and the parts of a house that may reach into a setback. The Victorville overview gives the short version.

Parking Counts

Source: Victorville Municipal Code Table 21-1 in Sec. 16-3.21.030.

When the math gives a fraction, "any fraction up to and including one-half shall be disregarded and any fraction over one-half shall be adjusted to the next higher number." As a worked example (VanPlex arithmetic), a fourplex of two bedroom units needs 8 tenant spaces, 4 of them covered, plus 4 divided by 3, or 1.33, visitor spaces, which rounds down to 1. The table has no separate row for a duplex built outside SB 9, so ask the Planning Division which row it applies. In the mixed use districts, homes use the multi-family counts, and visitor parking may be met with commercial parking when the site plan is reviewed.

Table 21-1 waives parking for an urban dwelling unit "within one-half mile walking distance of a high-quality transit corridor" or a major transit stop, or "if a car share vehicle is located within one block of the parcel." State law reaches further. Government Code 65863.2 says a public agency "shall not impose or enforce any minimum automobile parking requirement on a residential, commercial, or other development project if the project is located within one-half mile of public transit," unless it makes written findings within 30 days of a complete application. Where a project qualifies, the statute controls over the Victorville table.

Garages, Driveways and Where Cars Go

• House garage. The clear area of a garage or carport for a house must be at least "eighteen feet in width and twenty feet in length."
• Urban dwelling unit space. "nine feet in width and twenty feet in length."
• Driveways. At least sixteen feet wide to a two-car garage with side-by-side parking, and nine feet for tandem parking, which is one car behind the other. The Zoning Administrator may allow a nine-foot driveway, except within twenty feet of the garage, when the lot's size or shape makes the wider one "impractical and unreasonable."
• Detached garages. A driveway to required parking in an accessory building must be at least twenty feet long from the garage to the property line. A garage reached from an alley must sit at least ten feet from the property line.
• Apartment lots. Stalls and aisles follow the non-residential figures, and two-way drive aisles must be at least twenty-six feet wide. Compact spaces do not count toward required parking.
• Front yards. "No parking space for a residential use shall occupy any part of a required front yard," or the required street side yard of a corner lot.
• Other vehicles. On a single-family lot, a vehicle must be on a driveway that leads to a garage or side yard, or behind a wall or fence at least five feet tall. Tractor-trailers, 18-wheelers and cabs may not be parked or stored on residential property.
• Recreational vehicles. Allowed on a developed lot if kept out of the front yard, owned by the owner or tenant, behind a view-obstructing fence, wall or gate, and not used as living quarters.

An existing house that lacks the parking the code now requires may still grow: "A dwelling in an R district which is nonconforming with respect to off-street parking may be structurally altered, enlarged or extended," if the addition meets the code and the number of homes does not increase.

Setbacks and Height by District

Source: Victorville Municipal Code Table 8-2 in Sec. 16-3.08.020. AE requires 25 feet in front, 10 feet on the sides, 20 feet at the rear and allows 35 feet of height.

Table 8-2 prints the S-R and R-1 interior side yards as "5 & 10," which reads as 5 feet on one side and 10 on the other; note 8 encourages "larger side yard setbacks of 12 feet or more" on the driveway side so a recreational vehicle can reach the back yard. In R-1, note 10 requires "A minimum of 15 feet, of the required 20 foot rear yard setback" to be usable area. S-R also requires 15 feet between homes. The code's definition of a yard adds that each yard needs "a minimum usable area abutting the primary structure equal to the required setback dimension."

Height is "the vertical distance from the average finished ground level of the site to the highest point of the structure." In R-2, R-3 and R-4 and the mixed use districts, "No principal building shall exceed a height of one story when located within one hundred feet of an existing single-family residence." At the third story and above, those districts also require 10 foot setbacks facing property lines and 5 feet facing interior space, and upper floors may not exceed 85 percent of the floor below. Within 150 feet of Highway 18 or 395, homes are one story unless a noise study finds another way to meet the noise limits; the desert design and site rules page has that rule.

Some features may exceed the limit. Chimneys and church spires are exempt, antennas may rise ten feet above a building, and a flag pole on a single-family lot may be twenty feet tall.

What May Reach Into a Setback

• Eaves and fireplaces. Cornices, eaves and fireplaces may project two feet. Eaves beyond two feet need Zoning Administrator approval.
• Porches and stairs. An uncovered stair, landing or porch no higher than the ground floor may project six feet into a front or rear yard and two feet into a side yard.
• Patios. An unenclosed patio attached to the house may project ten feet into the rear yard "provided, a minimum of ten feet is maintained between the rear property line(s) and the patio." In the infill overlay, the remaining distance drops to five feet on qualifying lots.
• Older side yards. An addition to a house with a nonconforming side yard may extend along that side as long as it does not project past the existing setback.

Accessory Buildings, Fences and Coverage

An accessory structure is a building that serves the main home, such as a garage, workshop or pool house. In S-R and R-1 it may be 10 feet tall; one taller than 10 feet must meet the main house setbacks and may not be taller than the house or thirty feet. The limit is 15 feet in R-2, R-3, R-4, MDR and R-MPD, and 20 feet in AE. Except on multi-family sites, accessory structures sit at or behind the front wall of the house and stay at seven feet or less within five feet of a side or rear line. Size is capped at "400 square feet in floor area or 40% of the square footage of the main building," whichever is greater, and all of them together at 20 percent of the rear yard. Each must use the roof pitch, style, materials and colors of the house "at the discretion of the Zoning Administrator."

Fences and walls in rear and side yards may be 7 feet tall in AE, S-R, R-1, MDR and R-MPD, and 6 feet in R-2, R-3 and R-4, where the Zoning Administrator may allow up to 8 feet for documented safety problems. In front yards, garden walls and railings that do not enclose the yard may be 3 feet tall with 4 foot pilasters. Lot coverage in the mixed use districts is 40 percent in MU-1 and 50 percent for homes in MU-2, and 50 percent in the infill overlay.

If a setback or parking count is off by a small amount, the Zoning Administrator may approve a minor deviation: "A reduction in lot size or the dimension of any property line or yard not exceeding ten percent," a coverage increase of one tenth of the limit, or a ten percent change in required parking. Owners of adjacent property are notified first, and the decision may be appealed to the Planning Commission. Larger changes need a variance, which the Planning Commission decides after a public hearing.

Where the Tables Are Hard to Read

Two parts of Table 8-2 do not read cleanly in the published code. The lot coverage row prints "40% | 50% | 40%" in merged cells across the nine district columns, so the text alone does not show which percentage belongs to which district; ask the Planning Division for the coverage that applies to your zone before you set a building footprint. The table also carries an empty column headed "A" that matches no district in Section 16-3.06.010. Lot coverage is the share of the lot covered by roofed buildings at ground level. ADUs and SB 9 homes have their own setback rules, 4 feet at the side and rear, on the ADUs and SB 9 page.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Victorville overview, the duplex to fourplex guide and the lot eligibility page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)