El Paso | Zoning Districts

El Paso Zoning Districts: What Each District Allows and How Rezoning Works

El Paso zones every lot inside the city limits. Title 20 of the El Paso Municipal Code assigns each lot to a district, and a use table in its Appendix A says which kinds of homes each district allows. This page lists the 15 residential districts, shows what the table allows in each, and explains how an owner asks the City to change a lot's district. The El Paso overview gives the short version.

How El Paso Groups Its Districts

Section 20.06.010 divides "all property within the Corporate Limits" into zoning districts and sorts them into four classes: residential, commercial, industrial and manufacturing, and special purpose. The residential class has three groups. The table below lists the 15 residential districts the section names.

Source: El Paso Municipal Code, Section 20.06.010, Supplement 95 Update 4.

The district boundaries are drawn on the "Official Zoning Map Series, City of El Paso, Texas." Under Section 20.06.030 the planning division keeps the maps on a geographical information system (a digital map), and the original series is dated June 5, 2007. Section 20.06.080 says all property in the city limits sits in one of the districts and must meet that district's rules. The same section adds a rule that matters when a use is missing from the table: "uses not specifically listed are prohibited."

Reading the Use Table

Section 20.08.020 explains the letters in each cell of the Appendix A table. A use with a "P" is allowed by right, which means the City issues permits when the plans meet the written rules, with no hearing. The other letters add a step:

• A is an accessory use, allowed by right when it is "incidental to a permitted use," such as a second unit behind a house.
• S is a special permit use, allowed only with a special permit and a detailed site development plan approved by City Council.
• D is a restricted use, allowed in a special purpose district (other than the R-F Ranch and Farm District) after a detailed site development plan is approved.
• Z is a mixed use, allowed in the R-MU, G-MU or I-MU districts after City Council approves a master zoning plan.
• E is a special exception use, allowed only by a special exception from the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
• X means the use is not allowed in that district.

A detailed site development plan is a scaled drawing of the buildings, parking, drainage and landscaping on a site. A master zoning plan is a larger document that sets the uses, the maximum number of homes and the lot rules for a whole mixed use district.

What Each District Allows

The rows below come from five lines of the Appendix A table: single-family detached dwelling (13.31), accessory dwelling unit (13.35), duplex (13.09), single-family attached dwelling (13.30) and apartment/multifamily residential (13.02). A single-family attached dwelling is the code's name for atrium houses, patio houses and townhouses.

Source: El Paso Municipal Code, Title 20, Appendix A, rows 13.02, 13.09, 13.22, 13.30, 13.31 and 13.35, as amended by Ord. No. 019815 of November 18, 2025.

The table shows where El Paso draws its lines. The five lowest-density districts allow one house and one accessory dwelling unit (ADU), a small second home on the same lot. R-4 and R-5 add the duplex and the townhouse. Every A district allows all five housing types. The apartment row is the one that covers a triplex or fourplex, as the next sections explain.

The Light Density Districts: R-1 to R-5

Section 20.06.020 says the light residential districts aim to "maintain a low density of dwelling units" and "will permit primarily single-family and two-family residential areas." Two-family means a duplex. The R-1 to R-3A districts allow the single-family half of that sentence, and R-4 and R-5 allow both halves.

The districts differ in lot size. Appendix B, the table of density and dimensional standards, sets the smallest lot for a house at 20,000 square feet in R-1, 10,000 in R-2, 8,000 in R-2A, 6,000 in R-3, 5,000 in R-3A, 6,000 in R-4 and 4,500 in R-5. A duplex needs 7,000 square feet in R-4 and 6,000 in R-5. Every one of these districts has a 35-foot height limit for a house. The lot size page gives the widths and depths.

A Ranch and Farm (R-F) property is a special case. Section 20.10.030 permits "a maximum of two single-family dwelling units" on a farm or ranch of six to twenty-five acres when both are for year-round operators or workers, and one more unit for each additional twenty-five acres.

The Apartment Districts: A-1 to A-M

Section 20.06.020 says the medium districts permit "a mixture of housing types" and building types designed as a "transition from areas of low density residential neighborhoods to other residential areas." The high districts allow "the highest densities within the city" through "multi-story facilities." Density is the number of homes allowed per acre of land.

In Appendix B every A district has a row for "Apartments and Mixed Use Residential Development" with a "maximum of 145 units per acre" and a 45-foot height limit. The smallest site for apartments is 24,000 square feet in A-1, 6,000 in A-2, A-O, A-3/O and A-M, and 4,000 in A-3 and A-4. A single house in A-3 or A-4 needs 2,400 square feet. The names of A-O and A-3/O pair apartments with offices, and the use table also allows a manufactured home park in A-M.

The code's definitions decide which row a building falls under. Section 20.02.074 defines an "apartment/multifamily residential building" as "a building or part of a building containing three or more attached or detached dwelling units," and Sections 20.02.1120 and 20.02.760 send the reader from "triplex" and "quadraplex" to that definition. Ordinance No. 019815 amended all three definitions on November 18, 2025. The three or more homes page covers those projects.

Homes in Commercial and Special Purpose Districts

Apartments are a "P" use in C-OP and in C-1 to C-5, and Appendix B gives C-1 and C-2 the same 145 units per acre as the A districts. A detached house is an "X" in every commercial district. Section 20.22.050 lets a dwelling that already stands in a commercial or manufacturing district stay, as long as it keeps the yards and parking it had when it became nonconforming, which means it no longer fits the district's list of uses.

The special purpose districts work by plan. Section 20.06.020 describes S-D, the Special Development District, as a way to allow mixed uses "in certain older residential areas," which it defines as areas developed for at least twenty-five years. P-R I and P-R II are planned residential districts at lower and higher densities, and SRR is the Special Residential Revitalization District. In those four districts a house, duplex or townhouse needs an approved detailed site development plan. Section 20.10.360 says that in S-D a site plan is not required for detached houses, apartments or mixed-use residential projects that meet the Chapter 20.12 standards. The two parts of the code differ here: Appendix A marks a house in S-D with a "D," while Section 20.10.360 waives the site plan for a house that meets Chapter 20.12. The code does not say which one controls, so ask the planning division before you skip the site plan.

R-MU, G-MU and I-MU are the mixed use districts. Section 20.04.200 requires a master zoning plan with any zoning application for a mixed use district, and the plan must state the maximum number of dwelling units. Appendix B sets the smallest district at 1 acre for R-MU and 3 acres for G-MU and I-MU, and lets City Council approve a smaller one. NOS (Natural Open Space) land "shall remain undeveloped" except as Title 20 allows, and PMD (Planned Mountain Development) has its own rules, covered on the infill, historic and mountain page.

Asking the City to Rezone a Lot

A rezoning changes the district on the official map. Article VI of Chapter 20.04 sets the steps:

• Who may apply. An owner of property. "A contract to purchase real estate shall not enable a person to request an amendment" (Sec. 20.04.360).
• Completeness. The executive secretary tells the applicant whether the application is complete and whether it conforms with the comprehensive plan. An application left incomplete for three months is dismissed (Sec. 20.04.390).
• Commission hearing. The planning official schedules a City Plan Commission hearing 15 to 45 days after a complete application and fee arrive, and mails notice to owners within 300 feet 10 to 30 days before it (Sec. 20.04.400).
• Recommendation. The commission's report goes to City Council for introduction within sixty days, and the applicant may ask for sixty more. After a recommendation to deny, the applicant has fifteen days to appeal to Council (Sec. 20.04.430).
• Council vote. Council may follow the commission by majority vote. Overruling a commission recommendation to deny takes "a majority vote of all members of the city council" (Sec. 20.04.450).
• Waiting period. A denied property may not be refiled for twelve months unless the commission finds a substantial change in conditions (Sec. 20.04.470).

Section 20.04.520 sets the form of notice. Mailed notices must include the information "in both English and Spanish," on a letter or a postcard of at least five and one-half by eight and one-half inches. If an apartment building sits within the 300 feet, its property manager also gets notice. Notice of the Council hearing is published in a newspaper and posted on the City website at least fifteen days before the hearing, and an applicant must post signs on a site of one acre or more.

Neighbor Protests After HB 24

Section 20.04.460 was amended by Ordinance No. 019807 on October 14, 2025 and now says that in a protest, "the procedure outlined in and the law set out in Section 211.0061 of the Texas Local Government Code, and as amended, shall be applicable." That state section was rewritten by HB 24 in 2025.

Under Local Government Code 211.0061, a protest must be written and signed. When a change "has the effect of allowing more residential development" and adds no commercial or industrial uses beyond a first floor that is 35 percent or less of the project, the protest needs owners of at least 60 percent of the land within 200 feet, and the change then needs "a majority of all members of the governing body." For other changes the test is 20 percent of the land, and approval takes three-fourths of all Council members. Streets and alleys count in the land area.

Special Permits, Variances and Older Lots

A use marked "S" needs a special permit from City Council. Under Section 20.04.260 the City Plan Commission has forty-five days to recommend approval or disapproval of a complete application, and the applicant has fifteen days to appeal a recommendation to deny. Section 20.04.320 lists eight findings Council must make, among them that the project "is compatible with adjacent structures and uses" and is adequately served by the public improvements and rights-of-way, the public land used for streets and utility lines. Section 20.04.270 lets Council approve a special permit for a planned residential development of at least one acre with lots up to twenty-five percent smaller than the district minimum.

A variance is permission to depart from a written rule because of the land's conditions. Section 20.04.050 gives the Zoning Board of Adjustment authority to "hear and finally decide appeals and applications for variances and special exceptions," and appeals from the board go "directly to the district court."

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the El Paso overview, how Texas zoning works, and HB 24 zoning protests.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)