Fort Worth | Zoning Districts

Fort Worth Zoning Districts: One-Family, Two-Family, Townhouse, Multifamily and Urban Residential

In Fort Worth the zoning district of a lot decides how many homes it may hold. Zoning is the set of City rules that splits land into districts and says what may be built in each. Seven one-family districts allow one house on a lot. The B district allows a duplex, R1 and R2 allow small lots and townhouses, and CR, C, D and UR allow apartments. This page lists each district with the number of homes, the lot it needs, and how to change it. The Fort Worth overview gives the short version.

Where the Rules Are Written

Fort Worth's zoning rules are Ordinance No. 21653, which the City Code prints as Appendix A. The City's Zoning Ordinance page says the ordinance "is available through American Legal Publishing," a code publisher whose website answered every VanPlex script with an access-denied error. VanPlex did not try to get around that block. The rules on this page come from the City's own files instead: the district summary, adopted ordinances, Board of Adjustment agendas that quote each rule a case asks to change, and zoning staff reports filed with the City Council. Each table names its source.

The City's Zoning 101 presentation says "The entire zoning ordinance is over 500 pages" and "Each zoning district has its own Section with basic setbacks and other standards." The residential district sections run from 4.701 to 4.713 in Chapter 4, Article 7, as the Board agendas and the ordinances below cite them. The same page tells an owner to find the district on the City's zoning map first, then read Chapter 4 for lot size and yards and the use tables for what may be built.

The Residential Districts

The Summary of Zoning Districts, marked "Rev. 5/26/26," lists each district in one line. The table below joins that summary with the lot widths the Board of Adjustment agendas quote and the densities in the multifamily ordinances.

Source: zoning district summary (Rev. 5/26/26); lot widths from Board of Adjustment agendas of February 18 and April 15, 2026; CR, C and D from Ordinance No. 23495-12-2018; UR from the 2021 UR text.

How Many Homes Each District Allows

One-family districts. The summary describes A-2.5A, A-43, A-21, A-10, A-7.5 and A-5 as "One-family detached dwellings" and AR as "One-family detached zero-lot line dwellings." A zero lot line house sits on one side lot line with no side yard on that side. In 2022 City staff explained why a guest house on Watson Street needed a rezoning: "Accessory dwellings are allowed in “A-10” if they do not contain a kitchen or 220 v plug." The guest house had a kitchen, so staff counted it as "a second unit," and the owner needed a Planned Development. VanPlex found no City document that states the rule for the other one-family districts. The ADU and duplex page covers that rule.

B Two-Family. The B district allows one-family and two-family homes, "detached and attached." Two attached homes need a 5,000 square foot lot, and two detached homes on one lot need 7,500 square feet.

R1 Zero Lot Line/Cluster. R1 allows a detached house on 3,000 square feet, a zero lot line house on 2,500 square feet, and "two-family attached zero lot line" homes on 2,500 square feet. In a June 9, 2026 staff report, the case manager wrote that R1 "is intended to allow houses with a 0-foot side yard or housing clustered around a common access road" and that "Single-family houses, zero-lot line houses on 3,000 square foot lots, or duplexes are allowed by right in the requested “R1” zoning." By right means allowed with a permit, with no hearing.

R2 Townhouse/Cluster. R2 allows "One-family attached townhouse / rowhouse dwellings" with at least 15 percent open space, an average of 24 homes per acre, and building fronts no longer than 250 feet. A townhouse is a home that shares side walls with its neighbors and sits on its own lot.

CR, C and D. These three districts allow multifamily buildings, which the zoning ordinance defines as buildings "containing or aggregating three or more one-family dwelling units." The 2018 rewrite set 16, 24 and 32 homes per acre. The City's building permit form adds one more line: "Apartments (3 or more dwelling units on a lot) are Considered Commercial Construction." A triplex therefore goes through the commercial permit process.

UR Urban Residential. The summary calls UR "Higher density, residential only, form-based development" for the edges of mixed-use areas, with a "Height range 2-3 stories with available height bonus to 4 stories." A form-based code is a set of rules that controls the shape and placement of buildings more than their use. The 2021 UR text lists houses, duplexes, townhouses, manor houses, garden apartments, cottage courts and apartments. The townhouse and multifamily page gives its numbers.

How the Use Tables Work

Fort Worth calls its system "Partially Cumulative Zoning." The Zoning 101 slides say "Lower-density residential is allowed in higher-density residential districts" and "Commercial uses are allowed industrial districts," and then add: "Residential uses are not permitted in non- residential districts because they’re different types of land use." So a house may be built in a C district, but before 2026 an apartment could not be built in an E commercial district without a rezoning.

The use tables mark each cell with one of four results:

• P. "Permitted use in respective zoning district," which may still have extra standards.
• SE. "Permitted only as a Special Exception," a use the Board of Adjustment approves after a hearing.
• CUP. "Permitted only under the approval of a CUP," a Conditional Use Permit added to one site through a zoning case, with a site plan.
• Blank. "An empty cell indicates that a use is not allowed in the respective zoning district."

An asterisk next to a use sends the reader to Chapter 5, the supplemental standards for that use. The 2026 state law changes were written into these tables. Ordinance No. 28525-05-2026 added "Small Lot Housing" to the residential table in all seven one-family districts, and Ordinance No. 28597-06-2026 added two new uses with a "P*" in the ER, E, FR, F, G and H commercial columns.

Mixed-Use, Form-Based and Special Districts

MU-1 and MU-2. The summary describes MU-1 as "Low Intensity Mixed Use" with a "Maximum height 3-5 stories" and MU-2 as "High Intensity Mixed-use" with "Maximum height 5-10 stories." Houses are no longer a use by right in either. Ordinance No. 27822-06-2025, adopted on June 24, 2025, removed "One-Family Detached Dwelling As A Use Allowed By Right in MU-1 And MU-2." The staff report says the 2021 design standards had already dropped the house type, but the use table still listed it, and "applicants seeking to build one- family detached dwellings in MU-1 and MU-2 districts encountered confusion."

Form-based districts. Camp Bowie (CB), Near Southside (NS), Panther Island (PI), Trinity Lakes (TL) and Berry/University (BU) each have their own code, and each is "Subject to review by Urban Design Commission," a City board that approves building designs in those areas.

PD Planned Development. The summary calls PD a "Special district permitting specific residential, commercial, industrial and mixed uses, normally requiring site plan approval prior to development." The Zoning 101 slides add that a PD is a change of zoning district that "cannot revert." Fort Worth owners use PDs to get more homes than the base district allows: Council records show PD/A-5 districts for A-5 uses "plus three units on one lot" and "plus four residential units on one lot."

CF, MH and AG. CF Community Facilities covers churches, schools and government offices; MH covers manufactured housing parks and subdivisions; AG covers farms and ranches. Ordinance No. 28525-05-2026 removed "Government Office Facility" from CF because, in the staff report's words, "Allowing office uses in “CF” makes it susceptible to the requirements of SB840 and HB 2477." The change keeps CF land out of SB 840.

Changing the Zoning of a Lot

The Zoning Ordinance page says "Only the City Council may rezone property, following public notice and public hearings in front of the Zoning Commission and the City Council itself." The City's training slides set out the order. The application deadline is "Typically, the 1st Monday of the month." The Zoning Commission hears the case on the "2nd Wednesdays at 1 p.m." and makes a recommendation. The Council then hears it and the "Ordinance is adopted or denied in one reading." The City's review page gives "Zoning Change - 3 months from the monthly application deadline."

Notice. Ordinance No. 28526-05-2026, adopted May 12, 2026, rewrote Sec. 3.502. Owners within 300 feet get written notice at least ten days before the Commission hearing. At least one sign goes on each lot ten days before that hearing, at least "twenty-four (24) inches by forty-eight (48) inches." The Council hearing is published "one time in the official newspaper" and "on the city’s Internet website at least 15 days before the hearing." If a sign is missing, the hearing is continued, but not more than two times.

How staff judge a case. Each staff report rates land use compatibility and consistency with the Comprehensive Plan's Future Land Use Map. The Zoning Commission and the Council can disagree with staff. At 3524 and 3528 Frazier Court, the owner asked to go from A-5 to R1 to build duplexes. Staff recommended denial; the Commission recommended "Approval as Amended to “B” by a vote of 10-0"; and on June 9, 2026 the Council denied the case 11 to 0. At 4609 McCart Avenue the Commission recommended denial of A-5 to B, and the Council approved B 11 to 0 on December 9, 2025.

Source: Ordinance No. 26-28781, adopted September 15, 2026, in force October 1, 2026, City Code Sec. 2-321. The fee doubles when "double noticing and special city council consideration is required or requested."

Protests and Council Votes

A protest is a signed objection by nearby owners that raises the number of Council votes a rezoning needs. The state rule is Local Government Code 211.0061, in force since September 1, 2025 (HB 24). It keeps two protests. Under 211.0061(b)(1), owners of "at least 20 percent of the area of the lots or land covered by the proposed change" can still force a vote of "three-fourths of all members of the governing body," for any change. Under 211.0061(b)(3), for a change that "has the effect of allowing more residential development" and adds no commercial or industrial use beyond a limited first floor, a protest by owners of the adjoining land within 200 feet needs "at least 60 percent" of that land, and the change then needs "a majority of all members of the governing body."

Fort Worth's Council has 11 votes: the Mayor and members for Districts 2 to 11, and its 2026 zoning votes were recorded as 11 to 0. By VanPlex arithmetic, three-fourths of all members is 9 votes and a majority of all members is 6. The City's August 19, 2025 briefing to the Council summed up HB 24 as "Changes protest requirements from 20% to 60% within 200 feet if the proposed change would allow more residential uses." That summary leaves out the 20 percent protest by owners of the land in the change, which the statute keeps. The statute controls. See the HB 24 page for the full rule.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Fort Worth overview and how Texas zoning works.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)