Grand Prairie | Townhomes and Apartments

Grand Prairie Townhomes and Apartments: SF-T, 3 and 4 Family Buildings, MF Districts and SB 840

Grand Prairie has four ways to put three or more homes on land: a 3 and 4 family building, townhouses on their own lots, hybrid housing built to rent, and apartments. Each has its own district list in the Unified Development Code (UDC) and its own design rules in Appendix W. Since September 2025, apartments can also go on commercial land under SB 840, with extra standards in Appendix S. This page sets out each path and the places where the City's own documents disagree. The Grand Prairie overview has the summary.

Triplexes and Fourplexes

The Article 4 use chart has a row for "3 & 4 FAMILY." It is permitted by right in SF-A, SF-T, MF-1, MF-2, MF-3 and MR, and in MU and seven commercial districts with note 14, which applies the SB 840 rules. Article 30 defines the two building types:

• A three-family dwelling (triplex) is "a detached building having three dwelling units," for no more than three families or eighteen boarders or lodgers, and no more than eighteen unrelated people in all.
• A four-family dwelling (fourplex) is "a detached building having four dwelling units," for no more than four families. It may not house more than eighteen unrelated people, and "no individual unit may be resided in by six (6) or more persons unrelated by marriage, blood, or adoption."

In SF-A, Table 6B sets the front yard at 30 feet for "3-4 UNITS," against 25 feet for one or two units, and keeps the SF-A minimum of 4,000 square feet of lot per unit. By VanPlex arithmetic, a fourplex in SF-A needs 16,000 square feet of land at that rate. A building of three or more units is a multi-family dwelling under Article 30, which defines it as a building "occupied as a home or residence of three or more families," so Sec. 6.13.2 lets such a project place more than one building on a lot when each meets the district rules.

Townhouses in SF-T

Article 3 describes SF-T as "medium density single-family attached dwellings" in which "each dwelling unit is situated on a separately platted lot of record, where the property line runs coincident with the common firewall separating the units." SF-T allows a mix of sizes: up to 30 percent of lots and homes may be smaller than the standard. Lots next to a collector or arterial street must be at least 3,300 square feet and 30 feet wide.

Source: Grand Prairie UDC Article 6, Table 6B (September 2, 2025, PDF page 23). Both columns set a 10-foot rear yard (20 feet on an arterial) and a 15-foot side yard on a street.

Section 4 of Appendix W adds the design rules. Developers are "encouraged" to face front yards toward streets, with back yards facing each other or an alley. A mandatory property owners association or public improvement district must maintain common elements, including screening, common landscaping, common building exteriors and roofs, and "front yards of individual units." Its documents are filed before the final plat, a step that "may be waived for infill development of four units or fewer." Each townhouse lot needs access to a public street or a private drive held as a separate lot by the association.

Parking for townhouses follows Sec. 10.7.5: "a minimum of two (2) garage spaces for each unit with two (2) or more bedrooms," one for a single-bedroom unit, garages connected to the living area unless the City Council approves otherwise, and front-entry garages set back at least 12 inches from the front wall. The Article 10 schedule adds guest parking at one space for every five units in townhouse complexes. Under Appendix W, Section 1.I.C, a site plan is required for any single-family attached or townhouse development of four or more lots or units, approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council.

Hybrid Housing Built to Rent

Article 30 defines "Dwelling, Hybrid Housing (build to rent)" as "a dwelling, single family attached or townhouse, designed and constructed specifically for rent and located on a single lot or tract with multiple other units." The homes look like townhouses but stay on one lot under one owner. The use chart permits hybrid housing in SF-T, and in MU, O, NS, GR, GR-1, C, C-1 and CA under note 14. Appendix W requires that hybrid housing developments "contain security gates at all entrances," with a turnaround before the gate, and that every unit reach a private internal drive in a mutual access easement owned by the property owners association. Parking is the townhouse rule: two garage spaces for each unit with two or more bedrooms.

Apartments in MF-1, MF-2 and MF-3

Article 3 places apartment districts "adjacent to arterials capable of carrying the additional traffic" and says "multi-family developments are not a buffer between single-family and commercial uses." The number of units per building is set at site plan review, and "total number of one-bedroom units shall not exceed more than 60% of all units in a complex." Table 6C sets the dimensions:

Source: Grand Prairie UDC Article 6, Table 6C (September 2, 2025, PDF page 24), read by the x position of each cell; note 1 says units per building are set at site plan review.

Article 3 and Table 6C disagree in two places. Article 3 gives MF-2 "16 units per net acre" and Table 6C "18 DU/AC"; Sec. 6.3.1 ties density to the Article 6 tables, so 18 applies. Article 3 adds 250 square feet "per each bedroom above 3 bedrooms," while Table 6C note 2 adds 250 square feet "per additional bedroom" with no starting count. Ask the Planning Division which unit size rule it applies.

Appendix W, Section 4.II requires security gates at all entrances, a main entrance feature, lit mailbox kiosks, and landscaping on 15 percent of the site. A project that meets the design recommendations and the preferred parking standard needs a clubhouse of at least 3,000 square feet and amenities from two of three categories. A project that meets neither needs a 7,000 square foot clubhouse and amenities from all three. Parking is 1 space per unit under Sec. 10.7.4, with at least 20 percent covered and 10 percent marked for guests; the preferred standard is 1.5 spaces per one-bedroom unit and 2 per larger unit.

The City's documents also disagree on who approves an apartment site plan. Sec. 16.3.2, adopted September 2, 2025, says site plans for multi-family and mixed-use residential developments "shall be reviewed and acted upon by the Director of Planning and Development (or designee)." Appendix W, updated November 4, 2025, still says all multi-family development "shall require approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council." For SB 840 projects, Local Government Code 218.102(b) requires administrative approval when a project meets the rules, so state law controls there. For other apartments, ask the Planning Division which path applies. Site plan fees are $1,000 plus $40 per acre, up to $11,000, and the building permit is $250 for each multi-family unit under Article 22.

SB 840 Apartments on Commercial Land

The City's SB 840 notice of August 1, 2025 told residents that "many non-residentially zoned properties will be eligible for multifamily development without the need for a zone change," and that such projects "will be allowed by right, without the need for public notice, a public hearing or action by City Council." Article 6, adopted September 2, 2025 by Ordinance No. 11756-2025, and Article 4 carry the rule in Sec. 6.2 and Sec. 4.22.1, and Appendix S, dated November 4, 2025 with Ordinance No. 11810-2025, adds standards. Appendix S says its standards apply "in addition to those noted in Appendix W" and control where they conflict with the rest of the UDC.

Source: Local Government Code chapter 218; Grand Prairie UDC Appendix S (November 4, 2025), Sec. 16.3.2 and the Article 10 parking schedule.

Appendix S goes further than the four topics the statute names. Each building must hold 10 percent one-bedroom, 30 percent two-bedroom and 60 percent three-bedroom units, which the City says is meant "to emphasize and provide opportunities for affordable housing for families." It also requires masonry screening walls 10 feet high next to residential or commercial property and 8 feet high along streets; landscaping on 30 percent of the site with 4-inch trees; "at least one (1) outdoor swimming pool at a minimum size of 13,448 square feet of surface area"; a trail at least as long as 25 percent of the site's perimeter; a playground with three pieces of equipment; and artwork worth $4 per square foot of residential building, or a $2 per square foot payment to the Public Arts Fund.

Section 218.102 lists what a city may not impose: stricter density, height and setback limits, more than one parking space per unit, a parking structure, a floor area ratio, and a nonresidential use outside mixed-use zones. The unit mix, unit size, pool and art rules are outside that list. Sec. 4.22.1 and Sec. 6.2.2 say that where state law prohibits a standard, "state law shall control, but only to the extent of such prohibition." Whether a court would read Chapter 218 to reach the other Appendix S rules is an open question. The statute excludes land within 1,000 feet of an existing heavy industrial use, within 3,000 feet of an airport or military base, and zoning that allows heavy industrial use.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Grand Prairie overview, SB 840 commercial to residential and financing 2 to 4 units.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)