Austin NCCDs: Adopted Height, Unit and Setback Restrictions

HOME does not erase an applicable NCCD condition

CI2026-0002, p. 2 says the combining district or overlay supersedes §25-2-773 in a conflict; otherwise both apply. Apply the condition to the use it actually names. A restriction written for two-family use may prevent that proposal while a genuine three-unit residential use follows a different provision.

“The strictest rule always wins” is too broad. Some ordinances expressly require the more restrictive rule; others expressly give a specified amendment or regulating document priority. The East 11th/12th examples below show both approaches.

NCCD district ordinances and restriction guides

• Hyde Park: 020131-20, especially the Residential District in Part 8. Its two-family wording differs from North Hyde Park. Hyde Park restriction guide.
• North Hyde Park: 20050818-064, Parts 5–7 for residential uses, lot area, height, setbacks and garage placement. The Avenue A, Duval and Guadalupe districts have separate tables. Two-unit versus three-unit analysis.
• North University: 040826-58 and the 20110804-040 two-family amendment. Check front-setback averaging, inter-building separation, the mapped height schedule and use-specific FAR. North University guide.
• Fairview Park: 19860807-H, especially Parts 2 and 6. Its two-family, density and height-transition clauses have distinct scopes and exceptions. Fairview Park guide.
• East 11th Street: 20220728-163, with the 20260205-051 Block 16 amendment where applicable.
• East 12th Street: 20220915-085, including its subdistrict table, frontage provisions and conflict clause.

These references identify reviewed instruments, not a complete amendment history for each parcel. Use the City’s district maps and zoning resources to locate the property.

East 11th and East 12th have different controls

East 12th Street: subdistrict restrictions

Under 20220915-085 Part 6(E)–(F), maximum heights are 60 feet in Subdistrict 1, 50 feet in 2, and 35 feet in 2a/3. Subdistricts 1/2/2a have zero front, street-side and interior-side setbacks and a 10-foot rear setback. Subdistrict 3 instead has 15-foot front, 10-foot street-side and five-foot interior/rear setbacks.

Part 6(K) also regulates street-facing facades: an unbroken horizontal run may not exceed 20 feet, architectural features are required, and awnings must cover at least half the frontage. Part 7 applies the more restrictive provision in conflicts with the named Central East Austin, Chestnut and Rosewood zoning ordinances. Map the subdistrict before using these numbers.

East 11th Street: a different hierarchy

20220728-163 Part 6 gives the Urban Renewal Plan priority in its stated conflicts, and gives the NCCD priority over the named Central East Austin NP ordinance. It does not simply copy East 12th’s conflict clause.

Block 16’s adopted 2026 change

20260205-051 Part 6 establishes 40-, 50- and 60-foot height tiers measured from the Juniper edge: the northernmost 40 feet, the rest of the northernmost 75 feet, and the remaining identified site. This section expressly governs over conflicting NCCD, NP, base-zoning or other City Code provisions. The companion Urban Renewal Plan amendment was also adopted.

Two combining districts, confusingly similar names

Austin has two zoning overlays whose names both begin "neighborhood", and they do different jobs:

• NP — neighborhood plan combining district (§§25-2-1401 to 1406). Modifies floor area, setback planes, front setback and minimum lot area, and can enable seven special uses. Covered on our NP combining district page.
• NC — neighborhood conservation combining district (§§25-2-371 to 375). This one.

The difference that matters is what §25-2-371 says an NC district does: a regulation established by it modifies the use and site development regulations of the base district. That is binding zoning, not policy.

The adopting ordinance identifies the requirements

§25-2-373(G) is the hinge:

A plan can accompany a zoning ordinance. Read the ordinance to identify which requirements were actually adopted, which properties they cover and what later amendments changed. A plan’s recommendation does not become a binding rule simply because an NCCD exists nearby.

NP combining-district ordinances and conditional overlays can also impose development conditions. The neighborhood guides distinguish those sources from voluntary design guidance.

The neighborhood asks for it, not the city

An NC district is unusual in being neighbor-initiated. Under §25-2-372 the application is filed by a sponsoring neighborhood organization on behalf of property owners — and that organization carries the notice burden, having to write to owners about both its intention to create the district and its meetings about it.

The plan itself must be prepared by that organization, and §25-2-373(D) requires something no other plan does: an architectural survey of structures in the proposed district. It must also be delivered to the nearest public library branch and filed with the director.

Once adopted, amendments may be proposed annually — by the neighborhood organization or by any owner of land inside the district.

What protects an owner who does not want in

Three things, and the last is the strongest.

Notice is heavy. §25-2-374(C) requires certified mail, return receipt requested, to every property owner in the proposed district — not the usual first-class notice. The director also posts signs along the district boundary.

Historic review comes first. If the proposed district contains a designated historic landmark or district, or a structure with historic significance under the city's Cultural and Historic Resources Survey, the Historic Landmark Commission must hold a hearing before the Land Use Commission may.

And a protest protects the protester. Under §25-2-375, an owner who files a written statement objecting to the inclusion of their property can be brought in only by a separate affirmative vote of three-fourths of all council members.

Read that one carefully, because its heading — “Requirement for Approval by Three-Fourths of Council” — invites the wrong conclusion. The supermajority is not needed to create the district. It is needed to include the objecting owner’s parcel. A single protest shields one property; it does not veto the whole thing.