Height of New Construction

The Montgomery County Council voted in October to lower the height of new construction in all parts of the County zoned R-60 and R-90 which includes Section 5. Eight of the nine members agreed to lower the height requirement by five feet on all construction permitted after October 11, 2005.

The maximum height of new houses and additions will now be 35' to the ridge of a hip, gambrel or gable roof or, alternatively, 30' to the midpoint of a hip, gambrel, or gable roof. All flat roofs can be no higher than 30'. The previous rule was 35' to the midpoint of the roof, which meant that some roofs could be well over 40' in height. The Council also changed the rules concerning where the height is measured from, now measuring by averaging spot elevations taken at intervals of the finished grade along the front of the building. For the purposes of determining the building height and story, at no point may the finished grade be higher than the pre-development grade, meaning that dirt may not be piled up around the house to make the height measurement lower.

The County Council also kept the requirement that houses in R-60 and R-90 zones only be 2 and a half stories. Basements that are more than 50% bleow grade do not count as a story. If more than 50% of the lowest sotry is above grade, then it counts under the tow and a half story rule. The determination of how much of the basement is below ground will now be made by averaging the finished grade at spot elevations along all sides of the building. Any house that was built or permitted before October 11, 2005, may be altered, repaired or reconstructed at its original height.