City of San Antonio Zoning Ordinance: Districts, Overlays, Rezoning

The San Antonio zoning ordinance is Chapter 35 of the city code, known as the Unified Development Code (UDC). It assigns every parcel in the city a base zoning district, layers on any applicable overlay districts, and together those designations control what can be built on the land, how tall and how close to the property line, and what activities can happen there. The city’s authority to do all of this comes from Chapter 211 of the Texas Local Government Code, which lets Texas municipalities regulate building height, lot coverage, yard sizes, density, and the use of buildings.¹

What Your Base Zoning District Controls

Article III of the UDC sorts the city into base districts. Each one carries its own rules for permitted uses, building heights, setbacks from property lines, and parking. The four broad families are residential, commercial, industrial, and office.

Residential districts run from low-density single-family zones (R-1 through R-20) up to multifamily zones (MF-18 through MF-50). The number in a multifamily label is the maximum dwelling units allowed per acre, so an MF-33 parcel allows up to 33 units per acre and MF-50 allows up to 50. Single-family numbers work differently and refer to minimum lot size instead of density.

Commercial districts step up in intensity. Neighborhood Commercial (NC) is the most restrictive and is meant for small retail and services that fit next to housing. Community Commercial (C-2) opens the door to a wider range of businesses, and General Commercial (C-3) permits the broadest commercial activity. Industrial follows the same pattern: Light Industrial (I-1) covers warehousing and light manufacturing, while Heavy Industrial (I-2) is for operations with more noise, traffic, or environmental impact that need distance from homes. Office districts split between Professional Office (O-1) for smaller practices and High-Rise Office (O-2) for larger buildings.

Every base district has a use table in the UDC listing what is permitted by right, what requires special approval, and what is prohibited outright.

Overlay Districts That Add Rules on Top

An overlay layers extra requirements onto whatever base district already applies. If a parcel is C-2 and also sits in an overlay, both sets of rules apply, and the overlay wins wherever they conflict.

The River Improvement Overlay (RIO) affects properties near the San Antonio River and sets detailed design standards for building materials, wall-plane length, lighting, and fencing. Chain link is prohibited on parcels abutting the river, and parking lots cannot be the primary use within 100 feet of the river right-of-way.²

The Historic Overlay (H) does the same job for designated historic districts and landmarks. Exterior alterations, new construction, and demolition inside the overlay all require approval from the Historic and Design Review Commission.¹

How to Look Up Your Property’s Zoning

Start with the Digital Zoning Map on the Development Services Department’s OneStop portal. You can search by street address or property ID, and clicking a parcel shows the base district plus any overlays.³

Read the map as a reference, not a legal document. The city’s own disclaimer says GIS products are not legal representations of the data and should not be used for final design.⁴ For a purchase or a development decision, confirm the designation directly with Development Services.

Nonconforming Uses When the Rules Change

If the city rezones your property, a use that was legal under the old designation doesn’t automatically become illegal. It becomes a “nonconforming use” and can generally keep operating. The same idea applies to structures that stopped meeting current setback or height rules only because the rules changed after they were built.

The protections are narrower than most owners assume. Zoning codes typically bar expanding a nonconforming use or structure. Stop operating one for a set period and you can lose the right to resume. If the structure is substantially destroyed, rebuilding it to the old nonconforming standard is often not allowed. Check the specific UDC provisions before spending money on changes.

Applying for a Zoning Change

When the current zoning doesn’t allow what you want to do, you file a Zoning Change Application with Development Services. The application needs the owner’s signature (or an agent authorization form) and a full legal description of the property, which usually means a professionally prepared metes-and-bounds survey.⁵ You also submit a site plan showing building locations, parking, and access.

If your request is inconsistent with the adopted land use plan for the area, the city will require a Master Plan Amendment first. That goes to the Planning Commission before the Zoning Commission can hear the rezoning.⁶ Applicants often don’t budget for this extra step.

Public Notification and Hearings

Once accepted, the city mails written notice to every owner within 200 feet, posts a “Rezoning” sign on the property, and runs a newspaper ad.⁷ Your case goes to the Zoning Commission for a public hearing, which votes a recommendation to City Council. Council holds its own hearing and makes the final call, amending the zoning map by ordinance if approved.⁵

Fees and Timeline

The FY 2026 fee schedule sets application fees by parcel size:⁸

Up to 1 acre: $1,200
1 to under 5 acres: $1,500
5 to under 10 acres: $2,000
10 to under 20 acres: $2,500
20 to under 50 acres: $3,000
50 to under 100 acres: $3,500
100 acres or more: $4,000

Those are city filing fees only. Budget separately for the survey, site plan, and any consultant or attorney costs. A land survey by itself can run from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

The city estimates a standard rezoning takes roughly 45 to 65 days from filing to a council decision.⁵ Cases needing an environmental report (properties over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, for example) or a concurrent Master Plan Amendment take longer. Postponements can push the timeline out further.

Conditional and Specific Use Permits

Not every problem needs a full rezoning. The UDC has two tools that authorize uses not otherwise permitted in a base district without changing the district itself.

A Conditional Use designation (“CD” on the zoning map) pulls a specific use into a lower-intensity district. A use that would normally sit in C-1 might be allowed in a residential district through a CD, with binding conditions written into the ordinance for things like hours, buffers, and parking layout.⁶ A Specific Use Authorization (“S”) works similarly for uses flagged in the UDC’s permitted-use matrix as needing extra review. Both require a site plan and both move through the Zoning Commission and City Council on the same track as a rezoning. The upside is that the conditions attached give the city ongoing enforcement leverage a straight rezoning does not.

Fighting a Rezoning Next Door

Neighbors have more than the right to speak at a hearing. Section 211.006 of the Texas Local Government Code gives you a formal protest tool. If owners of at least 20 percent of either the land covered by the proposed change, or the land within 200 feet of it, submit a written protest, the rezoning can only pass with an affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of all council members instead of a simple majority.⁹ In San Antonio’s 11-member council, that’s nine votes rather than six. The supermajority requirement can effectively kill a controversial rezoning even when the applicant has partial council support.

The protest must be written and signed. Street and alley areas count in the percentage math. If you get a notice in the mail and want to fight the proposal, organizing a protest petition among neighbors before the council hearing is the strongest move available.

Variances and Special Exceptions (Board of Adjustment)

The Zoning Board of Adjustment (BOA) handles a different set of problems. Where a rezoning changes the classification of the property, the BOA grants relief from specific development standards without changing the underlying district. It hears three case types: variances, special exceptions, and appeals of administrative decisions by city staff.¹⁰

A variance lets you deviate from a numerical standard like a minimum setback or maximum height when your property’s physical characteristics make strict compliance unreasonably difficult. The BOA grants a variance only if the deviation won’t harm the public interest and literal enforcement would cause unnecessary hardship.¹⁰ “I want to build bigger” is not hardship. An oddly shaped lot that makes a standard setback physically impossible is closer to what the board is looking for.

Special exceptions cover specific situations listed in the UDC where a use can be permitted subject to conditions. Noncommercial parking lots, for example, can be allowed in residential districts through a special exception if they meet detailed requirements for surfacing, setbacks, landscaping, lighting, and hours.¹¹

BOA filing fees are lower than rezoning fees. The FY 2026 schedule lists $400 for a BOA appeal and $400 for a special exception.⁸ One critical difference from a rezoning: BOA decisions are quasi-judicial and final at the board level. If you disagree, your only recourse is an appeal in district or county court within 10 days of the board approving the meeting minutes.¹⁰ You cannot appeal to City Council.

Federal Limits on What the City Can Do

The UDC is broad, but federal law puts some situations outside the city’s reach.

The Fair Housing Act stops the city from using zoning to discriminate against people with disabilities. San Antonio cannot zone out group homes for people with disabilities through special permits, spacing rules, or narrow definitions of “family,” and it must grant reasonable accommodations when necessary for equal housing access.¹²

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) bars the city from treating religious assemblies on worse terms than comparable secular gathering places like private clubs or event venues. It also prevents totally excluding religious assemblies from the city or unreasonably limiting where they can locate.¹³

The federal Telecommunications Act limits how the city can regulate wireless facilities. Zoning rules can apply, but they cannot unreasonably discriminate among providers or effectively prohibit service in any area. Denials must be in writing and supported by substantial evidence, and the city cannot base a denial on radio frequency emissions from facilities that meet FCC standards.¹⁴

Two other federal frameworks kick in for specific locations. FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program requires the city to enforce minimum floodplain management standards inside identified flood zones on top of the UDC.¹⁵ Near airports, the FAA’s Part 77 regulations set height limits and notification requirements for construction that could affect navigable airspace, sometimes restricting heights well below what the base district would allow.¹⁶

1
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code Section 211.003 – Zoning Regulations Generally
2
Municode Library. Unified Development Code – Design Standards
3
City of San Antonio. Maps – City of San Antonio
4
City of San Antonio. City of San Antonio One Stop
5
City of San Antonio. Zoning Change Process
6
City of San Antonio. Zoning Presentation
7
City of San Antonio. Development Services Department Zoning Section Application
8
City of San Antonio. FY 2026 Development Fee Schedule
9
Justia Law. Texas Local Government Code Title 7 Subtitle A Chapter 211
10
City of San Antonio. Board of Adjustment
11
City of San Antonio. San Antonio Unified Development Code Section 35-481
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3604 – Discrimination in the Sale or Rental of Housing and Other Prohibited Practices
13
U.S. Department of Justice. Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 332 – Preservation of Local Zoning Authority
15
FEMA.gov. Floodplain Management
16
eCFR. 14 CFR Part 77 – Safe, Efficient Use, and Preservation of the Navigable Airspace