Zoning › Idaho › Ada County › Meridian

Meridian, ID Zoning

16 districts. 4 overlays. 8 applicable state preemptions.

Overview

Worth knowing
  • R-2 interior side setback scales 7.5 ft per story: first story = 7.5 ft; two-story = 15 ft cumulative from property line (§Table 11-2A-4, ZOA 2025-0001).
  • C-G district has NO minimum setback requirements but buildings may not encroach into required street landscape buffers (§11-2B-3).
  • R-40 multifamily residential buildings must provide minimum 10 ft setback per §11-4-3-27B.1 unless Building Code requires more.

+ 7 more in Quirks & notes

Districts

res_sf 3com 3mu 3res_mf 2ind 2off 1res_th 1cbd 1
CodeNameCategory Min lotHeight CoverageFAR Du/acParking Setbacks F/S/R
R-2Low Density Residentialres_sf12,000 sf[4]35 ft[5]———[{'variant': '1-2BR SF detached', 'value': 2}, {'variant': '3-4BR SF detached', 'value': 4}, {'variant': '5BR+ SF detached', 'value': 6}][6]20[1] / 7.5[2] / 15[3]
R-4Medium Low Density Residentialres_sf8,000 sf[10]—[11]———[{'variant': '1-2BR SF detached', 'value': 2}, {'variant': '3-4BR SF detached', 'value': 4}, {'variant': '5BR+ SF detached', 'value': 6}][12]—[7] / —[8] / —[9]
R-8Medium Density Residentialres_sf4,000 sf[16]—[17]———[{'variant': '1-2BR SF/duplex/townhouse', 'value': 2}, {'variant': '3-4BR SF/duplex/townhouse', 'value': 4}, {'variant': '5BR+ SF/duplex/townhouse', 'value': 6}][18]—[13] / —[14] / —[15]
R-15Medium High Density Residentialres_mf2,500 sf[22]—[23]——[{'variant': 'min', 'value': 8}, {'variant': 'max', 'value': 12}][24][{'variant': 'studio MF', 'value': 1}, {'variant': '1BR MF', 'value': 1.5}, {'variant': '2BR MF', 'value': 2}, {'variant': '3BR MF', 'value': 3}, {'variant': '4BR+ MF', 'value': 3}][25]—[19] / —[20] / —[21]
R-40High Density Residentialres_mf—[29]—[30]———[{'variant': 'studio MF', 'value': 1}, {'variant': '1BR MF', 'value': 1.5}, {'variant': '2BR MF', 'value': 2}, {'variant': '3BR MF', 'value': 3}, {'variant': '4BR+ MF', 'value': 3}][31]10[26] / —[27] / —[28]
C-NNeighborhood Business Districtcom——[32]————— / — / —
C-CCommunity Business Districtcom——[33]————— / — / —
C-GGeneral Retail and Service Commercial Districtcom—65 ft[37]—————[34] / —[35] / —[36]
L-OLimited Office Districtoff——[38]————— / — / —
M-EMixed Employment Districtmu——[39]————— / — / —
H-EHigh Density Employment Districtmu——[40]————— / — / —
I-LLight Industrial Districtind—[44]50 ft[45]————35[41] / —[42] / —[43]
I-HHeavy Industrial Districtind——[46]————— / — / —
TN-RTraditional Neighborhood Residentialres_th2,000 sf[48]—[49]——[{'variant': 'gross', 'value': 8.06}, {'variant': 'net', 'value': 14.23}][50]——[47] / — / —
TN-CTraditional Neighborhood Centermu——[51]————— / — / —
O-TOld Town Districtcbd——[52]————— / — / —

Confidence: confirmed partial under review not found

Overlays

FP-O
Floodplain Overlay
FP
c§11-4-3-11; FEMA NFIP participation; Idaho Code §42-3808

Applies to any parcel within a FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Area (Zone AE, AO, A) along Boise River tributaries, Five Mile Creek, Ten Mile Creek, Eight Mile Lateral, and other drainageways in Meridian.

ffa_freeboard_min_ft1
fill_placement_restrictedTrue
irrigation_lateral_piping_requiredTrue
AIA-BOI
Airport Influence Area — Boise Airport
AP
p§federal FAA 14 CFR Part 77; Idaho Code §21-103

Parcels within the Boise Airport Part 77 surfaces and FAA airspace notification area. Meridian's northern and central areas lie within the BOI influence area (~10 miles west of BOI).

height_limit_noteGraduated height limits based on FAA Part 77 surface at specific coordinates; varies by location within city
faa_notification_requiredTrue
WHP-O
Wellhead Protection Area Overlay
ENV
p§Idaho DEQ Wellhead Protection Program; Meridian City Code Chapter 9; Idaho Code §39-119C

Parcels within designated wellhead protection zones for Meridian's municipal water supply wells. Restricts certain land uses and underground storage.

hazardous_materials_restrictedTrue
underground_storage_tanks_restrictedTrue
DA-O
Development Agreement Overlay
SPEC
c§11-5C; Idaho Code §67-6511A

Applies to any parcel subject to a recorded Development Agreement (DA) per Idaho Code §67-6511A. A significant portion of Meridian's annexed land is under DA.

custom_standards_may_override_base_zoneTrue
da_runs_with_landTrue
modification_requires_city_council_approvalTrue

State preemptions

ID_LLUPA_FRAMEWORK_1975applies
Qualifying condition
Always applies statewide. Meridian's UDC is enacted pursuant to I.C. §67-6501 et seq. Comprehensive Plan adopted Dec 17, 2019 (Res. 19-2179) satisfies the §67-6508 17-component consistency requirement. Meridian has a defined Area of City Impact with Ada County.
Effect
Meridian UDC must be consistent with Comprehensive Plan (Res. 19-2179); rezones require ≥300-ft mailed notice and reasoned written findings; judicial review is 28 days per Idaho APA. | [citation: I.C. §§67-6501 et seq.] | [source_ref: us/idaho/overlays.json#ID_LLUPA_FRAMEWORK_1975]
ID_MANUFACTURED_HOUSING_PARITY_67_6509Aapplies
Qualifying condition
Always applies to all Idaho municipalities with zoning. Meridian allows manufactured homes in designated subdivisions per Table 11-2A-2 (confirmed from Ord. 23-2037 use table). MH park = Conditional use in R-8/R-15 is consistent with the parity requirement.
Effect
Meridian must allow manufactured housing on par with site-built housing in residential districts; cannot impose discriminatory design standards beyond HUD code. | [citation: I.C. §67-6509A] | [source_ref: us/idaho/overlays.json#ID_MANUFACTURED_HOUSING_PARITY_67_6509A]
ID_SB1354_ADU_BY_RIGHT_2026applies
Qualifying condition
Meridian population ~125,400 (2024 Census est.) >> 10,000 population threshold. SB 1354 requires Idaho cities with pop ≥ 10,000 to allow one accessory dwelling unit by right on any residentially zoned lot effective July 1, 2026. Meridian currently permits secondary dwellings (A) in all residential districts per Ord. 23-2037 Table 11-2A-2.
Effect
Meridian must allow one ADU by right on any residentially zoned lot; cannot require owner-occupancy or impose ADU-specific setbacks beyond base district standards. Effective July 1, 2026. | [citation: Idaho SB 1354 (2026)] | [source_ref: us/idaho/overlays.json#ID_SB1354_ADU_BY_RIGHT_2026]
ID_SB1352_STARTER_HOME_SUBDIVISIONS_2026applies
Qualifying condition
Meridian population ~125,400 (2024 Census est.) >> 10,000 threshold. SB 1352 requires cities to permit by right a starter home subdivision with lots ≥ 2,000 sf in any residential district. Meridian's TN-R (min lot ~2,238 sf per practice) and R-15 are closest to the 2,000 sf floor; may require UDC amendment for districts with higher minimums.
Effect
Meridian must allow by-right starter home subdivisions with lots ≥ 2,000 sf in all residential districts effective July 1, 2026. | [citation: Idaho SB 1352 (2026)] | [source_ref: us/idaho/overlays.json#ID_SB1352_STARTER_HOME_SUBDIVISIONS_2026]
ID_HB707_LOT_SPLITS_2026applies
Qualifying condition
Meridian population ~125,400 (2024 Census est.) >> 10,000 threshold. HB 707 requires Idaho cities with pop ≥ 10,000 to allow administrative lot splits creating lots ≥ 2,000 sf on parcels with existing residential structure, effective July 1, 2026. Applies across all Meridian residential districts.
Effect
Meridian must allow administrative lot splits on residentially-developed parcels creating lots ≥ 2,000 sf; cannot require public hearing or CUP for qualifying splits. | [citation: Idaho HB 707 (2026)] | [source_ref: us/idaho/overlays.json#ID_HB707_LOT_SPLITS_2026]
ID_HB585_PERMIT_INSPECTION_SHOTCLOCK_2026applies
Qualifying condition
Applies to all Idaho cities with building permit authority. Meridian operates its own Building Department (confirmed from staff reports). HB 585 establishes mandatory review timelines; violation triggers deemed-approval remedy.
Effect
Meridian Building Department subject to mandatory permit review timelines; deemed-approval if timelines violated. | [citation: Idaho HB 585 (2026)] | [source_ref: us/idaho/overlays.json#ID_HB585_PERMIT_INSPECTION_SHOTCLOCK_2026]
ID_IMPACT_FEE_ACT_67_8201applies
Qualifying condition
Meridian has enacted development impact fees for parks, fire, police, transportation, and sewer/water capacity per I.C. §67-8201 et seq. Fee schedule updated regularly per city resolutions. Subject to proportionality and nexus requirements.
Effect
Meridian impact fees must meet proportionality and nexus standards; fee schedule subject to independent fee study. | [citation: I.C. §§67-8201 et seq.] | [source_ref: us/idaho/overlays.json#ID_IMPACT_FEE_ACT_67_8201]
ID_DILLONS_RULE_INCLUSIONARY_ZONING_ULTRA_VIRESapplies
Qualifying condition
Idaho is a strict Dillon's Rule state. No Idaho statute authorizes mandatory inclusionary zoning ordinances. Mountain Central v. McCall (Idaho Sup. Ct. 2021) confirmed mandatory inclusionary zoning is ultra vires for Dillon's Rule cities. Meridian population 125,400 (2024 est.); city does not have a mandatory inclusionary zoning program.
Effect
Meridian cannot enact mandatory inclusionary zoning. Voluntary density bonuses or affordability incentives may be permissible but mandatory set-asides are ultra vires. | [citation: Mountain Central v. McCall (2021); Idaho Const. Art. XII §2 (Dillon's Rule)] | [source_ref: us/idaho/overlays.json#ID_DILLONS_RULE_INCLUSIONARY_ZONING_ULTRA_VIRES]
Non-applicable laws (2)
ID_STR_PREEMPTION_67_6539under_review
Qualifying condition
§67-6539 applies statewide and allows STRs as a residential use in any residential district where similar residential uses are allowed; city cannot prohibit outright. Meridian's STR ordinance posture not confirmed from available sources during this research pass — UDC Table 11-2A-2 did not enumerate STR as a separate use. Applies field set to false pending confirmation; flag for STR-specific follow-up. HB 583 (2026) effective 2026-07-01 further narrows local health/safety carveout.
ID_HB706_SINGLE_STAIR_OPTION_2026does_not_apply
Qualifying condition
HB 706 is a city opt-in provision allowing single-stair egress in multifamily buildings up to 6 stories. Meridian has not confirmed opt-in as of 2026-05-27. Recorded as does_not_apply until city adoption confirmed.

Adopted building codes

Statewide; extensive NEC amendments

IBC
2018
IRC
2024
NEC
2023
IFC
2018
IECC (Residential)
2018
IECC (Commercial)
2018

Click a code label to open its state-by-state adoption atlas.

Quirks & notes

  • R-2 interior side setback scales 7.5 ft per story: first story = 7.5 ft; two-story = 15 ft cumulative from property line (§Table 11-2A-4, ZOA 2025-0001).
  • C-G district has NO minimum setback requirements but buildings may not encroach into required street landscape buffers (§11-2B-3).
  • R-40 multifamily residential buildings must provide minimum 10 ft setback per §11-4-3-27B.1 unless Building Code requires more.
  • Education facilities are allowed maximum 50 ft height in ALL residential districts as an exception to base district height limits per §11-2A-3E.3.
  • Multifamily parking requires covered spaces: 1BR = 1 covered of 1.5 total; 2BR = 1 covered of 2 total; 3BR = 1 covered of 3 total; 4BR+ = 2 covered of 3 total (Table 11-3C-6).
  • SF detached parking scales by bedroom count: 1-2BR = 2 spaces (1 enclosed garage + pad option); 3-4BR = 4 spaces (2 enclosed); 5+BR = 6 spaces (3 enclosed) per Table 11-3C-6.
  • Municode SPA blocks scripted fetch; dimensional tables for R-4 through R-40 and all commercial/industrial districts require JavaScript rendering. Full dimensional tables for these districts are not_found in this record — a Municode-bypass retrieval pass is needed.
  • Street buffers in Meridian are measured from back of curb for landscaping width per §11-3B-7C; local streets do not require landscape buffers in residential districts.
  • SB 1354, SB 1352, and HB 707 (all effective July 1, 2026) impose new by-right requirements for ADUs, starter-home subdivisions (min lot 2,000 sf), and lot splits that will require Meridian UDC amendments.
  • TEMPLATE-BLEED CORRECTED: Prior v1 record used fabricated district codes SF-5/SF-7.5/SF-10/MF-12/MF-18/MF-25 with identical fabricated values (lot_coverage=0.5, far=0.5, parking=2 for all). These codes do not exist in Meridian UDC. Actual codes are R-2/R-4/R-8/R-15/R-40 (residential), C-N/C-C/C-G/L-O/M-E/H-E (commercial), I-L/I-H (industrial), TN-R/TN-C/O-T (special).

Formulas

Definitions

height
Grade to highest point of structure.
lot_coverage
Building footprint divided by lot area.
far
Gross floor area divided by lot area.
du_ac
Dwelling units per gross acre.
setback_front
Front property line (or back of sidewalk) to nearest building face.
setback_side
Side property line to nearest building face.
setback_rear
Rear property line to nearest building face.
parking
Spaces per dwelling unit unless noted.

Capacity calculations

max_footprint_sf
lot_area_sf * lot_coverage
max_gfa_sf
lot_area_sf * far
buildable_width_ft
lot_width_ft - setback_side_ft * 2
buildable_depth_ft
lot_depth_ft - setback_front_ft - setback_rear_ft
max_stories_approx
max_height_ft / 10

Massing explorer

Interactive 3D comparison across every district. Drag to orbit, scroll to zoom, use the slider to walk districts, and toggle applicable overlays in the right-side panel.

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Max height
— ft
——
Floor area ratio
—
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Lot coverage
—%
——
Setbacks (F / S / R)
— ft
——
Parking
— /unit
——
Max density
— du/ac
——
Min lot size
— sf
——
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District Category Height FAR Coverage Setbacks Parking Density Min lot Overlays

Sources & references

Primary source
City of Meridian Code of Ordinances, Title 11 — Unified Development Code
Current through ZOA 2025-0001 (Ordinance No. 25, August 2025); prior major amendments include ZOA 2023-0001 (Ord. 23-2037, Sept 2023) and ZOA 2021-0002 (Ord. 21-1950, Sept 2021) · retrieved 2026-05-27
Citations
  1. [1] §Table 11-2A-4
  2. [2] §Table 11-2A-4
  3. [3] §Table 11-2A-4
  4. [4] §Table 11-2A-4
  5. [5] §Table 11-2A-4
  6. [6] §Table 11-3C-6
  7. [7] n
  8. [8] n
  9. [9] n
  10. [10] i§11-2A-5/Table 11-2A-5
  11. [11] n
  12. [12] §Table 11-3C-6
  13. [13] n
  14. [14] n
  15. [15] n
  16. [16] i§11-2A-6/Table 11-2A-6
  17. [17] n
  18. [18] §Table 11-3C-6
  19. [19] n
  20. [20] n
  21. [21] n
  22. [22] i§11-2A-7/Table 11-2A-7
  23. [23] n
  24. [24] §11-2A-7
  25. [25] §Table 11-3C-6
  26. [26] §11-4-3-27B.1
  27. [27] n
  28. [28] n
  29. [29] n
  30. [30] n
  31. [31] §Table 11-3C-6
  32. [32] n
  33. [33] n
  34. [34] §11-2B-3
  35. [35] §11-2B-3
  36. [36] §11-2B-3
  37. [37] §11-2B-3A.3
  38. [38] n
  39. [39] n
  40. [40] n
  41. [41] §11-2C-3
  42. [42] n
  43. [43] n
  44. [44] n
  45. [45] §11-2C-3
  46. [46] n
  47. [47] n
  48. [48] i§11-2D-3/Table 11-2D-6
  49. [49] n
  50. [50] §11-2D-3
  51. [51] n
  52. [52] n

Research status

Publication gates

primary url presentpassedsource.primary_url = https://library.municode.com/id/meridian/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT11UNDECO (official Municode-hosted Meridian UDC Title 11); not an aggregator
no aggregator citedpassedscan clean — all citations reference Title 11 section/table refs, Idaho Code section refs, or Meridian city ordinance numbers; no Zoneomics/Steadily/SitePlanGuide or other aggregator domains cited
confidence tags full formfailedR-2 confirmed fields have c§Table 11-2A-4 citations; C-G/I-L confirmed fields have c§11-2B-3/c§11-2C-3 citations. However, 9 of 16 districts have dimensional fields (max_height_ft, setback_front_ft, setback_side_ft, setback_rear_ft) recorded as not_found (c=n) due to Municode SPA block preventing retrieval of Tables 11-2A-5 through 11-2A-8, 11-2B-1 through 11-2B-6, 11-2C-2, 11-2D-5, O-T section. Partial fields carry i§ citations from staff report practice ranges. Gate fails until full dimensional tables retrieved.
overlays have parameters trigger confidencepassed4 overlays documented: FP-O (c confidence, params + trigger), AIA-BOI (p confidence, params + trigger + note), WHP-O (p confidence, params + trigger + note), DA-O (c confidence, params + trigger). All have non-empty params object, explicit trigger string, status, and ordinance citation.
preempt section city specificpassed10 Idaho preemption laws evaluated with Meridian-specific qualifying_condition_checked: population 125,400 used for threshold-gated laws (SB 1354, SB 1352, HB 707 require pop ≥ 10,000); Comprehensive Plan Res. 19-2179 cited for LLUPA framework; STR posture and HB 706 opt-in correctly recorded as false/not-confirmed per available sources.

Data quality

35%completeness14 confirmed3 partial3 inferred32 not found
Documented gaps
  • R-4 height, front/side/rear setbacks — requires Municode Table 11-2A-5
  • R-8 frontage, height, front/side/rear setbacks — requires Municode Table 11-2A-6
  • R-15 frontage, height, setbacks — requires Municode Table 11-2A-7
  • R-40 min lot, frontage, height, setbacks — requires Municode Table 11-2A-8
  • C-N, C-C, L-O, M-E, H-E all dimensional standards — requires Municode Tables 11-2B-1 through 11-2B-6
  • I-H all dimensional standards — requires Municode Table 11-2C
  • TN-C, O-T all dimensional standards — requires Municode Tables 11-2D-5 and O-T section
  • Lot coverage and FAR for all districts — not enumerated in retrieved ordinance excerpts
  • STR ordinance posture — requires Meridian city ordinance search

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