Cibolo, Texas metal buildings

Start with the city limits map, not the envelope. The city planning FAQ warns that a Cibolo mailing address can sit outside the corporate limits, and points to the online maps of the limits and the ETJ. Inside them, section 14-29 of the city code bars anyone from erecting, placing or converting a building without a permit from the building inspection officials. Building Permits and Inspections, 201 West Loop 539, (210) 658-4175, takes every application through the MGO Connect portal and checks plans against the 2021 International Building, Residential and Fire Codes and the 2023 National Electrical Code adopted by Ordinance 1475.

Nearly all of Cibolo is Guadalupe County. Measured against the Census Bureau maps, about 99.5 percent of the city lies in Guadalupe and the rest, one piece of roughly 71 acres, in Bexar County; none of it is in Comal. Inside the limits the county line changes nothing about the city permit.

The ETJ runs two miles out. There the city enforces its subdivision regulations and infrastructure standards but, by its own account and under state law, no zoning, land use or density rule, and the UDC asks for a city building permit in the ETJ only where a development agreement provides for one. A plat the city approves there is recorded with the county, and nothing gets built until it is. Beyond the limits, the Guadalupe County Fire Marshal permits a commercial establishment, a public building or a residential building of four or more units under the county fire code order that took effect February 1, 2026, and that order leaves out an agricultural building used to shelter livestock, to shelter the tools and equipment a farm or ranch runs on, or to produce or process food. On the Bexar side the county Fire Marshal decides when a structure that is not a single-family dwelling requires one. Row-by-row county detail: Guadalupe County and Bexar County.

Checked at City of Cibolo Planning, frequently asked questions, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Code of Ordinances, Chapter 14, sections 14-29, 14-31 and 14-93 (Municode, Supplement 26), 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo, Building Permits and Inspections, 2026-10-12.

Checked at U.S. Census Bureau, TIGERweb incorporated places and counties, Cibolo city boundary, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Planning, Annexation and ETJ, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Unified Development Code, January 10, 2024, sections 1.4, 3.13 and 3.14, 2026-10-12.

Checked at Texas Legislature Online, Local Government Code Chapter 212, municipal regulation of subdivisions and property development, 2026-09-13.

Checked at Guadalupe County Commissioners Court, Order Adopting a Fire Code and Regulations for Its Enforcement, January 27, 2026, 2026-09-13.

Checked at Bexar County Public Works Department, Building Permits, 2026-09-13.

Shorter than most owners picture. Article 15 of the Unified Development Code caps a detached accessory building at 12 feet on SF-1 and SF-2 lots and 10 feet on SF-3 and SF-4 lots, and sets no height cap at all on land zoned AG, Agricultural. A building tall enough for a 12 foot overhead door clears neither residential cap. The code also defines height two ways, once to the highest point of the building and once to the midpoint of the highest gable, so ask the Planning Department which one it applies before the roof pitch is fixed.

Spacing is where two city codes part ways. The Article 15 table wants the building five feet from the house, and 10 feet off the side and rear lines in SF-1 and SF-2 or five feet in SF-3 and SF-4, or the setback of the existing lots on that side of the street if that is deeper; a building on skids may sit within three feet of the line where it clears every easement. Section 14-31 of the city code keeps any auxiliary structure 10 feet from another structure and five feet from a property line or fence, and off easements entirely, while the UDC allows a building in an easement only with an indemnity the owner signs on the permit. Draw the site plan to the larger number and have the Building Department confirm it.

Use is the other test. In a residential district an accessory building serves no commercial purpose beyond a home occupation, and a home occupation runs entirely inside the dwelling, with no outside storage and no stockpile of building materials meant for other properties. A shop that would hold work stock or rent out bays is a zoning question for Planning first.

On the fee schedule as amended by Ordinance 1517, a new accessory structure costs $75.00 to issue plus $0.75 per square foot, and plan review adds half the building permit fee; a 1,200 square foot shop carries a $975.00 permit fee before plan review by this site arithmetic. A portable shed of 100 square feet or less needs no permit, and every slab gets a city inspection before the concrete goes in. Building types: shops and workshops and garages and RV garages.

Checked at City of Cibolo Unified Development Code, January 10, 2024, Article 15 and sections 1.12, 4.7.3 and 6.1, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Code of Ordinances, Chapter 14, sections 14-29, 14-31 and 14-93 (Municode, Supplement 26), 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo, Ordinance 1517 and FY2026 Fee Schedule, Exhibit A, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo, flatwork requirements, 2026-10-12.

Mostly it asks about the roof and the glass. In the MF, C-1 through C-4, Mixed Use and PF districts, and for any non-residential building in a residential district, section 8.3.2 governs every elevation that fronts a public street. A pitched roof there needs a slope of at least 7:12 and dimensional shingles rated for 30 years or more, unless the Chief Building Official, City Engineer or a designee approves a roofing system that exceeds that standard, and a flat roof has to sit behind parapets tall enough to screen it and the rooftop units. Transparent windows cover at least 20 percent of the elevations, or an opening comes every 15 feet; no facade runs past 100 feet without a break; and wall colors match the surrounding buildings or run to earth tones from the Sherwin Williams historic palette City Council approved. A low-slope steel roof on one of those lots means planning for parapets, a steeper frame or that approval before the frame is ordered.

Masonry is encouraged rather than required. Section 8.3.1 asks for brick, stone, stucco, tile, cultured stone or split faced block across the wall, with metal accents recommended at no more than 15 percent, and the offer in return is a possible cut to landscaping, buffering or parking that City Council approves after Planning and Zoning review. Industrial zoning is the plainer path. I-1 and I-2 are not on the 8.3.2 list; I-1 lots carry a 50 foot front, 40 foot rear and 25 foot side setback, 80 percent coverage and a 45 foot height limit; and Ordinance 1502 of August 2025 lets Light Industrial land along IH 10, south of Bolton Road, rise to 150 feet. For that kind of building, see warehouses and industrial buildings; for a storefront or office shell, commercial steel buildings.

The approvals run in a set order. The city new commercial development page calls a pre-application conference required, with the owner, engineer and architect attending, while its commercial projects page calls the meeting strongly recommended; book it either way, since the first meeting with staff carries a $0 base fee and runs on Teams, usually a Tuesday or Friday. A site plan follows for any new non-residential development, carrying elevations and drainage, traffic and soils studies, and goes to the planner, Building Official, Fire Marshal, Public Works and City Engineer. The city lists that review at a minimum of 45 business days, and the UDC issues no building permit until the site plan is approved and the final plat recorded. Since Ordinance 1503 of August 2025, a split inside the limits into parts over three acres, each with 60 feet on a public street and no public improvement dedicated, needs no subdivision plat. The fee schedule values a commercial building at its contract price or $100.00 per square foot, whichever is higher, so a 4,000 square foot building carries a $3,730.00 permit fee before plan review by this site arithmetic; warehouses take a 0.8 multiplier, and a site plan on two acres starts at $2,150. Past $50,000 the city wants the TDLR registration number with the application: the TDLR registration sheet.

Checked at City of Cibolo Unified Development Code, January 10, 2024, section 8.3, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Ordinance 1502, amending UDC Article 14, August 12, 2025, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo, new commercial development, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo, commercial projects, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Planning, pre-application meeting request, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Ordinance 1503, amending UDC sections 13.1, 14.1, 20.1.9 and 20.3.17, August 12, 2025, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo, Ordinance 1517 and FY2026 Fee Schedule, Exhibit A, 2026-10-12.

Checked at Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Architectural Barriers frequently asked questions, 2026-09-13.

Swelling clay, on almost every lot. Intersecting the NRCS survey with the city limits, this site finds Branyon clay on about 26 percent of Cibolo, Houston Black clay on about 20 percent and Barbarosa silty clay on about 17 percent, and each of the three carries the NRCS very limited rating for small commercial buildings, with shrink-swell as the reason. Counting every map unit, about 84 percent of the city rates very limited and only about 2.5 percent rates not limited, nearly all of that Sunev loam and Queeny gravelly loam.

Two smaller patterns matter on particular tracts. Doss silty clay and Eddy very gravelly clay loam, about four percent between them, list depth to soft bedrock as a limit. Soils the survey maps as flooded cover about seven percent of the city, most of it Tinn clay, frequently flooded, which NRCS rates very limited for flooding as well as shrink-swell. The city lists foundation design for new construction among the plans that need a Professional Engineer stamp, and its flatwork rules call for an inspection before any concrete is poured. For the concrete side of a steel building, read the slab and foundation sheet.

Checked at USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, soil surveys TX187 and TX029, read through Soil Data Access against the Census Bureau Cibolo city boundary, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Building Permits and Inspections, when to hire an engineer, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo, flatwork requirements, 2026-10-12.

City water in Cibolo comes almost entirely from Canyon Regional Water Authority, with just over 2.5 percent coming from Schertz, and the city system has 6,425 water customers. The city is not the only water provider around it: for one industrial site it says Green Valley Special Utility District supplies water inside its certificated area, and where the city is not the provider it asks for a letter from the one that is. Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative is the primary power provider the city names, and Cibolo Creek Municipal Authority is on its list of utility contacts. No permanent water, sewer, electric or gas connection goes in before the certificate of occupancy.

The monthly bills scale with the building. A commercial water meter carries a base charge from $35.65 for a 3/4 inch meter to $240.25 for a two inch meter, and the drainage utility counts each 2,889 square feet of impervious cover as one unit at $7.50 a month, capped at $4,000. An acre of roof and paving comes to about $113.08 a month by this site arithmetic. Impact fees are collected at building permit under Ordinance 1067, and city staff run the calculation.

No Edwards Aquifer plan applies inside the city. The TCEQ map of regulated zones shows none within the Cibolo limits; the nearest, a transition zone, begins about a mile past the city edge, and the recharge zone about a mile and a half past it. A tract outside the limits gets checked on the TCEQ map before design: the Edwards Aquifer sheet.

Checked at City of Cibolo Public Works, utilities division, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Planning, frequently asked questions, data center information, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Utility Services, electricity, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo, new commercial development, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Unified Development Code, January 10, 2024, sections 1.4, 3.13 and 3.14, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Utility Services, commercial utility rates, 2026-10-12.

Checked at Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Edwards Aquifer regulated zones map service, queried against the Census Bureau TIGERweb Cibolo city boundary, 2026-10-12.

Checked at Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Edwards Aquifer Protection Program, 2026-09-13.

Inside the limits the City Engineer acts as floodplain administrator, and chapter 30 of the city code requires a floodplain development permit in any special flood hazard area on the FEMA maps dated November 2, 2007. The lowest floor has to clear the base flood elevation by a foot or more. A commercial or industrial building may instead be floodproofed watertight below that level, with an engineer or architect certifying the design, and an enclosed bay below the floor used only for parking or storage needs flood openings totaling one square inch per square foot of floor, the bottom of each no more than a foot above grade. A regulatory floodway is closed to fill and new construction unless an engineering study shows no rise in flood levels, or the city first completes the federal map revision steps.

Past the limits the county offices handle each piece. Guadalupe County Environmental Health, 830-303-8858, permits septic on every lot regardless of acreage, with a commercial system application at $600 and a floodplain development application at $300, and a commercial driveway onto a county road is $500 at Road and Bridge, 830-379-9721 (county records, checked 2026-09-13). In a residential subdivision without public sewer, the city also wants a percolation test against those county septic rules and no lot under one acre. A new access onto IH 10 or another state highway is TxDOT Form 1058 through the San Antonio District, 210-615-1110; the steps are on the driveway access sheet for state and county roads.

Checked at City of Cibolo Code of Ordinances, Chapter 30, Floods (Municode, Supplement 26), 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo Unified Development Code, January 10, 2024, Article 14, 2026-10-12.

Checked at Texas Department of Transportation, access management manual, driveway permits, 2026-09-13.

Checked at Texas Department of Transportation, San Antonio District, 2026-09-13.

Checked at Guadalupe County, On Site Sewage Facilities, 2026-09-13.

Checked at Guadalupe County Environmental Health Fee Schedule, approved March 2025 and revised October 23, 2025, 2026-09-13.

Checked at Guadalupe County, Road and Bridge and Other Fee Schedule, effective March 12, 2025, 2026-09-13.

Have four answers ready for the first call: whether the lot is inside the limits, its zoning district, whether it fronts a public street, and what the soil report shows. In a residential district the height cap can reshape the building, and on a commercial street the roof rule and the window count move the price as much as the steel tonnage.

Each request from this page is handed to one independent metal building contractor, which weighs it and decides whether to take the job. Cibolo registers each contractor before a permit issues, at $100.00 a year for a general contractor, and lists initial plan review for a commercial job under $15 million at 15 business days. Texas itself licenses no builder, a point the Bexar County and San Antonio permit guide covers, and the San Antonio start-to-finish guide lays out every step in order.

Checked at Sunset Advisory Commission, Texas Residential Construction Commission; TDLR regulated industries list, 2026-09-13.

Checked at City of Cibolo Code of Ordinances, Chapter 14, sections 14-29, 14-31 and 14-93 (Municode, Supplement 26), 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo, Ordinance 1517 and FY2026 Fee Schedule, Exhibit A, 2026-10-12.

Checked at City of Cibolo, permits and inspections process, 2026-10-12.