The practical differences are minimum lot size, who writes and enforces the building rules, the tax rate and the school district. Rules, zones and rates below are as of October 30, 2026, and this guide is updated when one changes.

River Oaks and the Villages differ on who makes the rules

River Oaks sits inside a city with no zoning, so recorded deed restrictions and an owners’ association set its building rules. Each Memorial Village is a city, so its council writes a zoning code and its building department enforces it.

River Oaks: deed restrictions and an owners’ board decide what gets built

In River Oaks, three recorded documents govern every lot: the original deed restrictions for its section, the 2006 Amended and Restated Restrictions and the current Policies and Procedures of River Oaks Property Owners, Inc. (ROPO), whose board must approve exterior changes in writing before work starts.

Will and Mike Hogg and Hugh Potter took over the Country Club Estates subdivision in 1924, and by 1947, according to ROPO’s history, 19 more subdivisions had joined it on about 1,100 acres. Every house is a detached single-family home, on sites that range from estates to greenway courts.

What the River Oaks restrictions say

The 2006 restatement, approved by owners of at least 75 percent of the property under Chapter 204 of the Texas Property Code, limits every lot to single-family use, prohibits duplexes, apartments and garage apartments, and treats a lease shorter than six consecutive months as a prohibited business use. The restrictions renew every ten years, ROPO and each owner can enforce them, and the board can vary setbacks and architecture but never use. ROPO also states that lots are, as a rule, not subdividable, and it allows no signs beyond those the Texas Property Code protects, so no real estate yard signs.

How ROPO reviews a new house or an addition

A new house, added living space or a substantial exterior renovation is a Major Project. Submittals are due by the 15th for the board meeting on the second Wednesday of the next month, ROPO will not accept one while the owner owes it fees, and interior-only work needs no approval. The 2023 Policies and Procedures, recorded in Harris County in December 2023, also cap a house’s height by lot size:

No house may exceed two and a half stories. The footprints of the house, garage and outbuildings plus all hardscape, including driveways, pools and patios, may not exceed 100 percent of the area inside the lot’s setbacks on a tract of 15,000 square feet or more, or 110 percent on a smaller one, a limit ROPO calculates differently from the City of Houston. A front-setback tree over six inches in caliper that dies within two years of nearby construction must be replaced with a hardwood or a board-approved species.

The Prevailing Setback

On some River Oaks streets the houses sit farther back than the recorded front setback, and the restrictions protect that line. Under the 2006 restatement, if a house is razed to build a new one, the board can refuse a new house placed nearer the street than the street’s Prevailing Setback, even where the plat would allow it. The 2023 Policies and Procedures say a Prevailing Setback exists when three or more nearby houses sit more than 15 feet behind the recorded setback line.

Where the City of Houston fits

The City of Houston helps enforce deed restrictions. Under Chapter 212 of the Texas Local Government Code and sections 10-551 to 10-555 of the Houston Code, the City Attorney can sue to enforce restrictions on use, setbacks, lot size, structures, orientation and permitted fences, with civil penalties of up to $1,000 a day, and a permit applicant swears the work violates no recorded restriction. At a sale, section 10-556 requires the seller to give the buyer a deed restriction notice at closing, signed by both and recorded. ROPO charges $375 for a resale certificate (10 calendar days) and a $400 transfer fee at closing, as of October 30, 2026, and its annual maintenance fee pays for back-door garbage pickup.

Afton Oaks, across Westheimer, has its own rules

Afton Oaks, inside Loop 610, south of Westheimer Road and southwest of River Oaks, is a separate deed-restricted neighborhood first developed in 1951, with updated ranch-style houses and new construction. Its own civic club, not ROPO, enforces restrictions amended and recorded in 2006, and its architectural review committee checks exterior work. In Houston ISD’s 2026-27 zones it is zoned to the School at St. George Place, Lanier Middle School and Lamar High School.

The Memorial Villages: six cities, six zoning codes

The Memorial Villages are separate cities: each incorporated in 1954 or 1955, elects its own mayor and council, adopts its own zoning code and runs its own permit office. Hilshire Village describes itself as “one of the six Memorial Villages surrounded by the City of Houston.”

The Memorial Villages Police Department serves Bunker Hill, Hunters Creek and Piney Point Villages; Hedwig Village has had its own department since January 1977; and the Spring Valley Police Department serves Spring Valley and Hilshire Villages. The Village Fire Department, formed by the six cities on December 20, 1978, serves all six.

Bunker Hill Village

Bunker Hill Village, about 1,250 homes governed by a mayor and five council members, requires District A lots of 20,000 square feet, 110 feet wide and 140 feet deep, with a 50-foot front yard (40 on a cul-de-sac) and 20-foot side yards. Impermeable surfaces may cover 45 percent of a lot and all coverage 55 percent, houses may reach 35 feet, and cutting any tree needs a permit.

Hunters Creek Village

Hunters Creek Village, about 1,460 homes, requires District R lots of 22,500 square feet, 75 feet wide and 120 feet deep, with a 50-foot front yard and side yards totaling 35 feet. Buildings may cover 25 percent of the lot, not counting pools, a house needs 2,000 square feet of living area, and trees 18 inches or more in circumference are protected.

Piney Point Village

Piney Point Village is one single-family district, with lots of at least 40,000 square feet, 100 feet wide and 100 feet deep, a 50-foot front yard on most streets and side yards of at least 15 percent of the lot width. Buildings may cover 30 percent of a lot and all impervious surfaces 50 percent, and the city reviews tree removal and drainage.

Hedwig Village

Hedwig Village requires lots of 21,000 square feet in District A and 15,000 in District C, with a house at least 70 feet from the street’s center line and 15-foot side yards. Buildings may cover 25 percent of a lot and all impermeable surfaces 40 percent.

Spring Valley Village

Spring Valley Village adopted its zoning ordinance in 1956 and first allowed two-story houses in 1981. District A lots need 10,000 square feet, a front setback of 25 or 30 feet on most streets and 8-foot side setbacks, and constructed surfaces may cover 60 percent of the lot behind the front building line.

Hilshire Village

Hilshire Village, the smallest at about a quarter of a square mile, requires 12,000-square-foot lots in R-1 and 8,000 in R-2, with a 30-foot front building line on most streets and 8-foot side setbacks. New construction may cover 55 percent of the lot behind the front building line.

Building and rebuilding: an owners’ board in River Oaks, a city hall in each Village

A River Oaks rebuild answers to a private board, then the City; a Village rebuild answers to one city.

In the Villages, a lot smaller than today’s minimum may still be buildable under the code’s nonconforming-lot rules. If a house is worth more for its land, our guide to selling a home as a lot or teardown to a builder covers how builders price a lot under these rules.

School districts: Houston ISD in River Oaks, Spring Branch ISD in most of the Villages

River Oaks is in Houston ISD, and four of the six Villages lie entirely in Spring Branch ISD; Hunters Creek and Piney Point Villages are mostly in Spring Branch ISD, with a small area at the southern end of each in Houston ISD. Both districts assign schools by address, so check the specific address before relying on a zone.

River Oaks and Houston ISD

Houston ISD’s 2026-27 attendance zones place River Oaks in the River Oaks Elementary, Lanier Middle School and Lamar High School zones. River Oaks Elementary, at 2008 Kirby Drive, runs a neighborhood program and a Vanguard magnet program whose School Choice lottery is open to students identified as gifted and talented in both reading and social studies and math and science. The HISD School Locator shows the zoned schools for any address.

The Villages and Spring Branch ISD

In Spring Branch ISD’s 2026-27 zones, every Village address in the district is zoned to Memorial High School and most to Spring Branch Middle School, while elementary zones vary within several Villages. Spring Branch ISD’s Find My Zoned School lookup returns the schools for a Village address.

Taxes: lower city rates in the Villages, a higher school rate

For tax year 2026, every Village’s city rate is below the City of Houston’s, and Spring Branch ISD’s school rate is $0.2142 per $100 higher than Houston ISD’s. River Oaks properties also pay Houston City College’s $0.098802, which does not tax Spring Branch ISD properties. Counting every unit, including the Water Authority, five Villages come in below River Oaks and Hilshire Village above it. Adopted 2026 rates per $100 of taxable value, before exemptions:

Each combined rate includes $0.676267 for Harris County and four other county-wide units, the same in both places; the Memorial Villages Water Authority adds $0.021503 to properties inside it. Exemptions differ too: both school districts exempt $140,000 plus 20 percent of a homestead’s value, Hedwig, Hilshire and Spring Valley add a 20 percent city homestead exemption, and Bunker Hill, Hunters Creek and Piney Point grant no general homestead exemption at the city level. Our guide to Houston property taxes, Village by Village carries every unit’s rate, and the homestead exemption guide explains who qualifies.

Distance to downtown, the Galleria and the Medical Center

River Oaks sits about 4 miles from downtown in a straight line; the Villages sit about 7 to 10 miles out and closer to the Galleria. Rounded straight-line distances from the center of each place:

Marnie Greenwood’s sales in River Oaks and the Villages

Marnie Greenwood’s closed sales on Compass include 25 in the Memorial Villages (Bunker Hill Village 8, Hunters Creek Village 8, Piney Point Village 5, Hedwig Village 2, Spring Valley Village 2), 17 of them with a list price of $2 million or more, and 9 in River Oaks and Afton Oaks (River Oaks 7, Afton Oaks 2), each with a list price of $2 million or more. They also include 16 in the Tanglewood area, 9 of them inside Tanglewood, the City of Houston neighborhood just west of Loop 610 near the Galleria. Her River Oaks page and the Memorial Villages homes for sale page show what is on the market now.

Frequently asked questions