Zoning Code Updates
The Department of Planning and Community Development is preparing several policy updates to be considered by the Planning Commission and City Council this spring.
Community Meetings & Past Meeting Information
March 13, 2025 Community Meeting: On Thursday, March 13th, a virtual community meeting was held at 5:30 PM to learn about the following policy updates. For those who could not attend, below you will find the link to the recorded community meeting.
Objective Standards
The City adopted the Objective Standards for Multifamily Housing in 2022. After a couple of years of implementing the standards, the proposed amendments aim to clarify several standards and further facilitate the development of high quality multi-family and mixed use housing. For more information, see the Objective Design Standards for Multifamily Housing - 2025 Updates page.
Density Bonus
State law and City regulations allow residential and mixed-use developments to construct additional units beyond what would otherwise be permitted by zoning when a percentage of the overall units are designated for sale or rent at an affordable cost to income-qualifying households. Amendments to the City's density bonus provisions will ensure the municipal code remains consistent with several recent updates to state density bonus law, and were identified as necessary by Housing Element program 2.3a.
Reasonable Accommodations
The Fair Housing Act requires jurisdictions to provide reasonable accommodations with regard to rules, policies, practices, and procedures where such accommodations may be necessary to make housing accessible for persons with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations provide a basis for residents with disabilities to request flexibility in the application of land use and zoning regulations or, in some instances, even a waived of certain regulations or requirements to ensure equal access to housing opportunities. The City is developing reasonable accommodations procedures and will make that information available on our website., as called out in Housing Element program 3.1c
Licensed Community Care Facilities
Housing Element program 3.1d calls for the City to update Zoning Ordinance requirements related to community care licensing facilities of seven or more people to allow these uses in all residential zones, if necessary, and modify the permitting process to permit the uses with objectivity to facilitate approval certainty similar to other uses of the same type in the same zone.
Low-barrier navigation centers
To achieve consistency with state law and Housing Element program 3.3l, proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance would establish a ministerial review process to approve low-barrier navigation centers to serve homeless community members.
Supporting Historic Preservation on Mission Street
The eastern stretch of Mission Street, zoned Professional and Administrative Office District, includes several historically designated buildings, most of which were originally constructed as residences. A proposed municipal code amendment would allow these buildings to apply for approval for a residential use on the ground floor as part of a multi-family use or residential-commercial mixed use when combined with actions to rehabilitate and preserve the historic structure.