To: Board of Supervisors
From: John Kopchik, Director, Conservation and Development
Report Title: Report on Comprehensive Zoning Code Update
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
ACCEPT a report on the Comprehensive Zoning Code Update and PROVIDE direction to staff.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The project is funded by the Land Development Fund. No impact to the General Fund.
BACKGROUND:
On November 5, 2024, the Board adopted the Contra Costa County 2045 General Plan, establishing a comprehensive, long-range vision for the County's future. The General Plan directs the County to undertake a comprehensive update of its Zoning Code (primarily Title 8 of the County Ordinance Code) to implement the Plan's goals and policies. This project represents the first comprehensive overhaul of the County's zoning regulations since they were first adopted in 1947.
The Zoning Code is the primary tool for implementing the General Plan, and State law mandates that it must be consistent with a local jurisdiction’s General Plan. The current zoning code has been amended in a piecemeal fashion over many decades, resulting in a document that is often unintuitive, difficult for the public and staff to navigate, and inconsistent with the modern land use policies established in the 2045 General Plan.
As detailed in the Zoning Update Report, which your Board reviewed in June 2024, this project aims to create a modern, user-friendly, and legally consistent Zoning Code. The primary goals of the update are to:
• Align regulations and procedures with the 2045 General Plan’s vision, goals, policies, and actions.
• Ensure the Code is accessible and easy to use for residents, business owners, and applicants.
• Establish a clear, transparent, and predictable planning review process.
• Support zoning regulations that reflect contemporary development patterns and best practices in community planning.
Staff is now bringing forward the following three foundational components of the project for the Board's initial feedback and direction before proceeding with detailed drafting and extensive public outreach.
Public Outreach Plan
Effective public engagement is critical to the success of this project. Staff has developed an Outreach Plan that builds upon the extensive community input received during the 2045 General Plan process. The plan outlines a multi-phased strategy to engage and inform a wide range of stakeholders, including the general public, community organizations, Municipal Advisory Councils (MACs), the Planning Commission, and this Board. The outreach process is designed to be a "living document," allowing for flexibility and refinement as the project progresses. Key objectives include raising awareness of the update's purpose, educating stakeholders on significant proposed changes, and soliciting substantive feedback on the draft code before its final adoption.
Zoning Code Organization
A primary goal of this update is to make the Zoning Code more accessible and logical. The current code's organization is unintuitive, with regulations for a single project often spread across multiple divisions and even different titles of the Ordinance Code.
Staff proposes a comprehensive reorganization to create a streamlined, user-friendly framework. Key changes include:
• Consolidating Zoning Districts: The current code contains 37 base zoning districts, including nine distinct single-family residential districts. Staff proposes consolidating these districts to directly align with the more streamlined Land Use Designations in the 2045 General Plan. This will simplify the zoning map and make development standards easier to understand. The current proposal would include one residential zoning district for each residential land use designation from the General Plan.
• Improving Accessibility: The new code will make extensive use of modern formatting tools such as tables, matrices, lists, and illustrative diagrams. This will replace long narrative text, making it significantly easier for applicants and the public to find and understand development standards like setbacks, height limits, and permitted uses.
• Logical Structure: The code will be reorganized from the current 11 divisions into a more intuitive 5-division structure. All planning and entitlement procedures will be consolidated into Title 8 (Zoning) to create a single point of reference for applicants.
Specific Plans and Areawide P-1 Districts
Over the past several decades, the County has adopted numerous Specific Plans and areawide P-1 zoning districts for various communities. As shown on the map in the presentation, these plans create an additional, and often duplicative, layer of regulation. Many are now significantly outdated, with some dating back to the 1970s, and contain development standards and policies that may not reflect the vision outlined in the 2045 General Plan. This forces staff, applicants, and the public to navigate three separate sets of documents (the General Plan, the Zoning Code, and the Specific Plan) for a single project, creating confusion and inefficiency.
Staff proposes to streamline this complex system by retiring these standalone documents and integrating their relevant and still-applicable provisions into the County's primary regulatory documents. This will be done through a careful, community-by-community analysis to ensure that unique local objectives are preserved. The proposed methodology is as follows:
• General Plan: High-level goals and policies will be incorporated into the Community Profiles section of the General Plan.
• Zoning Code: Permitted land uses and unique development standards (e.g., parking requirements near a BART station) will be integrated into the new base zoning districts and new overlay zones.
• Objective Design Standards: Specific design criteria (e.g., building materials or fencing requirements) will be incorporated into a set of countywide Objective Design Standards.
This approach will eliminate outdated and redundant regulations while preserving the core vision of each plan in a more accessible framework, ultimately creating a more efficient and predictable process.
CONCLUSION
The Comprehensive Zoning Code Update is a foundational project that will serve as the primary implementation tool for the County's 2045 General Plan for decades to come. Staff seeks the Board's early direction on the proposed outreach plan, code organization, and strategy for specific plans to ensure the project proceeds in a manner that reflects the Board's vision for a modern, efficient, and user-friendly regulatory system.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If the Board does not accept the report, the Department of Conservation and Development will not move forward with the next step of Comprehensive Zoning Code update.