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City of San Leandro <br />City Council Staff Report <br />Civic Center <br />835 East 14th Street <br />San Leandro, California <br />Staff Report for Discussion on Updating the Zoning Code <br />SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS <br />Staff requests direction from the City Council regarding updates to the Zoning Code, specifically <br />initiating a comprehensive update to modernize the City’s Zoning Code, and to integrate new, <br />updated, and ongoing policy issues. Although the City conducts regular updates to the Zoning Code, <br />it has not initiated a truly comprehensive update for the purpose of modernizing its organization and <br />layout since 1989. A comprehensive update would focus on reformatting and clarifying existing <br />provisions to be more user-friendly, implementing recent City initiatives, such as the proposed Bayfair <br />TOD Specific Plan, and to address public comments and regulatory updates regarding the <br />Professional Office or P-zoning district, short-term rentals, accessory dwelling units, <br />telecommunications, and sustainable landscaping, amongst others. <br />An alternative to a comprehensive update could be a targeted Zoning Code update, which would <br />focus on one or a few specific initiatives described above. Tonight, staff seeks City Council direction <br />on how to proceed regarding the aforementioned recommendations. <br />BACKGROUND <br />The Zoning Code is the primary tool of implementation for the General Plan, the comprehensive <br />policy guide for the City, as well as specific plans such as the Downtown Transit Oriented <br />Development (TOD) Strategy and the proposed Bayfair TOD Specific Plan (which is tentatively <br />scheduled for City Council consideration at its February 20, 2018 regular meeting). The City’s power <br />to implement planning is granted by the State Constitution; the Legislature regularly passes <br />legislation that affects the Zoning Code. <br />The original Zoning Code was adopted in 1961; it consisted of one chapter within the Municipal <br />Code. The City’s first major modernization effort began in February 1989, a three-year process that <br />resulted in the establishment of a “hearing draft” of the Zoning Code in 1991. After further discussion <br />and amendments over the following year, the current iteration of the Zoning Code was adopted by <br />the City Council in 1992. <br />Since that time, the City has regularly updated individual chapters of the Zoning Code, primarily in <br />response to specific issues, State legislative mandates or to bring the Zoning Code into conformance <br />with General Plan or Specific Plan updates (i.e., inclusionary zoning, accessory dwelling units, etc.). <br />The last major update to the Zoning Code was approved by the City Council in September 2016 in <br />conjunction with the 2035 General Plan update. The changes were necessary to bring the Zoning <br />Code into conformance with both the Downtown Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy and <br />the 2035 General Plan Update. While that public planning process implemented provisions such as <br />File #:18-042,Version:1 <br />City of San Leandro Page 1 of 3 2/05/2018