Zoning is the primary tool for translating a community’s vision into built reality. It can also seem complex, opaque and confusing for community members, elected officials and local government staff.
As local governments work to implement community housing goals, improve equity and facilitate more diverse housing typologies, zoning tools will need to be reconsidered to avoid carrying over legacy regulations. This can include adding or removing allowed residential uses, revising development standards to increase density and improve development feasibility, or creating new zoning districts to introduce housing in places where there has not been any before.
This page offers advice and resources for staff and officials working on rezoning initiatives to achieve local housing goals. It includes:
Getting Rezoning Right: Six Guiding Principles
The following are key tips from zoning professionals to help ensure an effective rezoning process that aligns zoning regulations with the community’s vision and adopted policies.
Download a more comprehensive overview of these six principles and a two-page Checklist and review additional rezoning resources from the RHTA Program and other organizations for more information.
See the Rezoning Project Profiles for examples from communities around the Bay Area that have updated their zoning to help facilitate more housing and better meet community needs.
1: Follow State Law
Understand what state law requirements apply to your zoning project and plan for them from the start. In many cases, this will include Housing Element law and regulations pursuant to SB 330 (2019), but jurisdictions may also want to consider the effects of State Density Bonus Law and streamlining bills such as SB35 (2017) and AB 2162 (2018).
Zoning Ordinances must be consistent with General Plans, even in charter cities.
Rezoning may not result in downzoning. SB 330 prohibits communities from reducing the intensity of land use that was in effect as of January 1, 2018. This includes reduction to height, density, or floor area ratios, or any other action that would reduce a site’s residential capacity.
Housing Element law sets specific requirements for certain situations. This includes limitations on mixed-use development on sites accommodating lower income households to meet the RHNA; triggers for by-right review; and deadlines for rezoning to meet the RHNA.
Pro Tip! Don’t stress over State Density Bonus Law waivers and concessions. Focus on developing regulations based on community priorities, understanding that some projects will request waivers and concessions in exchange for providing affordable, senior or other qualifying developments.
2: Set Clear Goals and Expectations
Look to your community’s adopted policies to establish a clear, shared vision for what the rezoning is aiming to achieve. Agree on goals and expected outcomes before launching into all the details of rezoning.
Rely on the General Plan and Specific Plans as the starting point for the community’s vision. These adopted plans and policies provide the foundation for defining goals for a rezoning project.
Zoning, design guidelines and development standards work together to implement the vision, consistent with adopted plans. Strive for a consistent set of tools, taking care to identify related and intersecting guidelines and code sections that will need to be updated to achieve project goals and maintain internal consistency.
Objective standards provide clear guidance and greater certainty while supporting affordability. The RHTA Program has excellent resources for developing objective standards while weighing impacts on financial feasibility.
Pro tip! Include rezoning as part of the scope of work for Specific Plan or General Plan update RFPs.
3: Align for Outcomes
Audit the code to determine whether existing regulations support the adopted vision, goals and policies for housing (see Rule 2). The rezoning effort should ensure the alignment of zoning standards with these goals.
Is your Zoning incentivizing or disincentivizing the desired outcome? Communities’ zoning regulations are often not aligned with the goals set forth in policy documents. Conduct a zoning audit to analyze this alignment and identify necessary amendments.
Ensure that the types of housing desired are the easiest to build. Is your desired outcome possible, feasible and probable? Make desired outcomes the easiest to build by ensuring:
- Uses are allowed by right
- Standards are objective
- Streamlined review is available
- No special conditions or requirements apply
- Incentivize the desired housing outcome. Increase the probability of housing you want to see:
- Limit or constrain competing uses
- Increase density for residential and mixed-use projects
- Incentivize lot consolidations to enable larger, more feasible housing sites
- Consider public hearings and the level of design review
- Talk with property owners at key sites that could serve as catalyst projects
- Support physical and financial feasibility for desired housing. Make sure that development standards permit the type of development identified in adopted plan goals and policies.
4: Hone Your Strategy
Consider the benefits and drawbacks of different options before selecting a rezoning strategy. Then ensure shared clarity among your project team and city leadership on the selected strategy and scope of the work effort.
How big of a change will this rezoning be? Will the rezoning project be focused on modifying existing standards to improve housing feasibility? Facilitating infill housing and new housing choices in established neighborhoods and contexts? Introducing housing where there has not been housing before? These are fundamental questions that will inform the scope and complexity of the effort.
Will you work within the existing zoning code structure? Do you want to make more comprehensive changes to the Zoning Ordinance? The level of effort will likely be proportional to how radical the vision is.
Will changes be implemented through a map amendment, text amendment or both?
Select Zoning Strategy. Based on input from community outreach efforts, interdepartmental coordination and decision-maker input on the rezoning options, identify a recommended rezoning strategy.
5: Develop a Realistic Work Plan, Timeline and Budget
With clarity on project goals and strategy, create a detailed roadmap for your project, including analyses, public engagement, code writing, environmental review and adoption.
Document the project’s goals, objectives and expected outcomes.
Outline the project scope. Identify work plan, implementation timelines and available budget.
Determine consultant needs: Consider whether you complete the work relying on in-house capabilities and resources or if you will need an outside consultant, such as designers, economists, zoning professionals, GIS or engagement specialists.
Develop the project management plan and outreach strategy.
Conduct analyses, informed by community, staff and decision-maker input. Based on input from community outreach, interdepartmental coordination and discussions with decision makers, define and evaluate rezoning alternatives and their efficacy in achieving project goals.
Draft the proposed code changes.
Conduct environmental review.
Finalize the proposed rezoning and take through the formal public review and adoption process.
6: Ensure Consensus At Every Step
Sometimes rezoning is the final step in a long process of planning that has built consensus about the proposed changes. But sometimes it is where the hard decisions get made. Be sure to build in adequate outreach, education and engagement to ensure understanding and support.
Interdepartmental collaboration: Within the government entity, determine who else needs to contribute to and review the proposed zoning changes (e.g., public works, fire and building departments). Determine which departments need to be involved and what their roles and responsibilities will be with respect to specific code sections.
Stakeholders: Consider community members, decision-makers, property owners and developers (market rate and affordable), advocates and neighborhood groups. Which voices are not being represented in the conversation? Consider targeted outreach to underrepresented groups including people of color, youth, lower income households and people with disabilities. For more information, read the RHTA primer on best practices for equitable engagement.
Affected property owners: Notify property owners who will be affected by the rezoning.
Decision-Maker Input: Consider how to include Planning Commission and Design Review Board feedback. Plan on final legislative action by the City Council. Anticipate the sequence and number of study sessions vs. action hearings.
Pro Tip! Users’ Guides and Handouts: To make rezoning more accessible, some communities prepare complementary resources that can distill complicated information into accessible formats.