Dublin City Council To Review Revised Zoning Ordinance

DUBLIN, CA — The Dublin City Council is set to adopt a series of wide-ranging amendments to the city’s Zoning Ordinance to comply with the 2023-2031 Housing Element of the General Plan. The changes were first read on June 17. Staff is recommending that the city council waive the second reading and formally adopt the ordinance. The package was unanimously approved by the Dublin Planning Commission on May 27.

The proposed amendments affect more than a dozen chapters of the Dublin Municipal Code, and are designed to remove red tape for certain housing and health care projects. Key items include establishing guidelines for Low-Barrier Navigation Centers, temporary shelters that connect the unhoused with permanent housing. Under the new ordinance, LBNCs would be permitted in certain mixed-use and commercial districts with streamlined approval.

It also allows microenterprise kitchens - small, home-based food businesses - to operate in residential zones without any additional city approval beyond a business license. Microenterprise kitchens are already regulated by Alameda County.

The revised ordinance would put Dublin in compliance with state law to allow reproductive health clinics as permitted uses in commercial and industrial areas with minimal discretionary review.

The ordinance also amends definitions to zoning districts and permitted uses, development regulations, accommodations for persons with disabilities, home occupation rules, inclusionary zoning, off-street parking, and more.

The proposed changes have been deemed exempt for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review.

See here to learn more, and here for the Dublin City Council’s full Tuesday agenda.