On September 11, 2007, the Palo Alto City Council approved the final revisions to the City’s comprehensive update of the Zoning Ordinance, Title 18 of the Municipal Code. The revised ordinance became effective on October 11, 2007. The ordinance includes a new format for the code, with a more extensive use of tables and updated definitions. Also included are context-based design criteria (form-based coding) for multi-family, commercial, mixed use, and pedestrian-transit oriented development. A PDF version of the Zoning Ordinance is also provided for easier viewing, downloading, and printing. Links to background issues papers and a history of the Palo Alto Zoning Ordinance are provided below.
The Zoning Ordinance is the City's primary regulatory tool to provide orderly development, to protect property values, to address interface and compatibility with adjacent properties and to ensure public health and safety. The Zoning Ordinance outlines:
allowable uses of property, such as residential, retail commercial, office, industrial, public and/or recreational uses;
the permitted intensity of those uses, such as prescribing the minimum lot size or maximum number of units per acre for residential development, or the land coverage and floor area allowed for office and retail development;
required standards for proposed development, such as height, setbacks, parking, landscaping, limitations on noise and odor, etc.; and
the procedures set forth for reviewing and approving development proposals, including submittal requirements, design review provisions, public hearing requirements and appeals.
The Zoning Ordinance Update implemented many of the Housing Element programs and policies adopted as part of the 1998 Comprehensive Plan, and included review of many of the zoning requirements that affect the feasibility of housing projects, such as floor-to-area ratios and parking requirements. The Update process involved staff research and review of the existing ordinance to identify areas needing modification, Planning Commission review of proposed policies and revised provisions and City Council policy direction and final adoption.
The Zoning Ordinance is a dynamic document, and will continue to be amended from time to time to reflect changed circumstances and updated zoning practices. For further information on the development of the ordinance and continuing amendments, please contact the Department of Planning and Community Environment at 650-329-2441.
