Zoning Case File 26-1709
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Approve a resolution initiating amendments to City Code Title 25 (Land Development) to modify site development and other regulations for two-unit and three-unit residential uses and allow two-unit and three-unit residential uses in all zoning districts and regulating plans where single family and multifamily residential uses are permitted consistent with HOME Phases 1 and 2 regulations; and directing the City Manager to take steps to improve the feasibility of small-scale residential development and report back to Council.
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Confirm no code change yet for two- and three-unit housing
Why now: The May 7, 2026 Council item approves a resolution initiating Title 25 amendments and directing the City Manager to report back, with no adopted ordinance text or effective date in the record.
What to do: Pull the adopted resolution text and the staff drafting schedule before telling any client that three-unit use is now permitted on their site — this action initiates amendments and directs staff to report back, it does not amend Title 25. Ask specifically whether the resolution identifies which regulating plans are covered and whether it sets a return date to Council, since an initiation with no stated deadline leaves permit applications governed by existing HOME Phase 1 and 2 rules indefinitely.
Act before: After the next material record update
Scout commercial and form-based-code sites for triplex feasibility
Why now: The May 7, 2026 resolution initiates Title 25 amendments to allow two-unit and three-unit residential in all zoning districts and regulating plans where single family and multifamily are permitted, and to modify site development regulations for those uses.
What to do: Build a parcel list of sites in commercial, mixed-use and regulating-plan (form-based code) areas that already permit multifamily but not two- or three-unit residential — those are the parcels this amendment would newly open. Hold off on final unit counts and site plans until the draft ordinance text lands, because the same resolution also directs changes to setbacks, impervious cover and other site development standards for two- and three-unit uses, so today's HOME Phase 1 and 2 standards are a moving target.
Act before: After the draft ordinance text is published
Ask what blocks small-scale housing that earlier reforms missed
Why now: The May 7, 2026 resolution directs the City Manager to take steps to improve feasibility of small-scale residential development and report back to Council, without specifying scope or timing.
What to do: Request the backup material and the City Manager's report-back on "improving the feasibility of small-scale residential development" — the resolution names no deadline, no metrics and no list of the barriers it is meant to fix. The obvious question the record does not answer: if HOME Phases 1 and 2 already legalized these units, why is a third round needed, and did staff find that permitting cost, utility connection fees, lot standards or financing — not zoning — is what has kept duplexes and triplexes from being built?
Act before: After the requested records are produced
Check whether duplexes and triplexes could reach your block
Why now: The May 7, 2026 resolution would allow two-unit and three-unit residential uses in all zoning districts and regulating plans where single family and multifamily are permitted, and modifies site development regulations for those uses.
What to do: Look up your parcel's zoning district and any neighborhood regulating plan that covers it; if that district allows single family or multifamily today, two- and three-unit buildings would become allowed there under this amendment — including on commercial and mixed-use frontages that have never had houses on them. Weigh in while staff is still drafting the setback, height and impervious cover standards, because once the ordinance returns to Council those numbers are largely set.
Act before: After the draft ordinance returns to Council
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Approve a resolution initiating amendments to City Code Title 25 (Land Development) to modify site development and other regulations for two-unit and three-unit residential uses and allow two-unit and three-unit residential uses in all zoning districts and regulating plans where single family and multifamily residential uses are permitted consistent with HOME Phases 1 and 2 regulations; and directing the City Manager to take steps to improve the feasibility of small-scale residential development and report back to Council.