ZONING ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS

1. Tiny Homes 
At their October 14, 2020 meeting, the Planning Commission expressed support for small dwellings, known as “tiny homes”, as one strategy for meeting affordable housing needs in Fairfield. The Fairfield Zoning Ordinance currently establishes a minimum size of 960 square feet for a primary single-family residence on a residential lot. Detached dwellings smaller than this size may only be constructed as Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), subordinate to a larger primary home on a lot. The City’s Zoning Ordinance establishes no minimum size for ADUs. To allow primary houses smaller than 960 square feet, zoning regulations need to be amended. Such primary houses, for the purposes of this amendment, are considered “tiny” houses.

To facilitate new tiny home development, staff proposes a series of changes to the Fairfield Zoning Ordinance. The proposed amendments permit and facilitate the development of smaller homes in certain zoning districts, including the Heart of Fairfield area. To provide the flexibility needed to develop smaller homes in Fairfield, staff recommends amending Table 25-5, (Residential Low Medium, Residential Medium, and Residential High Small Lot Development Standards) and Table 25-H5 (Development Regulations for Single Family Homes). Key provisions in the amended ordinance include:

• Reducing minimum house size to as low as 200 square feet in zoning districts that prescribe no minimum lot size. 

• Allowing tiny home development on either individual lots or clustered on a single lot.

• Reducing certain development standards for parking, private open space, and minimum lot widths. 

• Establishing minimum trash container and other storage requirements for houses smaller than 960 square feet. 

• Allowing development of small houses independent of multifamily development. 

With one exception, regulations for construction of houses greater than 960 square feet in size do not change under any of the proposed amendments. Reduction in private open space requirements, and flexibility to alternately develop common open space applies to standard sized houses as well as tiny houses. 

2. Height Limits in Multi-Family Zones 
The Planning Commission also expressed interest in reviewing height limits for multi-family development. Nearly all zones that permit multi-family housing have a maximum by-right height limit of 45 feet, with the exception of the “Transit-Oriented Development” zone within the Heart of Fairfield area, which allows up to 65 feet by-right. The Zoning Ordinance does allow increased heights with a Conditional Use Permit in exchange for additional building setbacks. 

Over the last year, three multi-family projects have sought approval of additional height. All have been for projects at the upper end of the allowed density range, roughly 32 units per acre, and all requests were for less than 5 additional feet. The Planning Commission unanimously approved all three projects.  

While there is merit in requiring additional setback for taller buildings, it is increasingly clear that the 45-foot height limit does not facilitate higher densities already allowed by-right. For this reason, staff proposes increasing the maximum by-right height limits by five to fifteen feet in the three primary zones in the Heart of Fairfield Plan Area and the Train Station Specific Plan Area that allow higher densities These amendments also facilitate mixed-use projects with higher density and first or second floor commercial uses, a goal of the Heart of Fairfield Plan. 

3. Covenants required for Junior Accessory Dwelling Units 
Junior Accessory Dwelling Units (JADUs) are smaller units built largely within the footprint of an existing house. State law requires recordation of a covenant to ensure compliance with all requirements. In addition, State law requires owner occupancy on properties proposing a JADU. Owners can reside either in the newly created JADU or the remainder of the preexisting home. State law does waive this owner occupancy requirement for a government agency, land trust, or housing organization. 

4. Mixed Use Regulations   
Section 25.22.4.3 establishes requirements for mixed use development in commercial zoning districts. The regulations address development of mixed-use projects in multiple zones but the first, introductory paragraph, omits a reference to the Commercial Office (CO) and Neighborhood Commercial (CN) zones, making the section internally inconsistent as to where the regulations apply. The proposed amendment simply clarifies this by adding the CO and CN zones to the list of applicable districts in the first paragraph. 

5. Correction to inadvertently deleted note in Table 25-5
Several years ago, the City Council amended Note 5 in Table 25-5 to clarify how private open space is to be provided in small lot subdivisions. The amendment inadvertently deleted a reference to two graphical examples of how such open space can be provided (examples “A” and “G” in Figure 25-1). The proposed amendment restores this reference. 

6. Specialty Tobacco in the Heart of Fairfield
The Zoning Ordinance currently prohibits the “specialty tobacco” land use in the Downtown Commercial Core (HDC) and Downtown Commercial (HD) zoning districts. Staff recommends slightly relaxing this restriction to permit a very limited number of specialty tobacco uses downtown. The recommended 1200-foot separation prevents an overconcentration of this use. 

7. Automobile Maintenance and Minor Repair 
The Community Commercial (CC) zoning district applies to commercial areas of the City where retail goods and services are available to serve neighborhood and communitywide needs. Typical land uses include larger shopping centers, specialty shopping centers, and other retail establishments that serve the community at large. Auto maintenance can be part of this mixture, but an overconcentration of this use can replace other needed retail uses. As such, staff is recommending Minor Automotive Maintenance and Repair be made a “Conditional” land use. 

8. Extend the timeframe for interim use permits in the Train Station Specific Plan Area
Staff is working with various property owners and potential tenants interested in operating, on a temporary or interim basis, in the existing service commercial and limited industrial spaces along Cement Hill Road and Peabody Road. Most of these uses are not currently permitted by the Train Station Specific Plan, and require approval of an Interim Use Permit (IUP) to continue for a limited time frame.  As a condition of approval for approving Interim Use Permits, the City Code requires that landowners dedicate frontage needed for widening. The time period that landowners can apply for an Interim Use Permit expires in November. To ensure that there is sufficient time to process all the IUPs and obtain needed rights-of-way, staff recommends extending the deadline to apply for an IUP. The proposed amendment extends the deadline to one year from the effective date of the attached ordinance.  

MUNICIPAL CODE CHAPTER SEVEN AMENDMENTS
Chapter 7 of the Municipal Code governs the design and placement of electrical infrastructure in the City of Fairfield. One overall goal of the chapter is improving the aesthetics and safety of this infrastructure by requiring, to the extent practicable, the undergrounding of facilities. Public Works staff recommends extending this requirement to transformers within the Train Station Specific Plan Area, which can be quite large and visually obtrusive. This amendment will increase neighborhood appeal and allow developers to reduce space devoted to above ground infrastructure.  

SPECIFIC PLAN AMENDMENT (MIDWAY COURT)
The Heart of Fairfield Plan designates a vacant two-acre site at the north end of Midway Court as “Regional Commercial”, south of Auto Mall Parkway. This site is accessed only from a short residential street and located in an otherwise developed single family residential neighborhood. The site’s current zoning (RLM) reflects this location, the surrounding character, and anticipated development on the site. The Heart of Fairfield Plan inadvertently applied the Regional Commercial designation to this site, which should apply only to properties fronting directly on Auto Mall Parkway. The recommended amendment to the Plan assigns this property to the correct land use designation in the Heart of Fairfield Specific Plan (Residential Low Medium Density), bringing the Plan into consistency with the existing residential character of the neighborhood and the anticipated development of the vacant infill residential site.

Environmental Review 
The proposed amendments to the text of the Zoning Ordinance are exempt from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under Public Resources Code Section 20180.17 and CEQA Guidelines Section 15282(h), which exempt ordinances that implement state requirements with respect to ADUs; under CEQA Guidelines Section 15305, which categorically exempts Minor Alterations in Land Use Limitations; and under Section 15061(b)(3), the general rule that CEQA only applies to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. The text amendments make minor changes to clarify existing standards and requirements, permit land uses which are unlikely to have significant environmental effects beyond those already permitted in the Zoning Ordinance, correct errors and omissions, and will not result in any new substantial physical change to the environment.  

The proposed amendments to the Electricity Ordinance would likewise be exempt under Section 15305, Minor Alterations in Land Use Limitations

The proposed Heart of Fairfield Specific Plan Amendment would be exempt under Section 15305, Minor Alterations in Land Use Limitations.  

Brian Miller, Associate Planner

(707) 428-7446

bkmiller@fairfield.ca.gov

Alvin Lei, Associate City Engineer

(707) 428-7476

alei@fairfield.ca.gov