Council introduces ordinance to align Ukiah zoning with county agricultural designations

The Ukiah City Council introduced by title only an ordinance to update city zoning and agricultural definitions to match select Mendocino County standards and to implement the Ukiah 2040 general plan’s agricultural consistency program.

Catherine Schaeffer, the city’s planning manager, explained the ordinance is an implementation item of the Ukiah 2040 general plan (Implementation Program C). Staff said the changes would adopt county terminology — such as Rangeland, Upland Residential and Agricultural-40 — for areas outside city limits and update the city’s ag combining district used inside the city. The presentation noted the only area within city limits currently designated as an agricultural combining overlay comprises roughly 39 acres adjacent to the Ukiah Wastewater Treatment Plant; no other city lands are zoned for exclusive agricultural use today.

Council members asked questions about how the ordinance would treat cannabis cultivation and whether the city would follow the county’s ministerial process or continue to require discretionary use permits. Schaeffer said the city will diverge from the county on cannabis by retaining discretionary review for cannabis-related permits, rather than adopting the county’s ministerial (by-right) approach. Staff also recommended a specific revision to section 9174.2(f)(4) to remove redundant language on outdoor commercial cannabis cultivation location limits.

Councilmembers supported introducing the ordinance by title. Members moved and seconded the introduce-by-title motion and later voted to introduce the ordinance; the motion passed on a roll-call vote. Staff said the ordinance text and redline are in the meeting packet and that this introduction advances the city’s broader annexation and agricultural-preservation objectives by standardizing terminology with the county.