Milpitas council adopts comprehensive zoning ordinance update, citing modernization and consistency with general plan

The Milpitas City Council on Aug. 12 adopted a comprehensive update to the city's zoning ordinance, approving General Plan amendment GP250001 and introducing Ordinance No. 38.858 to place the updated zoning code in a new Title 13 of the Milpitas Municipal Code.

City Planning Director Jay Lee and consultant Jen Morello described Phase 2 of a two-phase zoning rewrite as a reorganization and modernization effort meant to make the zoning code easier to use and internally consistent with the Milpitas 2040 General Plan. Lee said the update is focused on formatting, clearer standards, tables and graphics and compliance with recent state and federal law: "This project is a full reorganization and modernization and updating of the zoning ordinance," he told the council.

The update does not, staff emphasized, change existing land use designations or materially increase development potential. The draft ordinance aligns density and floor-area-ratio standards with the recently…