San Ramon council hears public input on wide-ranging zoning ordinance updates; adoption set for Oct. 14

City staff presented a package of zoning ordinance text amendments at the San Ramon City Council public hearing on Sept. 23, saying the changes are intended to bring the municipal code into alignment with the city’s General Plan 2040 and the 2023 housing element.

City staff member Cindy Yi described the proposals as technical and policy updates carried forward from two years of study and prior council and Planning Commission discussions. “Tonight’s public hearing just continues to, provide an opportunity to receive feedback from the community, as well as the the city council and to introduce the ordinance, attached, for your consideration,” Yi said.

The staff package described edits across multiple chapters of the zoning code: updated residential definitions and density ranges to match the general plan; addition of mixed-use zones recently adopted in the General Plan; references to the city’s objective design and development standards; relocated adult-business provisions after deletion of an older CS zone; removal of land-use permitting for child day-care facilities where state law now prohibits such local requirements; and a new residential beekeeping policy. Yi told the council that the beekeeping standard had been reduced in the draft from an initial 10,000-square-foot minimum lot size to 6,000 square feet and clarified it does not allow commercial honey production.

The Planning Commission considered the text amendments in August and on Aug. 19 adopted Resolution No. 11-25 recommending council approval.

During public comment and the subsequent public hearing several residents raised concerns about how the proposed code would change administrative review authority and whether that would reduce public notice and opportunities for comment. Longtime planning critic Susie Ferris Inderkum said changes repeatedly replaced joint review by an architectural review board and the Planning Commission with sole authority for the zoning administrator. “I noticed in the packet, on packet page 188, it was changed from zoning administrator and ARB, architectural review board approval, to just be the zoning administrator,” Inderkum said, and urged that each project’s review authority be spelled out clearly in tracking reports and notices.

Inderkum also highlighted proposed reductions in parking standards and warned that fewer required spaces could become a quality-of-life or safety issue in areas without on-street parking.

A separate public commenter, Shirod Kathrani, urged the council to treat voter-approved Measure G as still controlling and to return changes to voters; city staff and the city attorney disputed that reading. City attorney Martin Licens said, “By its own terms, Measure G applied to General Plan 2020,” and explained that Measure G no longer governs the current general plan amendments the city has undertaken since that earlier plan.

Council members asked staff whether the proposed changes would affect already-approved projects; staff answered that approved projects are generally governed by the rules in effect at the time of approval and that new applications filed after any ordinance effective date would be subject to the updated code. Staff also reported prior outreach to property owners and described a post-adoption outreach plan using social media and direct notices.

After discussion the council voted to continue the item and set the ordinance for adoption at the Oct. 14 council meeting. The motion to continue passed 4-0 with Council Member Rubio absent. The council had opened and closed the public hearing earlier that evening to receive the public testimony.

Votes at a glance: The council approved a consent ordinance amending municipal code chapters on solid waste and recycling (Ordinance 5.33) on the consent calendar; that item passed 4-0 with Council Member Rubio absent. The separate motion to continue the zoning text amendment to Oct. 14 also passed 4-0 with Rubio absent.

Why this matters: The package implements parts of the city’s General Plan 2040 and 2023 housing element and adjusts local rules to match changes in state law. Changes to who may approve development applications, parking requirements, and the list of allowed uses can affect how and where new housing, retail and other uses are sited in San Ramon.

The council will consider final adoption of the zoning ordinance text amendment at its Oct. 14 meeting. Staff materials and the revised ordinance exhibit were added to the agenda packet on Sept. 23; staff noted one page (packet page 78 of the revised packet) had been added the afternoon of Sept. 23 and distributed to the council.