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Fremont moves to update municipal code to reflect state housing laws; downtown businesses raise concerns
Summary
Council accepted staff recommendations to introduce municipal code amendments aligning local zoning with recent state laws (including SB 9 and ADU rules). Public commenters from Niles and downtown urged the council to revisit restrictive use rules affecting legacy businesses and educational uses.
Fremont’s City Council voted to introduce a package of municipal code amendments intended to streamline development review, align local rules with state housing laws, and clarify definitions across the zoning code.
Planning staff presented revisions to subdivision, planning and zoning chapters that would allow ministerial approval of some industrial tentative subdivision maps, update commercial use tables to match prior code updates, incorporate state changes to ADUs and two-unit/lot-split rules commonly associated with SB 9, and adjust noticing and fee-payment time frames to conform with state law. The presentation noted the amendments were recommended by the planning commission and staff recommended the council find the changes exempt from CEQA and introduce an ordinance (Planning Manager/Staff).
Council members sought additional detail about implementation and metrics for related housing goals. Vice Mayor Zhang and others asked staff to roll out public-facing performance measures and timelines for the four retreat priorities, and to explicitly call out downtown economic development as a measurable focus. Staff said many metrics already exist in department reporting and that staff is organizing them in a more accessible format for public review.
During the public hearing, speakers from historic commercial districts in Fremont urged caution. John Weed told the council the code’s prior revisions have used the term "use not permitted" and curtailed the council and public input in some cases. Kristen Lane, a local business owner in Niles, said overly restrictive zoning and prohibitions on use variances make it harder for legacy businesses to survive and asked the council to revisit those sections. Kelly April expressed concern about heavy regulation of "educational services" in some town centers and asked the council to ensure longstanding businesses are protected.
Planning staff responded that the proposed changes do not affect existing legal nonconforming businesses, which "are allowed to remain as legal nonconforming uses, indefinitely," and that certain entitlement levels were being adjusted to match what is already permitted elsewhere in the city.
Council member Liu moved and Council member Campbell seconded to accept staff recommendations and introduce the ordinance; the motion passed 6–0 with one absence (Council member King). Staff said additional study sessions or metrics rollouts could follow as the council requested.
