Chino study session previews major zoning-code overhaul to implement Chino 2045

City planning staff and consultants presented a multi-part study-session briefing on a comprehensive zoning-code update intended to implement the recently adopted Chino 2045 General Plan and to bring the municipal code into compliance with state law.

Mike Hitz (principal planner) and Andrew Hill (consultant) outlined the project roadmap: reorganize Title 20 into numbered series (200 commercial/residential/industrial; 300 overlays; 500 supplemental standards; 600 administrative procedures; 700 glossary) to make the code easier to use and to add new sections. Staff said the full draft zoning code would be released for public review in late spring or early summer and public hearings would follow.

On approvals, the update would expand objective by-right allowances for certain commercial and industrial uses when standards are met, reserving conditional-use permits (CUPs) for uses with potential neighborhood, traffic or safety impacts (examples cited: some massage uses and certain supermarkets). A new temporary-use permit chapter would create standardized time-limited approvals (24-hour, 60-day, 1–5 year) with director-level approvals subject to appeal to the planning commission. Staff stressed that some uses (storage facilities, certain industrial operations) may still require CUPs depending on zone and adjacency to residences.

The update incorporates state Assembly Bill 98 (2024) requirements for new or expanded logistics uses within 900 feet of sensitive receptors: locational limits, loading-bay setbacks (300 feet from a sensitive property line), entry/exit set-backs, truck-routing plans, idling limits (3 minutes maximum) and additional measures for projects of 250,000 square feet or more (on-site EV charging, zero-emission forklifts/off-road vehicles). Staff said truck-routing plans must be approved by the city and the Chino Police Department would enforce them; Chief Minson noted the department’s ongoing truck-route enforcement program and said administrative-citation changes would come to council for consideration.

On parking, staff proposed shared-parking flexibility (replace requirement for recorded covenants with parking studies approved by the planning commission), allow more one-way drive aisles and overhangs and reduce regional shopping-center ratios (example proposals: 3.33 spaces/1,000 sq ft for smaller centers and 3/1,000 for centers over 300,000 sq ft). Restaurant parking would change from 1 space per 100 sq ft of seating area to 1 space per 100 sq ft of gross floor area (1/250 inside shopping centers); drive-through queue allowances and guest parking for multifamily were also revised.

Staff described four new districts to implement the general-plan land uses (Regional Mixed Use, Boulevard Mixed Use, a downtown overlay tied to Measure M, and an employment mixed-use zone in the Preserve Specific Plan) and a points-based approach that grants higher FAR in exchange for community benefits (outdoor dining, pocket parks, bicycle connections).

Council members raised questions about which uses would still need CUPs, how temporary permits would treat food trucks and sidewalk vendors (staff said state vendor laws limit local regulation to time, place and manner and health licensing still applies), coordination of truck routes with neighboring jurisdictions and concerns about adequate parking and alley access for public safety vehicles. Staff and the city attorney noted legal and operational constraints (First Amendment limits for content-based sign regulation were referenced later in the meeting during the sign-code discussion). Staff said the zoning-code draft would return for public hearings later in the year.