City adopts zoning and building code updates to streamline housing types and align with state codes

The Livingston City Council on March 3 moved to modernize local development rules to meet state requirements and speed certain housing types through review.

Contract planner Sheayla Smith told the council the proposed zoning text amendments add definitions and development standards for a range of housing types — including transitional supportive housing, single‑room occupancy units, low‑barrier navigational centers and emergency shelters — and revise parking, density bonus, and site‑plan review rules to facilitate housing development. “The amendments will add development standards for a variety of housing types such as single room occupancy, transitional supportive housing, multifamily development, senior housing,” Smith said.

Staff said the revisions are tied to the city’s housing element update and are intended both to meet state law and to create more predictable, objective standards for developers. Miguel Galves, contract city planner, said the planning commission recommended the changes and no public comments were submitted on the ordinance amendment before first reading.

Council introduced and waived first reading of the zoning‑text amendments and separately adopted changes to the city code to reference the 2025 California Building Standards (Title 24) and the 2024 International Property Code, bringing local regulations into alignment with the statewide code update.

Council members said the changes are part of a broader effort to make it easier to build a wider variety of housing types in Livingston, while preserving opportunities for public review of specific projects.

The ordinances will be published per municipal procedures; staff indicated that the changes remove multifamily development from some site‑plan review steps and create ministerial pathways for projects that meet objective standards, with the intent of reducing processing time for housing proposals.