Planning Commission recommends zoning changes to implement Dublin's housing element

The Dublin Planning Commission voted Feb. 24, 2026 to recommend City Council approval of city-initiated zoning-ordinance amendments designed to implement the city's certified housing element.

Chrissy Wheeler, the city's special projects manager, summarized the proposal: "The project before you tonight is a proposal to amend the zoning ordinance to implement the housing element of the general plan." The amendments would add a new Chapter 8.51 (replacement housing requirements) to align local code with state replacement-housing law, combine for-sale and for-rent housing under a new multifamily residential use type, and change parking requirements for multifamily and affordable housing consistent with a W-Trans parking study. Wheeler told commissioners the housing element is a mandatory component of the general plan, certified by the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), and that these changes implement two specific programs (B-15 and D-1) from that element.

Commissioners asked technical questions about parking ratios and rounding rules for senior and affordable units; staff confirmed how the 0.75 (senior housing) and 0.5 (affordable studio/one-bedroom) ratios are calculated and that projects downtown and those within a 0.5-mile radius of the Dublin Transit Center are exempt from the proposed parking requirements. With no public speakers, a commissioner moved to recommend the amendments to City Council; the motion carried on a roll-call vote recorded by the clerk.

Staff recommended adopting a resolution to forward the amendments to the City Council for consideration; the commission's action was a recommendation, not a final local-ordinance adoption, and the City Council will take the next step in the formal process.