City of Alhambra Comprehensive Zoning Code Update

Since the summer, the City of Alhambra has been hosting a presentation series on the Zoning Code Update through the regular Planning Commission meetings to soliciting input and participation from the community. The City’s adoption of its new General Plan in 2019 has created an obligation and opportunity for an update of the Zoning Code, creating a concise and user-friendly set of regulations to help implement the General Plan’s vision for neighborhood preservation and enhancement, economic development, environmental sustainability, and community health.

A Zoning code essentially determines the usage for each property; it sets forth rules and regulations that outline what can be built where and what it can be used for. Zoning codes determine various aspects of buildings around the City, such as establishing development standards, determining permitted uses within zones, outline conditional and accessory uses, setting parking standards, and much more. The initial work on the updated code was developed for the city by Miller Planning Associates and RRM Design Group.

The first set of presentations covered various topics such as administration, zoning districts, permitted uses, nonconforming uses, and property development standards. In a recent meeting in the series, Planning Division staff presented the proposed property development standards. When talking about property development standards, areas of focus consisted of height, density, floor area ratios, setbacks, and lot coverage. Comments and concerns were raised by the Commissioners as well as concerned community members regarding development standards.

To review comments, questions, and requests made by the Commissioners and the public, you can check out the 2022 Presentation Comments document by visiting alhambracodeupdate.com/documents.