The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, at its Aug. 9 meeting, voted to approve amendments to the Sacramento County Zoning Code and Countywide Design Guidelines, in an effort to streamline housing approval and speed up building in specific areas of the Unincorporated County.
These amended Zoning Codes and Design Guidelines will make it easier for developers to build more multifamily homes, like apartments and duplexes, in areas of the Unincorporated County that could include south Sacramento, Fair Oaks, Arden Arcade, Foothill Farms, Vineyard, North Highlands, Rio Linda, Elverta and Antelope.
Additionally, the amendments also aim to cut down on the costs and amount of time it takes to have minor deviations from the county’s development standard approved for certain projects.
“We hope that these changes will especially help some of the Unincorporated County’s lower-income, diverse communities,” said Wendy Hartman, Principal Planner. “In some cases these changes could cut the cost to process a request from approximately $14,000 to $4,300 for a multifamily project, and cut the amount of time from ten months to three months.”
Among the more substantial changes included in the amendment are:
- Reducing how far smaller multifamily projects have to be set back from an abutting single-family home with a minor special development permit; and
- Allowing builders to construct more duplexes on small infill lots without needing additional approval.