RJR Land Use Breakfast Briefing 2026

Earlier this month, our firm held its annual Land Use Breakfast Briefing. Organized by partner Tuija Catalano, the Breakfast Briefing is an opportunity for the firm to provide an update on the latest land use legislative and policy developments in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. This E-Update provides some of the highlights from this year's Briefing. Thanks to all of our friends and clients who attended. Below we summarize some of the highlights.

San Francisco Land Use Ordinances

Family Zoning Plan: The most impactful legislative act in San Francisco last year was the passage of the Family Zoning Plan, which facilitates the production of housing in the City and was required by law to effectuate the City's Housing Element update. The legislation creates the Housing Choice-San Francisco (HC-SF) Program (also referred to as the Local Program), which offers local density bonuses and modified standards for residential projects, as an alternative to the State Density Bonus Program. The legislation also establishes a Housing Sustainability District (HSD) that provides ministerial, streamlined approval for residential and mixed-use projects meeting specific affordability requirements. Key changes to the Planning Code include replacing numerical density limits with form-based density in many zoning districts and increasing height and bulk limits in “Housing Opportunity Areas”.

Development Impact Fees and Requirements for Non-Resi to Resi Conversion Projects: This ordinance amended the Planning Code to facilitate and incentivize conversion of nonresidential properties to residential use in the Downtown area. It provides a waiver of development impact fees listed under Article 4 of the Planning Code, including the inclusionary housing fee, for eligible projects that convert commercial gross floor area to residential use.

Central Neighborhoods Large Residence SUD: This ordinance amended the Planning Code to modify controls on large residences in the Central Neighborhoods area. It merged the Corona Heights SUD into an expanded Central Neighborhoods Large Residence SUD and prohibits any new dwelling unit exceeding 3,000 square feet.

East Bay Land Use Ordinances

Oakland – Impact Fee Changes: This ordinance amended the City's impact fee program and several impact fees, including the Jobs/Housing Impact Fee, Affordable Housing Impact Fee, and Capital Improvement Impact Fee to align with state law (AB 602) and recent nexus studies. The ordinance changed the way in which impact fees for residential projects are calculated, so that going forward the fees are calculated on a square footage basis instead of the prior per unit basis. The legislation also redesignated certain areas of the city into different impact fee zones, e.g., re-designating Zone 2 to Zone 3. Zone 3 is subject to Affordable Housing Impact Fee (AHIF) rate of $0 for multi-family housing, townhome housing, and single-family housing for the remainder of FY 2025-26, all of FY 2026-27, and FY 2027-28.

Berkeley – Middle Housing Zoning Amendments: The objective of this ordinance is to encourage development of “middle housing” in areas that were previously zoned for low density residential. The ordinance allows multi-family residential uses in districts where they were previously restricted. The ordinance also revised density regulations to allow for higher density and more flexible building envelopes. The significance of the ordinance is that Berkeley effectively eliminated exclusive single-family-only zoning citywide, encouraging “Middle Housing” (with duplexes, triplexes, and small multi-family units) in areas that were previously zoned to allow only one unit per lot.

North Bay

Sausalito – Rezoning Ballot Measure: A ballot measure was required because a 1985 initiative (Ordinance 1022) previously prohibited zoning changes without a vote. Measure J adopted an overlay zoning on 12 specific sites in the northern portion of Sausalito's Marinship industrial area. It allows for residential development at densities required to meet the state-assigned Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA).

Fairfax – Recall Election: A special election was held on November 4, 2025 to recall Mayor Lisel Blash and Councilmember Stephanie Hellman. The recall failed and allows both to remain in office until their terms expire in November 2026. The recall effort was largely triggered by local tensions surrounding the Town's housing policies (with Blash and Hellman having been considered by some as too pro-development).

Transactional, Real Estate and Tax Updates

San Francisco – Commercial Vacancy Tax Exemption: This ordinance amended the Business and Tax Regulations Code to provide exemptions from the commercial vacancy tax for properties in districts impacted by prolonged infrastructure projects. Specifically, it exempts commercial spaces from the tax beginning January 1, 2025 if they are located in a district where a City public infrastructure project has a duration of more than 180 days in a calendar year.

San Francisco – Empty Homes Tax Suspension: This ordinance suspends the imposition of the Empty Homes Tax. The Empty Homes Tax sought to penalize owners of residential units in buildings with three or more units that remained vacant for over 182 days per year. However, following legal challenges, a Superior Court judge struck down the tax on October 31, 2024, ruling it violated constitutional rights and was preempted by state law. The City's suspension of the tax is retroactive to January 1, 2024, and remains in effect pending a final decision in the litigation challenging the tax.

State Housing and Land Use Legislation

CEQA Statutory Exemption (AB 130): This legislation establishes a statutory exemption from CEQA for housing development projects located in incorporated municipalities or urban areas that meet specific size, density, and consistency criteria. To qualify, the project site generally must not exceed 20 acres, must be previously developed with or substantially surrounded by urban uses, and cannot involve the demolition of a listed historic structure or include transient lodging.

Housing Development: Transit-Oriented Development (SB 79): This bill mandated that housing development projects be an allowed use on sites zoned for residential, mixed, or commercial use within ½ or ¼ mile of a transit-oriented development (TOD) stop. It establishes minimum zoning standards based on proximity to transit tiers (e.g., minimum heights of 75 feet and densities of 120 units per acre near Tier 1 stops) and prohibits local governments from enforcing restrictive standards that preclude these densities.

San Francisco Permitting Ordinances and Updates

Slope Protection: This ordinance amended the Building Code to remove several local building standards. The biggest change is the elimination of the Slope and Seismic Hazard Zone Protection Act (SSPA), which mandated heightened engineering review based on the slope of a property, without allowing DBI discretion to exempt low-risk projects.

Agency Updates – PermitSF: PermitSF is replacing the existing public-facing tracking databases with one unified City-wide system developed by OpenGov. All agencies have been supporting this effort and undergoing testing and training; the first phase of this new system has been rolled out this month.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.