Zoning Code Update

The City of Santa Fe Springs is modernizing its Zoning Code for the first time in more than 68 years. The Comprehensive Zoning Code Update will create a modern, flexible, effective, and user-friendly tool to implement the community’s vision for the future, reflect current laws and best practices, and streamline development.

What is the Zoning Code?

While the General Plan sets forth a long-term vision for the City, the Zoning Code regulates how land can be used to achieve that vision. The Code includes:
• Which uses are allowed on each property
• Form and character of development
• Building height, size, and setbacks
• Supplemental standards for parking, landscaping, signs, specific uses, and other topics
• Process and administration of land use and development permits

Challenges of our Existing Zoning Code:

The Santa Fe Springs Zoning Code has not been comprehensively updated since the 1950s.
A reflection of the time it was written, the code is still rooted in dated ideas of our needs, desires and values.

Project Objectives:

Streamline the Development Review Process. Streamline the Zoning Code’s development review process to reduce or remove discretionary review requirements, especially for uses that will have lesser impacts on surrounding properties and the Santa Fe Springs community at large.

Engage the Community in a Robust Outreach Process. Engage the Santa Fe Springs community through a variety of outreach events and tools to facilitate opportunities for input and to ensure that the updated Zoning Code reflects the community’s needs and implements its vision.

Modernize the Code to Make It More User-Friendly. Modernize the Zoning Code by updating obsolete land uses, clarifying definitions, revising its structure, incorporating tables and graphics, and removing duplications and inconsistencies.