Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: PUBLIC HEARINGS (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: REPORT RECOMMENDING THAT THE CITY COUNCIL
INTRODUCE AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SEVERAL
SECTIONS OF THE COTATI MUNICIPAL CODE TO
CORRECT ERRORS AND STREAMLINE THE CITY’S
PERMITTING PROCESS
Date: August 11, 2026
Written by: Autumn Buss, Associate Planner
Recommendation
It is recommended by the Community Development Department that the City Council introduce an ordinance amending several chapters and sections of the Cotati Municipal Code to correct errors and streamline permitting processes.
Background
Community Development staff periodically identifies areas of the code that would benefit from minor language changes to address recurring challenges with implementation, address inconsistencies, and/or improve processes. This perspective is typically informed by community input, staff experience, and City Council direction. Over the past several months, staff have identified sections of the code that would benefit from clarifying language or minor modifications to ensure that their application is consistent and efficient or to improve the experience for community members. In each instance, the proposed amendments to the CMC are intended to improve the clarity of regulations, streamline permitting processes, correct errors and inconsistencies, and/or ensure consistency with new state laws.
The Planning Commission reviewed the proposed changes on July 20, 2026 and recommended it to the City Council for consideration.
Analysis/Discussion
Summary of Code Updates Proposed by Ordinance
This section provides a summary of the specific changes proposed by the ordinance, along with the intent behind the proposed changes. For greater clarity regarding the proposed code language changes, staff has prepared a redline version of the draft ordinance revisions, included as Attachment A.
Proposed Change to CMC Section 3.42.040:
Section 3.42.040 establishes that fees for City services shall be adjusted annually for inflation according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the San Francisco Bay Area. The proposed change is to state that the adjustment shall be based on the CPI published annually in February; the existing language in the code refers to the CPI published in April of each year.
Reason for Change: The reason for the change is to establish a consistent date for referencing the CPI used to update all of the fees identified in the City Fee Schedule. Previously, each CPI and the associated date were set through the individual resolution or ordinance adopting the fee.
Recent efforts by the City Clerk and Council have resulted in a consistent CPI date being identified for the basis of all annual fee escalators.
Proposed Change to CMC Section 17.22.020, Table 2-4:
Section 17.22.020, Table 2-4 establishes the allowable uses of properties and the permit requirements for uses within specific plan zones. The proposed changes to this section are to remove the reference to Section 17.39.030 in the entry for multifamily plex housing and add the Section 17.28.050 specific use standards to that land use, and to add a footnote to the multifamily 10+ units and multifamily plex land uses that clarifies that the applicable specific plan takes precedence in the event of inconsistency between the specific plan standards and the standards in Sections 17.39.030 and 17.39.040, respectively. In addition, the order of the listings for these two land uses in Table 2-4 are being reversed to correct an error in alphabetization.
Reason for Change: This change corrects errors made in the original ordinance adopting multifamily plex housing as a land use. Section 17.39.030 applies to multifamily projects of 10 or more units and thus should not be applied to multifamily plex housing projects, which are 9 or fewer units. Section 17.39.040, which establishes standards for multifamily plex projects, is correctly applied to this land use in Table 2-4. In addition, Section 17.28.050, which clarifies that standards found in the Downtown Specific Plan should be applied to projects in the corresponding zoning districts, was inadvertently left out of the ordinance adopting multifamily plex housing standards.
Proposed Change to CMC Section 17.24.020 Table 2-4:
Section 17.24.020 Table 2-4 identified parcel sizes and density standards for subdivision and residential development within the applicable zoning districts of the City. The proposed change is to update the table to include the recently created Transit Oriented Community (TOC) zoning district because the ordinance creating this district and the applicable development standards failed to include this information.
Reason for change: Table 2-4 establishes minimum lot sizes and minimum and maximum density requirements for all zoning districts within the City. The ordinance creating the TOC district and the applicable development standards failed to include this information, which is critical to the consistent and orderly review of development within this zoning district.
Proposed Change to CMC Section 17.30.030, Table 3-2:
Section 17.30.030 establishes standards for fences, walls, and screening. Table 3-2 of that section sets maximum heights for different locations, and footnote 2 in the table allows that these structures may obtain minor use permit and administrative design review approval to exceed eight feet in height. The proposed change is to remove the reference to eight feet and replace it with any height limit maximum for a certain location as shown in Table 3-2.
Reason for change: Table 3-2 establishes maximum height limits from three feet to eight feet, depending on the location of the fence, wall, or screening on the property or proximity to nearby street intersections. The proposed change allows property owners to seek City approval for increased height beyond any of the various height limits stated in the table.
Proposed Change to CMC Section 17.36.090:
Section 17.36.090 contains standards for parking design and development. The proposed change is to allow up to 25% of parking spaces in a lot to be designated as compact parking spaces, and to establish standards for those spaces.
Reason for change: Local jurisdictions in California frequently allow a certain percentage of offstreet parking spaces to be designated as compact spaces to accommodate smaller-size cars. This convention recognizes that the standard size parking space is oversized for a number of small cars, and that inclusion of compact spaces for those cars is a more efficient use of parking lot space. Other communities in Sonoma County allow compact parking spaces in a range of 25% to 50% of total parking spaces. Cotati is one of two only jurisdictions in the county that does not currently address compact parking spaces in its code (the other is Healdsburg), and staff feels that this is due to oversight on the City’s part rather than a specific intention to prohibit compact parking spaces.
Proposed Change to CMC Section 17.36.100:
An update is proposed to Section 17.36.100, which regulates driveways and site access, to require a minimum off-street driveway length of thirty feet when the driveway is controlled by an access gate.
Reason for change: This provision will ensure that a vehicle accessing the property has room to park out of the public right-of-way while waiting for the gate to be opened. This requirement has been requested by the Sonoma County Fire Protection District and is a standard safety requirement for properties secured by an access gate.
Proposed Changes to CMC Sections 17.39.030 and 17.39.040, Subsection A:
Sections 17.39.030 and 17.39.040 set standards for multifamily projects of 10-plus units and multifamily plex projects of 9 or fewer units, respectively. As originally adopted, both code sections require that the third or higher stories of such developments are subject to a minimum thirty-foot setback from any property line adjacent to properties in the NL or NM zoning districts that are developed with single-family dwellings. The proposed change in this ordinance would subordinate the setback requirement to a project’s ability to meet the minimum density required by the zoning designation for the property.
Reason for change: The City’s zoning code sets minimum residential density standards by zoning district to better ensure sufficient housing availability and affordability for Cotati residents and employees. The subject setback requirement in Sections 17.39.030 and 17.39.040 creates a potential internal conflict in the zoning code that could render a property undevelopable if it prevents a potential development project from meeting the density requirements, as well as derailing housing development. The proposed change will address this inconsistency by allowing a project to move forward even if it does not meet the setback requirements.
Proposed Changes to CMC Sections 17.39.030(G) and 17.39.040(D):
As originally adopted, Sections 17.39.030 and 17.39.040 set standards for refuse containers and dumpsters for multifamily and multifamily plex developments, including type, placement, and screening. The proposed changes would clarify that screening must be provided for individual containers so that they are not visible from the street. Minor additional clarifying language is also proposed.
Reason for change: The existing standards for type of refuse containers does not take into account potential variations in site layout, street frontage, and refuse hauler access. Experience with recently permitted projects has illustrated the need for more flexibility in type and size of containers to prevent proliferation of individual containers, reduce visual clutter, improve hauler access, and address different site layouts.
Proposed change to CMC Section 17.44.040:
Section 17.44.040(B) sets forth the permit application requirements for telecommunications facilities. The proposed change will add a requirement for the submittal of a Radio Frequency (RF) Exposure Report as required by the FCC.
Reason for change: This code update will compel project applications to be consistent with requirements of the FCC, ensure all information supporting a requested expansion of telecommunication facilities within the City are documented and to provide staff, the public, and city decision makers with adequate safety information early in the application review process.
Proposed change to CMC Section 17.62.060:
The proposed change to CMC Section 17.62.060 would increase the Community Development Director’s review authority for minor variances granting relief from certain requirements of the land use code from a maximum reduction of ten percent, to twenty-five percent.
Reason for change:
The reason for the proposed change to the scope of an allowable minor variance is to make its application more functional. Setback requirements are the most common variance request, and granting relief up to 10% is often not functional relief. As an example, 10% of a five- or ten-foot setback would allow the setback to be reduced by 0.5 feet or 1-foot respectively. Allowing up to 25% would make the application of a minor variance more functional and provide relief in more situations.
Proposed Rezoning of APN 144-720-061:
The property at APN 144-720-061 is proposed to be rezoned from the Commercial E. Cotati Corridor (CE) to Neighborhood Medium Density (NM).
Reason for change:
This property was inadvertently left out of the rezoning of a number of properties when the Santero Way (SW) and Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) zoning districts were adopted in 2025. Rezoning of this property is required for General Plan consistency.
Planning Commission Recommendation
On July 20, 2026, the Planning Commission held a public hearing on the proposed ordinance and unanimously approved a resolution recommending Council adoption.
Financial Considerations
Beyond the staff time to draft the ordinance, there are no financial impacts to the City from adoption of the proposed ordinance.
Environmental Issues
In conformance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), staff finds that the proposed amendments to the Cotati Municipal Code identified in the draft ordinance are related to and implement the goals, policies, and objectives of the 2015 General Plan and the 2023-31 Housing Element, and therefore finds that these proposed revisions conform to CEQA Guidelines Section 15183, which provides a streamlined review of the environmental impacts of the project by tiering from the program level analysis prepared for the Cotati General Plan and its certified EIR and/or the Housing Element and its certified Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), and other previously completed environmental analysis. Staff further finds that all adopted mitigating General Plan policies and mitigation measures identified in the 2015 General Plan EIR and/or 2023-2031 Housing Element MND address any potential environmental impacts of the proposed code changes. Finally, future project-specific environmental analysis of any permit or variance proposed under the amended Code will be required and will allow projectspecific impacts not previously identified or anticipated to be addressed.