Ordinance No. XX-2025 (PLN2025-00074) Page 1 of 5
ORDINANCE NO. XX-2025
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF FREMONT AMENDING FREMONT
MUNICIPAL CODE TITLE 18 (PLANNING AND ZONING) TO COMPLY WITH STATE LAW AND IMPLEMENT PROGRAM 4 OF THE CITY’S
2023-2031 HOUSING ELEMENT; AND MAKING FINDINGS OF CEQA
EXEMPTION (PLN2025-00074)
WHEREAS, the City of Fremont (“City”) occasionally initiates amendments to the Fremont Municipal Code (“FMC”) to clarify, add, or amend certain provisions to ensure that the local regulations remain current with Federal and State law, internally consistent, simple to understand and implement, and relevant to changes occurring in the community; and
WHEREAS, the California Legislature has found that “California has a housing supply and affordability crisis of historic proportions. The consequences of failing to effectively and aggressively confront this crisis are hurting millions of Californians, robbing future generations of the chance to call California home, stifling economic opportunities for workers and businesses, worsening poverty and homelessness, and undermining the state’s environmental and climate objectives” (Government Code §65589.5); and
WHEREAS, the Legislature has further found that “Among the consequences of those actions are discrimination against low-income and minority households, lack of housing to support employment growth, imbalance in jobs and housing, reduced mobility, urban sprawl, excessive commuting, and air quality deterioration” (Government Code §65589.5); and
WHEREAS, the Legislature adopted the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (Senate Bill 330) which states that “In 2018, California ranked 49th out of the 50 states in housing units per capita… California needs an estimated 180,000 additional homes annually to keep up with population growth, and the Governor has called for 3.5 million new homes to be built over 7 years;” and
WHEREAS, State Housing Element Law (Government Code §65580 et seq.) requires the City to adopt a Housing Element for the eight -year period 2023-2031 to accommodate the City’s Regional Housing Need Allocation (“RHNA”) of 12,897 housing units, comprised of 3,640 very- low income units, 2,096 low -income units, 1,996 moderate -income units, and 5,165 above moderate-income units; and
WHEREAS, State law requires that the City take meaningful steps to promote and affirmatively further fair housing (Government Code §65583(c)(5)); and
WHEREAS, State law requires that the City make zoning available for all types of housing, including multifamily housing (Government Code §§ 65583.2 and 65583(c)); and
WHEREAS, the Housing Element must be adopted to comply with State law, accommodate the RHNA, affirmatively further fair housing, and facilitate and encourage a variety of housing types for all income levels, including multifamily housing (Government Code §§ 65583.2 and 65583(c)); and
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WHEREAS, on December 22, 2022, the Planning Commission held a public hearing and recommended that the City Council adopt a General Plan Amendment to update the Housing Element; and
WHEREAS, on January 10, 2023, the City Council conducted a public hearing, reviewed the 2023-2031 Housing Element and all pertinent maps, documents and exhibits, including the findings and recommended changes made by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (“HCD”), the City’s response to HCD’s findings, public comments, and the Planning Commission’s recommendation, and adopted the Housing Element after determining it to be consistent with State law and the City’s General Plan; and
WHEREAS, on March 22, 2023, HCD certified the City’s 2023 –2031 Housing Element, making Fremont the sixth city in Alameda County to receive State certification; and
WHEREAS, State law requires that the City review its Housing Element as frequently as appropriate to evaluate the progress of the City in implementation of its Housing Element (Government Code §65588); and
WHEREAS, Program 4 of the City’s 2023 -2031 Housing Element requires the City to develop Objective Design Standards for the City’s eligible historic register resources to provide a predictable basis to review housing projects; and
WHEREAS, the proposed FMC amendments to Title 18 (Planning and Zoning) are intended to implement the requirements of State law; and
WHEREAS, on , the Planning Commission held a duly noticed public hearing, during which all interested persons were heard, and recommended that the City Council adopt the proposed FMC amendments to Title 18 (Planning and Zoning); and
WHEREAS, a Staff Report, recommending approval of the proposed FMC amendments to Title 18 (Planning and Zoning), was submitted to the City Council; and
WHEREAS, on , the City Council held a duly noticed public hearing, at which time all interested parties had the opportunity to be heard; and WHEREAS, proper notice of said hearing was given in all respects as required by law; and WHEREAS, the City Council did hear and consider all said reports, recommendations, and testimony herein above set forth and used its independent judgment to evaluate the project.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FREMONT DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. SECTION 18.175.250 AMENDED
Fremont Municipal Code Title 18, Chapter 18.175, Section 18.175.250 is amended to read as follows:
Ordinance No. XX-2025 (PLN2025-00074) Page 3 of 5
18.175.250 Expedited review of minor alterations to register/potential register resources.
(a) The following categories of projects shall be reviewed by planning staff for compliance with the standards set forth in Section 18.175.220. The board secretary may take action on these projects unless the board secretary determines that the significance of the historic resource, or the discrepancies between the proposal and the findings and standards of this title, would justify more public review by a referral to either the alterations subcommittee or the board:
{Subsections (1) through (5) remain unchanged}
(6) Modifications, including residential additions, remodels, and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and/or Junior Accessory Dwelling Units (JADUs) (but not including demolition or relocation of a resource), to single-family and two-family dwellings used as such that are not register resources but have been formally identified in a DPR 532 A/L, or a successor form, as being eligible for register listing, when such modifications conform to the [insert name of document to be adopted by resolution] adopted by the City Council on [date], and as those standards may be amended.
{Subsection (b) remains unchanged}
SECTION 1. CEQA
The City Council finds that the proposed amendments to the Fremont Municipal Code are exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to, without limitation, each on a separate and independent basis:
(1) CEQA Guideline §15061(b)(3) [Review for Exemption] in that it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the proposed text amendments would have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment, and because the proposed amendments would only modify certain zoning procedures to implement the City’s 2023-2031 Housing Element and would not approve any development.
(2) CEQA Guideline §15183 [Projects Consistent with a Community Plan, General Plan, or Zoning] and/or CEQA Guideline §15162 [Subsequent EIRs and Negative Declarations] in that the proposed text amendments are consistent with the development densities and policies in Fremont’s General Plan, for which an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) [SCH #2010082060] was previously prepared and certified, and none of the circumstances necessitating further environmental review are present. The proposed amendments do not involve peculiar impacts that were not previously analyzed or discussed as significant effects in prior EIR(s) on the general plan and zoning with which the project is consistent, there are no previously identified significant effects which are substantially more severe than analyzed in in the prior EIR(s) or cannot be substantially mitigated by the imposition of uniformly applied development policies or standards applied on a citywide basis, and many of the proposed amendments are necessary to conform with state law. Any conceivable impact of the proposed amendments would be too speculative for reasoned analysis in the absence of specific development proposals.
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(3) CEQA Guideline §15262 [Feasibility and Planning Studies] in that the proposed amendments may lead to possible future actions, but the City has not yet approved, adopted, or funded those possible future actions.
(4) CEQA Guideline §15378 [Project] in that the proposed amendments are an organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
SECTION 2. SEVERABILITY
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such a decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council of the City of Fremont hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each section or subsection, sentence, clause, and phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, or phrases be declared invalid.
SECTION 3. EFFECTIVE DATE
This Ordinance shall take effect and will be enforced thirty (30) days after its adoption.
SECTION 4. PUBLICATION AND POSTING
The City Clerk has prepared and published at least five days before the date of adoption, this ordinance once in a newspaper of general circulation printed and published in Alameda County and circulated in the City of Fremont. A certified copy of the full text of the ordinance was posted in the office of the City Clerk since at least five days before this date of adoption. Within fifteen (15) days after adoption of this ordinance, the City Clerk shall cause the ordinance to be published again with the names of those City Council members voting for and against the ordinance; and the City Clerk shall post in the office of the City Clerk a certified copy of the full text of this adopted ordinance with the names of those City Council members voting for and against the ordinance.
The foregoing ordinance was introduced before the City Council of the City of Fremont at the regular meeting of the City Council, held on , and finally adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held on , by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
Ordinance No. XX-2025 (PLN2025-00074) Page 5 of 5
Mayor
ATTEST:
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
City Clerk City Attorney