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9 City Council
Supplemental Report
From: Jonathan Lait, Planning and Development Services Director Meeting Date: August 17, 2026
Item Number: 6
Report #:2608-6646
TITLE
Adoption of an Ordinance Amending Various Palo Alto Municipal Code Chapters in Titles 16 and 18 to Address Changes in State Law and Direction from City Council Regarding Accessory and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units. CEQA Status: Exempt From the Provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21080.17 and CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3).
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council:
1. Adopt the Draft Ordinance (Attachment A) amending Palo Alto Municipal Code (PAMC) Title 16 (Building) and Title 18 (Zoning) regulations for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units (JADUs).
BACKGROUND
Staff report Attachments A and B (the clean and redlined versions of the ordinance amendments) published for the subject hearing contain two text errors in the proposed amendment. Specifically, in Table 1 of Section 2 related to the setback requirements for New Construction of Detached ADU related to single family and multi-family development. The pertinent text is highlighted below.
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9 State law precludes restrictions for encroachment into the front yard setback for qualifying ADUs. The draft ordinance shows the highlighted text for single family development as existing text; it is not. This text has been removed from the attached draft ordinance included in this supplemental report.
For qualifying ADUs in a multi-family development, the existing code does include a reference to the underlying front yard setback and, in accordance with state law, needs to be struck. The text has been removed in the attached draft ordinance.
With these two changes, the draft ordinance is consistent with the language of Government Code section 66323(a)(2).
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Supplemental Report Draft Ordinance (clean version) Attachment B: Supplemental Report Draft Ordinance (annotated version) APPROVED BY:
Jonathan Lait, Planning and Development Services Director