Cities | Daly City

Daly City, California Multiplex Rules 2026: Zoning, Lot Sizes, ADUs, SB 9, Apartments, the Coastal Zone and Fees

Daly City, California is a city of 101,261 people in San Mateo County. Its zoning rules are Title 17 of the Municipal Code, published on Municode. Three facts matter for a project here. The minimum house lot is 2,500 or 3,000 square feet, with no side yard required. The City rewrote its apartment rules in 2023 and 2024 under a new housing plan, and several 2026 ordinances are still to be added to the Municode copy. The Daly City and Colma BART stations give the city rail service to San Francisco, and state laws on parking and height apply near stations of that kind. This page summarizes the ways to build two, three, four or more homes on a Daly City lot. The seven guide pages below cover each topic in depth.

Daly City Guide Pages

Start With State Law

Four state laws set the minimum Daly City must allow on a house lot or a small site. SB 9 (2021) allows two main homes on a lot in a single-family zone, a split into two lots, or both, approved by staff with no hearing. ADU law sets the accessory dwelling units (ADUs), second homes on a lot, and junior ADUs a city must allow; a junior ADU is a unit of 500 square feet or less inside a house. SB 684 and SB 1123 allow maps of up to 10 lots with 10 homes. The state density bonus gives extra homes to projects that include affordable homes.

Daly City handles these in different ways. For ADUs, the City's ADU guide says "any conflicting regulation within the Daly City Municipal Code is superseded by state law until the City adopts a local ordinance." For SB 9 the City posts two application forms. The density bonus is Chapter 17.52 of the code, adopted in 2014. A search of Titles 16 and 17 found no section on SB 9, urban lot splits or small-lot maps, so those statutes apply directly.

A fifth law is new. SB 79 allows taller and denser housing near qualifying rail stops. The state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) says in its SB 79 advisory that the law's provisions "will take effect on July 1, 2026, in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Diego Counties," and it classes BART as heavy rail. The City's Housing Element names "the Daly City and Colma BART stations" as the stations that serve the city. HCD's list of affected cities under the Housing Crisis Act includes Daly City, which brings in the state rule that a housing project must replace the homes it removes.

Daly City in Numbers

The US Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 city file estimates 101,261 people in Daly City on July 1, 2025, down from a 2020 estimates base of 104,905. That is a loss of 3,644 people, or 3.5 percent (VanPlex arithmetic: 104,905 minus 101,261, divided by 104,905). In that file Daly City is the 76th largest city or town in California, after Inglewood (101,662) and ahead of Merced (99,724). In San Mateo County, the city of San Mateo has 103,337 people, Redwood City 82,178 and South San Francisco 64,941, and the county as a whole 743,568.

The City's 2023-2031 Housing Element, adopted November 12, 2024, counts 33,933 housing units in 2022, using state Department of Finance figures: 15,907 detached houses, 4,928 attached houses, 4,187 homes in buildings of two to four units, 8,354 in buildings of five or more and 557 mobile homes or other units. Census survey data for 2015 to 2019 in the same document show 18,534 owner-occupied homes (58 percent) and 13,262 renter-occupied homes (42 percent). The state assigned Daly City 4,838 homes to plan for between June 30, 2022 and December 15, 2030. From 2018 to 2022 the City issued building permits for 74, 68, 74, 48 and 51 ADUs a year.

The Ways to More Homes Compared

Sources: Daly City Municipal Code 17.08.010, 17.09.020, 17.12.010, 17.18.010, 17.38.040, 17.58.040 and 16.16.010 (Supplement 38); City of Daly City ADU guide, FY 2027 Master Fee Schedule and Housing Element; Gov. Code 65852.21, 66411.7, 66499.41 and 65912.157.

Zones That Allow Homes

Section 17.06.010 names 20 districts, and six more have their own chapters. R-1 permits one house on a lot. R-1/A has permitted a duplex since November 12, 2024, "subject to objective design standards adopted by the city council." R-2 and R-2/A permit a two-family dwelling. R-3 permits apartment buildings up to 120 feet, at the density shown on the General Plan land use map, and the BART Multiple-Family district (BRM) permits small apartment buildings, townhouses and duplexes up to 45 feet. The C-MU zone on Mission Street and Geneva Avenue, created by Ordinance No. 1469 in December 2023, permits buildings of two or more homes over street-level shops, up to 15 stories or 175 feet. C-1 and C-2 allow dwellings with a use permit. The Housing Element says no land is zoned R-4. See the zoning districts page.

Lot Sizes and Dividing Land

Section 17.38.040 sets the house lot by the date the land was recorded: "three thousand square feet with a minimum frontage of thirty-three feet for all lots or subdivisions recorded subsequent to January 11, 1949," and 2,500 square feet with 25 feet for older land. An older lot larger than that may be divided again into 2,500 square foot lots. R-3 lots need 43,560 square feet since 2024, and new C-MU lots 10,000. Under Title 16, "A tentative map shall be approved by the city council prior to any land division," after the Planning Commission acts. In February 2026 the Council approved a four-lot map on a 13,051 square foot R-1 site on Crocker Avenue, with one house and one ADU planned for each lot. See the lot size and subdivisions page.

House Lots: ADUs and SB 9

The ADU text in the code, Section 17.40.100, dates from 2017. It allows one ADU per parcel, requires the owner to live on site and asks for a parking space. The City applies state law in place of those parts. Its guide allows "one attached/conversion ADU, one JADU and one detached ADU" on a house lot, a detached ADU of up to 1,200 square feet and 18 feet in height, and no owner on site for an ADU. A staff report of September 14, 2026 says the Planning Division "now enforces" Government Code Sections 66310 to 66342 "instead of the second unit regulations in the Zoning Ordinance." That night the City Council introduced Ordinance No. 1494 to repeal the old section; its second reading was on the September 28 agenda, and this guide could not confirm the final vote. See the ADUs and SB 9 page.

For SB 9 the City uses two checklists, PDF files created in December 2023. They follow the statute: two homes of at least 800 square feet, four-foot side and rear setbacks, a decision by staff within 60 days, and for a lot split two lots of at least 1,200 square feet with the owner's promise to live on site for three years.

Three or More Homes

Since Ordinance No. 1476, "Residential projects consisting of two or more dwelling units shall be subject to objective design standards," and a project that meets them needs no further design review under Section 17.45.130. The standards are a 48-page City document of September 2024. Projects that create five or more homes fall under the inclusionary housing chapter: under Section 17.47.070, ten percent of rental homes for low income households or twenty percent of for-sale homes for moderate income households, with an in-lieu fee for rental projects under 20 homes and ownership projects under 15. The fee document posted by the City is a 2018 resolution: $35 per livable square foot for rentals and $45 for ownership. Near the BART stations, SB 79 sets state minimums of 75 feet and 120 homes per acre within one-quarter mile of a Tier 1 stop. See the three or more homes page.

Parking, Setbacks and Height

The parking schedule sets a house's parking by its floor area: two spaces up to 1,500 square feet of habitable space, three up to 2,000, four up to 2,500 and six above that. A duplex needs two spaces per unit, and an apartment one to two spaces by bedroom count. State law bars minimum parking within one-half mile of a major transit stop, and the Housing Element says that area "covers nearly all of the city." Houses need a 15-foot front yard and a 10-foot rear yard, and the house districts state no side yard requirement. Height limits are 30 feet in R-1, R-1/A and R-2/A, 36 feet in R-2, 45 feet in BRM, 120 feet in R-3 and 175 feet in C-MU. Buildings may cover 50 to 55 percent of an R-1 lot and 60 percent of an R-2 lot. See the parking, setbacks and height page.

The Coastal Zone and the Bluffs

The Coastal Element of the General Plan, which the California Coastal Commission approved on March 14, 1984, puts all city land west of Skyline Boulevard and two areas east of it in the coastal zone. On the blufftop the -RP Resource Protection district applies. Section 17.27.050 says "No building or structure shall be placed closer than fifty feet from the edge of the bluff." New structures and additions of ten percent or more need a use permit, which the City handles as a Coastal Development Permit, with a geotechnical report, a Planning Commission hearing and a City Council decision. The FY 2027 fee is $5,681 for a minor permit and $22,725 for a major one. Across the city, Chapter 15.62 requires a grading permit unless an exemption applies, and a 2025 ordinance records every part of Daly City as a Moderate fire hazard severity zone. See the coastal zone and bluffs page.

Permits and Fees

Use permits, variances and maps are heard by the Planning Commission and decided by the City Council. The Housing Element gives typical times of 8 to 10 weeks for a use permit and 10 to 12 weeks for a map. Ordinance No. 1489 of April 13, 2026 lengthened the life of a use permit and a design review permit from one year to three. The City adopted the 2025 California building codes effective January 1, 2026, and Ordinance No. 1491 of May 11, 2026 set construction hours. The FY 2027 Master Fee Schedule lists a use permit at $13,056, a parcel map at $13,066, an ADU review at $851, and a public facilities fee on new residential space of $16.10 per square foot. See the permits and fees page.

Rentals and Existing Homes

A search of the code text read for this guide found no mention of rent control or rent stabilization. Chapter 2.52 creates a rent review commission for mobile home parks of more than 25 spaces. On December 8, 2025 the City Council adopted Resolution 25-168, "Affirming Its Support for the Goals of a Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance," and asked staff to study one. A rental apartment building may be converted to condominiums only if it has at least forty units, and Section 17.37.090 gives tenants sixty days' notice and a ninety-day right to buy. Section 5.92.040 bars short-term rentals on a property with an ADU or junior ADU. State law protects tenants where a project replaces rented homes: an SB 9 project may not demolish a home a tenant lived in during the last three years. The statewide rent cap is on the rent and tenant rules page.

Recent City Council Actions

• December 11, 2023. Ordinance No. 1469 added the C-MU district and rezoned parcels on Mission Street and Geneva Avenue from C-1.
• November 12, 2024. The Council adopted the 2023-2031 Housing Element and, as an urgency measure, Ordinance No. 1476, which amended the R-1, R-1/A, R-3, Sullivan Corridor, design review and C-MU chapters and added the airport chapter. Its recitals say the City had missed the state deadline of January 31, 2023 and had been sued.
• November 25, 2024. Resolution 24-175 set the current AB 1600 fees, according to the note in the Master Fee Schedule.
• June 23, 2025. Ordinance No. 1482 designated the fire hazard severity zones.
• November 24, 2025. Ordinance No. 1484 adopted the 2025 California building codes.
• December 8, 2025. Resolution 25-168 affirmed support for tenant protections.
• February 23, 2026. The Council approved a four-lot subdivision at 933-969 Crocker Avenue.
• April 13, 2026. Ordinance No. 1489 changed permit expiration, front yard paving, condominium permits and the definition of building height. Resolution 26-59 adopted the Master Fee Schedule.
• May 11, 2026. Ordinance No. 1491 added Chapter 15.09 on hours of construction.
• September 14, 2026. The Council introduced Ordinance No. 1493, on a local preference for affordable homes, and Ordinance No. 1494, to repeal the 2017 ADU section.
• September 28, 2026. The City's press release says the Council "adopted amendments to the City's Inclusionary Housing Ordinance." The second reading of Ordinance No. 1494 was on the same agenda. This is the latest Council meeting whose records were read on October 10, 2026.

Where the Code, City Documents and State Law Differ

The guide pages flag each difference where it arises. The main ones:

• The preface of the Municode copy says the code is current "through Ordinance Ord. No. 1483 , passed July 14, 2025." The Supplement History Table of the same copy lists ordinances through No. 1488 of March 9, 2026 as included.
• Section 17.40.100 allows one ADU with an owner on site and a parking space. The City's ADU guide and staff reports say state law applies in its place.
• The ADU guide says two detached ADUs are permitted on a multi-family lot. Government Code 66323 allows up to eight on a lot with an existing multifamily building.
• Section 17.09.010 still says R-1/A provides for "duplexes through use permit procedures." Section 17.09.020 lists duplexes as a permitted principal use.
• Section 17.45.120 requires major design review for four or more homes. Section 17.45.130 says a project that meets the objective design standards needs no further regulation under the chapter.
• The Municode copies of Sections 17.44.100 and 17.45.150 give permits one year. Ordinance No. 1489 gives them three.
• Chapter 17.34 requires up to six parking spaces for a house. Government Code 65863.2 bars minimums within one-half mile of a major transit stop.
• The Housing Element prints AB 1600 fees of $2.35 to $9.36 per square foot by zone, from 1999. The FY 2027 Master Fee Schedule lists $16.10 per square foot for residential space.
• Title 16 sends every tentative map to the City Council. Government Code 66411.7 requires an urban lot split to be approved by staff with no hearing.
• Section 17.60.030 refers to the "[insert city name] General Plan."

Limits of This Guide

The code comes from Municode's Supplement 38. Ordinance No. 1489 was read from the Municode ordinance bank. The publisher's files for Ordinance Nos. 1491 and 1492 would not download, so No. 1491 was read from the City Council agenda file and No. 1492, on boards and commissions, by title only. Ordinance Nos. 1493 and 1494 were read from the agenda files of September 2026. The City's press release confirms the adoption of No. 1493. The minutes of September 28, 2026 were not posted on October 10, 2026, so the final vote on No. 1494 is not confirmed here. City Council and Planning Commission agendas were read from February 10, 2025 to October 6, 2026; the Council may have acted on a housing rule after that.

Several documents were not read: the zoning map and the General Plan land use map and text, the BART Station Area and Sullivan Corridor specific plans, the maps of the Coastal Element, the 1980 coastal exclusion order, Resolution 24-175 and the fee study behind it in full, any update of the 2018 in-lieu fees, the state housing department's letters on the Housing Element and on the ADU ordinance, the regional SB 79 map, the fire hazard map and the federal flood maps. The ADU guide, the objective design standards, the Coastal Element and the Council minutes are scanned or specially encoded PDFs whose text was taken by optical character recognition. Whether Daly City is a general law or charter city was not confirmed. Ask the Planning Division at 333 90th Street, 650-991-8033, which standards apply to your lot and whether a newer ordinance is in force.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the SB 9 page, the California impact fees page and the San Francisco guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)