Daly City | Zoning districts

Daly City, California Zoning Districts: R-1, R-1/A, R-2, R-3, BRM, C-MU and How Many Homes Each Allows

Daly City's zoning rules are Title 17 of the Municipal Code, first adopted by Ordinance 635 in 1965 and published on Municode. A zoning district is an area of the city with its own list of allowed buildings and its own size limits. R-1 is the district for single-family houses, and the code permits one house on an R-1 lot. Two recent ordinances changed the rules for larger buildings: Ordinance No. 1469 of December 2023 created the C-MU zone, and Ordinance No. 1476 of November 2024 raised the R-3 height limit to 120 feet and made duplexes a permitted use in R-1/A. This page goes through each district that allows homes. The Daly City overview has the summary.

Districts That Allow Homes

Sources: Daly City Municipal Code 17.08.010, 17.09.050, 17.10.010, 17.11.050, 17.12.010, 17.13.010, 17.14.010, 17.18.010, 17.20.010, 17.25.040, 17.38.060, 17.58.030 and 17.58.040 (Supplement 38).

Where the Zoning Rules Are

Section 17.06.010 lists the districts, from "MHP mobilehome park district" to "Pre-PD preplanned development district." The list has 20 names. Six more districts have chapters of their own in Title 17 and are missing from that list: the Sullivan Corridor Specific Plan district (Chapter 17.21), Open Space (17.23), Open Space Residential (17.25), the Resource Protection combining district (17.27), the Commercial Cannabis combining district (17.56) and C-MU (17.58). A combining district is a second set of rules that applies in addition to the main district of a lot.

District lines are drawn on the map that Section 17.06.020 calls "Zoning Map, Daly City, California." The City's Zoning page links to an online version and says the Planning Division will print a paper copy "subject to a document preparation charge." Two rules in that section settle doubts. Boundary lines that follow streets run along the centerlines. And where "any property is not under the specific requirements of a district as shown on the zoning map, such property is subject to the requirements of the R-1 single-family residential district."

The Municode copy read for this page is Supplement 38. Its Supplement History Table lists ordinances through No. 1488 of March 9, 2026 as included. Ordinance No. 1489 of April 13, 2026, which amended four sections of Title 17, is in the Municode ordinance bank and was not yet printed in the code text.

R-1: One House on a Lot

The R-1 table of uses permits, with no use permit, a "Single-family dwelling," a home occupation, parks, transitional and supportive housing, a small family day care home and a "Secondary dwelling in accordance with the standards and requirements specified in Section 17.40.100." Secondary dwelling is the code's older name for an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, a second home on the lot of a house. The table gives a height of 30 feet, a front yard of 15 feet and a rear yard of 10 feet. The parking, setbacks and height page covers those numbers.

• Lot area per home. Section 17.38.060: "The minimum lot area per dwelling unit shall be three thousand square feet in the R-1 district and one thousand five hundred square feet in the R-2 district when the lot was recorded subsequent to January 11, 1949." For lots recorded before that date the figures are 2,500 and 1,250 square feet.
• More than one house with a use permit. The table lists "dwelling group" among the uses that need a use permit, a permit the City Council grants after a public hearing. Section 17.04.010 defines a dwelling group as "a group of two or more detached or semi-detached one-family or two-family dwellings occupying a lot under one ownership and having any yard or court area in common."
• Accessory buildings. An accessory building has a 15-foot height limit and the table marks it "Yes" under use permit. Section 17.40.085 separately permits trellises, gazebos and pergolas that together cover no more than 120 square feet.
• What the housing stock looks like. The City's Housing Element counts 33,933 housing units in 2022: 15,907 detached houses (47 percent), 4,928 attached houses (15 percent), 4,187 homes in buildings of two to four units (12 percent), 8,354 in buildings of five or more (25 percent) and 557 mobile homes or other units.

R-1/A: Duplexes Since November 2024

Chapter 17.09 dates from 1978. Until 2024 it allowed a duplex only with a use permit. Ordinance No. 1476, an urgency ordinance adopted on November 12, 2024, rewrote the chapter. Section 17.09.020 now lists five permitted principal uses: a single-family dwelling; "Two-unit structures (duplexes), subject to objective design standards adopted by the city council"; a licensed care home for six or fewer people; a small family day care home; and a secondary dwelling.

Section 17.09.050 sets the lot and building limits: "Minimum lot area, two thousand five hundred square feet," "Minimum lot frontage, twenty-five feet," "Maximum building height, thirty feet," a 15-foot front yard, a 10-foot rear yard, "Minimum side yard, no requirement" and "Maximum lot coverage, fifty-five percent." The Housing Element had promised this change as Task 6.7: "the City will amend the Zoning Ordinance to allow duplexes by right and without the requirement for design review in the R-1A zone, unless by objective standards." Its zoning table gives R-1/A one home per 1,250 square feet of lot, a density of 34.8 homes per acre.

R-2 and R-2/A: Two-Family Districts

The R-2 table, unchanged since 1965, has two rows: "All uses permitted in R-1 district and subject to the same regulations therein," and "One two-family dwelling," with no use permit, a height of 36 feet and lot coverage of 60 percent. Section 17.04.010 defines a two-family dwelling as "a building designed for the use and occupancy by not more than two families living independently of each other." The Housing Element tested the smallest R-2 lot, 2,500 square feet and 25 feet wide, and found that two homes of 1,500 square feet each fit in a two-story building with the required parking.

R-2/A, added by Ordinance 1228 in 1996, is the same idea with a 30-foot height limit and design rules. Section 17.11.020 permits a "Two-family dwelling which complies with the design standards of this chapter." Section 17.11.060 lists eight standards, among them:

• "Three-story buildings shall be stepped back a minimum of four feet at the upper level."
• "A single garage door shall be limited to a maximum of ten feet in width and be recessed from the front wall a minimum of one foot."
• "Windows shall be trimmed with two-inch wood trim or be recessed a minimum of two inches."
• "Sloped roofs shall be used on parcels where adjacent homes on the block have significant gable or hip roof elements."

A duplex that does not comply is a conditional use and needs a use permit under Chapter 17.44. Accessory buildings in R-2/A are limited to ten percent of the lot area and one story, and "Sleeping quarters are not allowed in any accessory building."

R-3, BRM and R-4: Apartment Districts

The R-3 table was replaced by Ordinance No. 1476. It now has one row, "Multiple-family dwellings, upon compliance with Objective Design Standards," with "No" under use permit, a maximum height of 120 feet and a maximum lot coverage of 100 percent. A multiple-family dwelling is "a building designated to house three or more families living independently of each other." Before the change the height limit was 36 feet. The Housing Element had said the City would "expand maximum heights in the R-3 zone to 10 stories."

• Density. The table's last column reads "Refer to General Plan Future Land Use Map." The Housing Element lists the 2013 General Plan ranges: Low Density at 2 to 14.5 homes per acre, Medium-Low at 14.6 to 20, Medium at 20.1 to 35, High at 35.1 to 50 and Very High "Over 50 dwelling units per acre." Its Task 6.5 commits the City to raise Medium-Low to 14.6 to 35, Medium to 35.1 to 60 and High to 60.1 to 120. The General Plan land use text was not read for this guide, so ask the Planning Division which range is in force on a given lot.
• Housing Element sites. A table note says projects on "Priority Housing Sites identified to meet the lower income RHNA in the City's Housing Element (Table HE 52)" must be built at "a minimum density of 20 dwelling units per acre," and with at least 20 percent of the homes affordable to lower income households they "are eligible for by-right approval as defined in Government Code Section 65583.2(i)." RHNA is the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, the number of homes the state assigns a city to plan for.
• Lot area. The table shows a minimum lot area of 43,560 square feet, which is one acre, beside a lot width of 33 to 25 feet. The Housing Element said the City would raise R-3 parcel sizes so that large sites are not divided into small ones. See the lot size and subdivisions page.
• BRM. The BART Multiple-Family district of 1996 permits "Small apartment buildings, Courtyard apartments, Townhouses, Flats, Duplexes." It sets a maximum height of 45 feet, a minimum lot of 5,000 square feet 50 feet wide, a front yard of "five feet minimum/ten feet maximum," a 15-foot rear yard and 60 percent coverage. The Housing Element gives it 25 homes per acre.
• R-4. The R-4 table permits a multiple-family dwelling on a lot of 10,000 square feet and 100 feet of width, with 300 square feet of lot area per home, 70 percent coverage and a "Floor Area Ratio: 3.5 to 1.0." Floor area ratio is the floor space of a building divided by the area of its lot. The Housing Element notes that "there is no land currently zoned R-4 in Daly City."

The three or more homes page covers the design standards, the affordable housing rules and the state laws that apply to these districts.

C-MU: Mission Street and Geneva Avenue

Ordinance No. 1469, adopted on December 11, 2023, added Chapter 17.58 and rezoned "various parcels of approximately 65 acres located on Mission Street and Geneva Avenue from C-1 Light Commercial to Commercial-Mixed Use (C-MU)." The chapter says the district "generally includes parcels fronting Mission Street and Geneva Avenue and includes certain parcels within the BART Station Area Specific Plan intended for mixed-use development."

• Homes. Section 17.58.030 permits, with no use permit, "Multiple-family dwellings (two or more units), when constructed in conjunction with retail, office, or other non-residential uses at the street level," along with group homes, rest homes, live/work units and ADUs.
• No new houses. The prohibited list includes "single-family attached/detached residential uses." Houses that existed when the zone was adopted "shall, for the purpose of the zoning ordinance, be considered conforming land uses."
• Height. Section 17.58.040: "No new structure in the C-MU district shall exceed 15 stories or 175 feet in height," and "The minimum height of any new structure in the C-MU district shall be three stories or thirty feet." Ordinance No. 1476 set the 175-foot figure. Before it the zone allowed ten stories, according to the Housing Element.
• Next to house lots. A building that abuts an R-1 or R-1/A lot and is "over three stories or thirty feet high (whichever is lesser), shall adhere to the transitional height requirements in the C-MU objective design standards."
• Coverage. At least 50 percent of the lot must be covered by buildings, and up to 100 percent may be.

Commercial Districts and the Two Plan Areas

• C-1 and C-2. The C-1 table lists "dwellings as permitted in the R-3 district subject to the same requirements" among the uses that need a use permit, and the C-2 table has the same entry. Both districts have a 36-foot height limit. The Housing Element says the City will remove "the conditional use permit requirement for residential uses in the C-1 and C-2 zones." The Supplement 38 tables still show the permit.
• Coastal exception. The C-1 row of permitted uses ends "except dwellings or any commercial developments in the coastal zone." See the coastal zone and bluffs page.
• Sullivan Corridor. Section 17.21.030 applies a specific plan, a detailed plan for one area, to the land around City Hall. Its Residential Low Density designation allows "Attached and detached single-family dwellings" at "14.5 D.U./AC." Its Residential High Density designation allows multiple-family dwellings up to 120 feet. In the Retail and Office Commercial designation, "Any residential uses in mixed-use building where residential density exceeds 20 du/ac" need no use permit, and other residential uses do. Several designations allow one home per 500 square feet of lot, "Except that there shall be no more than four dwelling units for the first 2,500 square feet of lot area."
• BART station area. The -B combining district of 1994 carries out the BART Station Area Specific Plan. Uses "are the same as those for the underlying land-use district, except as modified by the BART Station Area Specific Plan," and "A design review permit is required for all new construction and exterior remodeling in this district." The BC BART Commercial district permits "Multiple-family dwellings when allowed by the Colma BART Station Specific Plan." The specific plan was not read for this guide.

Planned Development, Open Space and Mobilehome Districts

• P-D. A planned development district gets its own rules through a precise plan that the City Council adopts as zoning. Section 17.28.020: "No planned development district shall include less than one contiguous acre except in the redevelopment plan area where no minimum site area is required," and the City needs "the written consent of every property owner within the proposed district." "Height, bulk, setback, yard, parking and loading spaces" are "established for each planned development district by the precise plan."
• Pre-PD. Under Section 17.31.020, on a Pre-PD site "New development is permitted only upon approval of a planned development application."
• OSR. The Open Space Residential district allows, with a use permit, "Residential uses at a density not to exceed two units per gross acre of land area."
• MHP. The Mobilehome Park district is, in the words of Chapter 17.07, "a residential zoning district which exclusively allows mobilehomes."
• Annexed land. Land added to the city is zoned I-D, Interim District, until it is rezoned, and "New development may be permitted providing a use permit has first been obtained."

Airport Rules That Apply in Every District

Ordinance No. 1476 added Chapter 17.60, which applies the land use plan for San Francisco International Airport, called the ALUCP, to Daly City zoning. Three rules matter to a small builder. All new development must carry a "Notice of Airport in Vicinity" statement when the property is offered for sale or lease. A project inside the airport's 65-decibel noise line must be built so that indoor noise is "CNEL 45 dB or lower"; CNEL is the noise measure the airport plan uses. And building heights "shall not exceed the maximum height limits permissible under either FAA regulations or the Critical Aeronautical Surfaces identified in SFO ALUCP." The R-1 and R-3 tables mark homes as "conditionally compatible within the CNEL 65dB airport noise contour." The Housing Element says most of the city lies in the plan's Area B.

Uses That No Longer Fit

A nonconforming use is one that was legal when it started and does not match the current rules. Chapter 17.42 lets it stay with limits. "No nonconforming use shall be enlarged in such a manner which would permit an increase in space occupied." Under Section 17.42.050, "Whenever a nonconforming use has been discontinued or abandoned for a continuous period of six months, such use shall not be reestablished." Under Section 17.42.060, a building damaged to "not more than fifty percent of the current replacement value" may be repaired and the use continued, and the work "must be started within a period of one year from the date of damage." Above 50 percent, the use must conform.

Where the Code Text Does Not Line Up

• The district list. Section 17.06.010 names 20 districts and leaves out six that have chapters in Title 17, including C-MU, the newest.
• R-1/A purpose. Section 17.09.010, as amended in 2024, still says the district provides for "duplexes through use permit procedures." Section 17.09.020 of the same ordinance lists duplexes as a permitted principal use. The use list is the operative rule.
• R-3 lot figures. The R-3 table pairs a minimum lot area of 43,560 square feet with a minimum width of 33 to 25 feet, the width of a house lot. Its width column points to note "a," which is about airport noise.
• R-4 heading. The R-4 table heads its lot width column "(sq. ft.)" and gives the width as 100.
• A template left in. Section 17.60.030 refers to the "[insert city name] General Plan."
• Housing Element and code. The Housing Element describes R-3 at 36 feet and C-MU at ten stories, which were the limits before Ordinance No. 1476. The code now says 120 feet and 175 feet.

Limits of This Page

The code text is Municode's Supplement 38. The zoning map itself, the General Plan land use map and text, the BART Station Area Specific Plan and the Sullivan Corridor Specific Plan were not read, so this page cannot say which district or density applies to a given address. Chapter 17.07 on mobilehome parks was read only for its purpose. Ask the Planning Division at City Hall, 333 90th Street, second floor, 650-991-8033, to confirm the district of a lot and whether an ordinance newer than April 2026 has changed its rules.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Daly City overview, the ADUs and SB 9 page and the California SB 9 page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)