Hayward | Zoning Districts

Hayward Zoning Districts: RL, RM, RH and the General Plan Density Rule

A zoning district is the label the City puts on each lot to say which uses are allowed there and how large buildings may be. Hayward keeps its districts in Chapter 10, Article 1 of the Municipal Code. Two documents decide what you can build: the zoning district decides the type of building, and the Hayward 2040 General Plan decides how many homes the lot may hold. This page reads both, district by district. The Hayward overview has the whole guide.

The 2024 Rewrite of the Residential Districts

Hayward rewrote its residential zoning in Ordinance 24-01, adopted January 23, 2024. The editor's note in the code says that ordinance "repealed the former Sec. 10-1.200" and enacted a new one. The City Council staff report for the November 2023 hearing calls the project the Hayward Residential Design Study, a plan to write "objective residential development and design standards," which means rules a reader can check with a measurement, with no judgment call by staff. The report says the old Sections 10-1.200 through 10-1.500 were "consolidated into a single section governing the four residential zoning districts."

The four districts are RNP, RL, RM and RH. Section 10-1.201 renamed the old single-family zone: "The Single-Family Residential District (RS) shall now be known as the Low Density Residential District (RL)." The same section says "The RL District is suitable for detached residential units, duplexes, triplexes," so a lot that used to be called single-family now allows up to three homes in one or more buildings. RM is for "a mingling of different housing types and densities," and RH is for "the development of multi-unit buildings."

The RNP district, Residential Natural Preservation, is for hill land "where topographic configuration is a major consideration," which means the shape and slope of the ground. Development there must be "subservient to and compatible with the preservation of major natural features of the land such as preserving the tree line."

Source: Hayward Municipal Code Table 10-1.202, Supplement 28 Update 1. P means permitted with no use permit.

"P" in the table means the use is permitted. Section 10-1.202 says "A" marks uses that need an administrative use permit, a staff decision, and "C" marks uses that need a conditional use permit, decided at a hearing. Each housing row in the table above is "P" except single room occupancy in RH. A permitted project can still need site plan review: Section 10-1.209 requires it "only if the Planning Director determines that a project materially alters the appearance and character of the property or area."

Density Comes From the General Plan

Every housing row in Table 10-1.202 carries the same note: "Subject to density limitations in the General Plan." Section 10-1.204(e) gives the rule: "Allowable density shall be determined by the applicable General Plan land use designation and net acreage." Density is the number of homes per acre of land. Net acreage, the section says, "excludes land required for public and private streets, parks, and other public facilities."

The staff report explains the split. "The General Plan will continue to determine general uses (e.g. residential) and density ranges allowed on a given property, while the Zoning Ordinance will be used to determine the more specific uses (e.g., detached residential, duplex, triplex, or multi-unit residential)." The report also counted the gap the rewrite was meant to close: "Of the over 20,000 Residential Low (RL) zoned parcels in Hayward," 857 were inconsistent with their General Plan designation, and the fix was to remove density rules from the zoning code "so that properties default to the density ranges allowed by the General Plan."

Source: Hayward 2040 General Plan, Land Use and Community Character chapter, land use designations, read October 9, 2026.

The General Plan glossary gives an acre as "one acre of land (43,560" square feet. By VanPlex arithmetic on those figures, a Low Density lot needs 10,014 square feet of net area for two homes and 15,021 for three, because 8.7 homes per acre is one home per 5,007 square feet. A Medium Density lot (17.4 per acre) needs 5,007 square feet for two homes and 7,511 for three. A High Density lot (34.8 per acre) needs 5,007 square feet for four homes. A typical RL lot of 5,000 square feet on Low Density land works out to 0.9986 homes.

The code sets no rounding rule for these fractions outside the density bonus. Inside a density bonus project of five or more homes, Section 10-19.125 says "All calculations are rounded up for any fractional numeric value," base density included. For a duplex or triplex, ask the Planning Division how it treats a fraction before you buy. Check your lot's General Plan designation as well as its zoning district, because the designation sets the home count.

Two routes to more homes sit outside General Plan density. An ADU is counted by state law as a use that does not exceed the allowed density, and an SB 9 two-unit development is a state law right on RL lots. Table 10-1.202 lists "Two-Unit Development" as permitted in RL "As provided in Government Code Sections 66411.7 and 65852.21." See the ADUs and SB 9 page.

The Full District List

Section 10-1.125, last amended by Ordinance 26-06 on May 5, 2026, lists every district. The ones that allow homes fall in five groups:

• Residential: RL, RNP, RM, RH, RO (Residential-Office) and MH (Mobile Home Park).
• Commercial: CN, CN-R, CG, CO, CB and SMU (Sustainable Mixed Use).
• Downtown and Central City: CC-C, CC-P, CC-R, NE, NG, UN, UNL, DM and UC.
• Mission Boulevard: MB-NN, MB-CC, MB-CN and MB-CS.
• Special districts: B (lot size overlays), PD (Planned Development) and the SD special design districts SD-1, SD-3, SD-4, SD-5 and SD-7.

Section 10-1.130 says the boundaries are shown on "a Zoning District Index Map on file with the City Clerk." The Mission Boulevard Residential (MBR) and Station Area Residential (SAR) districts still have section numbers, 10-1.550 and 10-1.650, but both were "Repealed by Ordinance 11-12" in 2011, when the Mission Boulevard Code took their place.

Homes in the Commercial Districts

Table 10-1.802 allows homes in all six commercial districts, each "Subject to density limitations in the General Plan." Duplexes, triplexes and buildings of 4 or more homes are permitted in RO and CO. In CN-R they are "Permitted by right if above first floor commercial. Otherwise an AUP is required." In CN and CG they are allowed "Above first floor commercial only." In CB they need a conditional use permit unless they sit above first floor commercial. Detached homes are permitted in RO and need an administrative use permit in CO.

The same table permits "Residential development as provided in Government Code Sections 65852.24, 65913.4 and 65912.100" in CO, CN-R, CN, CG and CB. Those are state laws that allow streamlined housing on some commercial land. Table 10-1.803 sets a 5,000 square foot minimum lot in RO and CO, 10,000 in CN-R and 6,000 in CN, CG and CB, with height limits of 40 feet, or 50 feet in CG and CB.

The Sustainable Mixed Use district, for mixed use "along major transit corridors, near transit stations," has a "Required Residential Density Range: 25.0 to 55.0 units per acre," a 20,000 square foot minimum lot and a 55 foot height limit (Sections 10-1.775 and 10-1.785).

Mission Boulevard and Downtown Codes

Two areas have their own form-based codes, which regulate the shape of buildings and their relation to the street more than the use. Along Mission Boulevard, Section 10-24.1.1.030 says "Municipal Code Sections 10-1.200 through 10-1.2400 (Zoning Districts) shall not apply within the Code area." MB-CN and MB-NN require at least 17.5 homes per acre and allow 35. MB-CC, "within close proximity to BART," requires 35 and allows 55, or 75 with major site plan review. In the TOD Overlay 1 of MB-CC the range is 75 to 100. Footnote 4 of the use table says "No new detached residential units are allowed."

In Downtown, the Development Code in Article 28 sets zones from Neighborhood Edge (NE), with buildings "Up to 2½ Stories," to Downtown Main Street, with buildings "Up to 7 Stories (with stepback above 5 stories)." Land zoned CC-R, CC-C, Planned Development and Open Space inside the plan area is exempt and follows the rest of Chapter 10. The three or more homes page covers the building types allowed in each Downtown zone.

Overlays and Special Districts

• B combining districts. A B suffix sets a larger or smaller minimum lot: 4,000 square feet in (RL)B4, 6,000 in B6, 10,000 in B10, up to 160 acres in B160A. The table note says "The number of residential units shall be determined by the allowable density within the underlying General Plan land use designation."
• Planned Development (PD). A custom district adopted by the City Council for one site. Section 10-1.2515 says "There shall be no minimum area required to establish a PD District."
• Cottage Special Design District (SD-3). Allows "an historic pattern of small lot, single-family cottage development near town and transit": lots of 2,800 square feet, cottages of up to 1,200 square feet of living space and 28 feet tall, with one parking space each.
• Streamlined Affordable Housing Overlay. Added by Ordinance 24-04 in April 2024 for sites listed in the Housing Element. A project that sets aside "at least 20%" of its homes for lower income households gets ministerial review, a staff check with no hearing.

Where the Documents Disagree

• Low Density uses. The General Plan lists "Detached single-family homes" as the allowed use on Low Density land, while Table 10-1.202 permits duplexes and triplexes in RL. The staff report says the zoning code decides the specific use and the General Plan decides density, so the zoning table governs the type and the 8.7 per acre cap governs the count.
• District names. Section 10-1.125 lists "DM" and "UNL," while Article 28 names the zones DT-MS and UN-L.
• Table number. Section 10-1.803 introduces its table as "Table 10-1.703"; the table printed below it is titled Table 10-1.803.
• Overlay cross-reference. Section 10-1.2660 sends demolition questions to "HMC Section 10-1.2736," which covers shelters, manufactured homes and single room occupancy; the demolition rules are in Section 10-1.2737.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Hayward overview, the lot eligibility guide and the duplex to fourplex guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)