Jurupa Valley | Three or More Homes

Jurupa Valley, California Three or More Homes: Apartment Zones, Design Standards, By-Right Sites and Inclusionary Housing

In Jurupa Valley a triplex, fourplex or larger building is a multiple family dwelling, and the code allows it only in six zones. Each project must meet one long set of design standards, needs a site development permit in most zones, and must set aside a share of the homes as affordable or pay a fee. This page covers where these buildings are allowed, how many homes fit, the design and parking rules, the 2026 by-right rule for rezoned sites, and the inclusionary and density bonus rules. The Jurupa Valley overview has the summary.

Zones and How Many Homes Fit

Sources: Jurupa Valley Municipal Code Secs. 9.70.020 to 9.70.110, 9.75.020 to 9.75.060, 9.80.020 and 9.80.030, 9.100.020 and 9.100.040, 9.110.040 and 9.210.020 (Supplement 27); Ordinance No. 2026-06.

R-2 has the clearest density rule. Section 9.70.110 says every main building "shall have a lot or building site area of not less than two thousand, five hundred (2,500) square feet for each dwelling unit." That gives two homes on a 7,200 square foot lot, three on 7,500 square feet, four on 10,000 and six on 15,000 (VanPlex arithmetic). Two-story main buildings on one lot must be 15 feet apart, and one-story main buildings 10 feet apart.

R-3 controls size by bulk. Buildings may cover half the net lot area, reach a floor area ratio of two to one, and rise to 50 feet, with front and rear yards of 10 feet and side yards of 5 feet up to 35 feet of height and two more feet of setback for each foot above that. On the Housing Element sites rezoned in 2024, the City allows up to 25 homes per acre, and Ordinance No. 2026-06 cites a range of 20 to 25 homes per acre. The City's Current Planning page gives an example: Camino Terrace, an 80-home affordable and supportive housing project on 5.88 acres zoned R-3, which as of September 3, 2026 was in the post-entitlement phase.

R-2A allows the same building types as R-2 with a site development permit, but at "two (2) stories of thirty (30) feet," and its chapter has no per-home lot rule. R-4 is a planned residential zone for whole subdivisions of nine acres or more, with at least 6,000 square feet of overall area per home. R-6 is an affordable housing zone applied only with an approved project; density must exceed four homes per gross acre, every apartment project needs at least four homes, and each home needs one parking space. R-D allows apartments with a site development permit, but its chapter sets no density or height figure of its own.

The Site Development Permit

A site development permit is the City's review of a building plan against the zone's standards. Under Section 9.240.330, the Community Development Director approves, conditionally approves or disapproves a permit that needs no hearing "within thirty (30) days after accepting a completed application." The Director must hold a public hearing when the project needs a negative declaration or an environmental impact report under state environmental law, and may send a permit to the Planning Commission. A permit that needs a map, zone change or General Plan amendment follows those processes instead.

• Findings. No permit may be approved unless the use conforms to the General Plan and City ordinances, and the development protects "the public health, safety and general welfare" and fits the logical development of the area.
• Selling separately. A permit for more than one structure on one parcel carries a condition "which prohibits the sale of any existing or subsequently constructed structures on the parcel until the parcel is divided and a final map recorded." To sell homes one by one, file a map.
• Appeals. Any interested party may appeal the Director's decision in writing within ten calendar days of the mailing of the decision. The Planning Commission hears the appeal, and its decision may be appealed to the City Council.
• Time limit. An approved permit must be used within two years, or within extra time set in the conditions, but no more than five years in total.

Section 9.05.103 adds a separate track for any housing project that "must be approved ministerially pursuant to state law," such as projects under the state streamlining laws. Those projects apply for an administrative use permit and are approved by staff on objective standards, with no Planning Commission or City Council hearing. The City's Housing Development page posts the SB 330 preliminary application and SB 35 notice of intent forms.

Design Standards for Multiple Family Buildings

Section 9.240.545 applies to every multiple family project in the six zones. Some rules start at a set number of homes.

• Private open space. 115 square feet for each ground-floor home and 75 square feet for homes above, such as a patio or balcony, at least 8 feet in each direction on the ground floor and 5 feet above. Ground-floor spaces are separated by a 6-foot fence or wall that is not chain link.
• Common open space. Projects of eight or more homes need 150 square feet per home, no dimension under 10 feet, with up to 60 percent inside a building. Examples include a pool, a recreation center or an athletic court.
• Laundry and storage. Projects of eight or more homes need washer and dryer hookups in each home or its garage. Every home needs a 35 cubic foot utility closet inside and a 60 cubic foot lockable storage area outside.
• Parking plan. Projects of three or more homes must submit "a parking management plan" that assigns resident and guest spaces and explains how parking is enforced.
• Street frontage. A 20-foot wide planted area along every street, with trees every 30 feet.
• Walls and buffers. Decorative block walls on property lines; a 6-foot wall next to commercial land and an 8-foot wall next to industrial land. Living areas must be set back 50 feet from land zoned or used for commercial or industrial activity.
• Upper stories. For projects outside the state streamlining law, "any additional stories over two (2) stories" must keep a 30-foot setback from the setback line.
• Style and roofs. "The architectural style of the multiple family dwelling project shall be Spanish Colonial, Craftsman, Victorian, California Bungalow, American Farmhouse, or California Ranch." "Composition shingle roofs are prohibited."
• Studies. Projects of more than 24 homes must submit traffic, habitat, noise, air quality, cultural resources and, when needed, toxic substances studies.

Parking follows Section 9.240.120: 1.25 spaces for a studio or one-bedroom home, 2.25 for two bedrooms, and 2.75 for three or more. At least one space per home must be in a garage or carport that matches the building, and every space must be within 200 feet of the building it serves. A fourplex of two-bedroom homes needs nine spaces (VanPlex arithmetic). The parking, setbacks and height page has the detail.

By-Right Approval on Rezoned Housing Element Sites

The City's Housing Element page says the state certified Jurupa Valley's 2021 to 2029 Housing Element on April 22, 2022. To meet its share of lower-income homes, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 2024-10 on May 16, 2024, rezoning a set of sites to R-3 at up to 25 homes per acre. Ordinance No. 2026-06, adopted June 4, 2026, carries out state law for those sites. Its new Section 9.240.335 makes eligible any project in which "twenty percent (20%) of the total number of housing units in the project are proposed to be available to lower income households," located on the listed sites, at a density at or above the General Plan minimum.

• Application. The owner files a site development permit application "and indicate that the project is seeking ministerial review pursuant to Section 9.240.335. No discretionary permit or approval is required."
• Completeness. The Director decides within 30 days whether the application is complete; if not, it "shall be deemed complete by operation of law."
• Review. The Director reviews the plan "without notice or hearing" against objective R-3 standards, including Sections 9.80.030, 9.240.120 and 9.240.545, and issues the permit when it complies. Appeals follow Section 9.05.105.
• Affordability. The affordable homes are restricted by a recorded agreement, and the state density bonus still applies.

The Supplement 27 copy of the code does not yet print Section 9.240.335, because the Supplement History Table ends with Ordinance No. 2026-04. Use the adopted ordinance text until Municode adds it.

Inclusionary Housing: 7 Percent

An inclusionary rule requires new housing to include some homes priced for lower-income households. Jurupa Valley adopted its Inclusionary Housing Ordinance on August 18, 2022, and the City's Inclusionary Housing Ordinance page says it applies to residential projects approved after September 17, 2022. Chapter 9.267 defines a residential development as "a project containing at least one (1) residential unit," so the rule reaches small projects too.

• Share. Section 9.267.040 requires projects to "rent or sell seven (7) percent of the units at an affordable housing cost." The first inclusionary unit goes to a moderate-income household, the second to a low-income household, and the third and fourth to very low-income households.
• Fractions. Under 0.5, the developer pays a fractional in-lieu fee; at 0.5 or more, the fraction rounds up to a whole unit. A fourplex owes 0.28 of a unit and an eight-home project 0.56, which rounds up to one (VanPlex arithmetic).
• In-lieu fee. The developer may pay a fee instead, "prior to the issuance of the first building permit." The City's program bulletin lists "$2.50 per net square foot, with net square feet equal to all livable floor area including garages." On a fourplex of four 1,000 square foot homes with 400 square foot garages, that is 5,600 square feet and $14,000 (VanPlex arithmetic, if the full fee applied).
• Term. The bulletin lists 55 years for rental units and 45 years for for-sale units.
• Exempt. ADUs, SB 9 units, home additions, density bonus units, mobile homes, and a home that replaces one demolished or destroyed on the same lot within five years.

The fee may change. The August 6, 2026 staff report calls the City's in-lieu fee and inclusionary requirement "modest relative to regional and State benchmarks," lists Jurupa Valley at $2.50 per square foot and 7 percent, and asked the City Council to authorize "an Inclusionary Housing Ordinance in-lieu fee nexus study" on whether both should be updated.

Density Bonus and SB 79

The state density bonus lets a project of five or more homes build more homes than the zone allows when it includes affordable units. Jurupa Valley's Chapter 9.300 says the City "shall grant a density bonus, the amount of which shall be as specified in Government Code Section 65915(f)," with incentives as the statute sets. Under Section 9.267.050, units affordable to lower or moderate income households count toward both the inclusionary rule and the density bonus. The August 2026 staff report notes that state density bonus law reaches 50 percent, or 80 percent for fully affordable projects, and "applies citywide by-right."

SB 79 allows taller, denser projects near qualifying rail and bus stops. HCD's SB 79 advisory says its upzoning took effect on July 1, 2026 in seven counties: Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Diego. Riverside County is not among them, so SB 79's upzoning does not apply in Jurupa Valley as of that advisory.

How the City Is Tracking Its Housing Goal

The August 6, 2026 staff report gives the City's progress on its state housing allocation for 2021 to 2029. Of 4,497 homes, 1,444 had been permitted through the end of June 2026, leaving 3,053. Above-moderate homes stood at 1,132 of 1,810, while very low income homes stood at 72 of 1,207. The report says production in the lower-income categories "lags substantially and is primarily driven by non-deed restricted Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) production," and that much of the remaining capacity lies in specific plan areas expected to build mostly market-rate homes. It asked the City Council to start a Local Housing Trust Fund and the in-lieu fee nexus study.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Jurupa Valley overview, the duplex to fourplex guide and the CEQA and permit streamlining page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)