Cities | Menifee

Menifee, California Multiplex Rules 2026: Zoning, Lot Sizes, ADUs, SB 9, Three or More Homes, Hillside and Septic Rules, Permits and Fees

This guide covers the City of Menifee, California, a city of 118,592 people in Riverside County. Its zoning rules are Title 9 of the Menifee Municipal Code, the Development Code, which the City publishes as six article PDFs whose file names carry the date 8-15-24. One later ordinance changed them: Municipal Code Amendment No. LR24-0135, adopted by the City Council on July 16, 2025. This guide reads the PDFs and that ordinance together. Three facts shape a project here. Since the 2025 change, duplexes and apartments are allowed by zone only in LMDR, MDR, MHDR and HDR. Much of the city lies in 19 specific plans with their own rules. And parts of Quail Valley remain under a state ban on new septic systems. The seven guide pages below cover each topic in depth.

Menifee Guide Pages

Start With State Law

Five state laws set the minimum Menifee must allow. 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. 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. And SB 79, the 2025 law on housing near transit, does not reach Menifee yet: HCD, the state housing department, says in its advisory that it "will take effect on July 1, 2026, in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Diego Counties."

Menifee has written the first four into Title 9. ADUs are in Section 9.295.020, SB 9 in Chapter 9.296 (added in 2024), the density bonus in Chapter 9.180, and SB 684 and SB 1123 in Chapter 9.298, added by the 2025 ordinance. Parts of the ADU section still repeat state law as it stood before 2024. Where the City text and today's statutes differ, the guide pages say so and note that the statute controls.

Menifee in Numbers

The US Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 city file estimates 118,592 people in the City of Menifee on July 1, 2025. The 2020 estimates base is 102,526, so the city grew by 16,066 people, or 15.7 percent (VanPlex arithmetic), and the 2024 estimate is 116,618. In that file Menifee is the 55th largest city in California, after Antioch (118,958) and ahead of Temecula (114,865). Riverside County has 2,544,916 people, so the City holds 4.7 percent of them (VanPlex arithmetic: 118,592 divided by 2,544,916).

The City's 2021-2029 Housing Element, the part of the General Plan that plans housing for each income level, lists the sites where affordable projects on HDR land are approved by right. The Development Code points to "Figure B-1 and Table B-12 of Appendix B" for that list. This guide did not read the Housing Element, so no site count or housing target is given here.

The Ways to More Homes Compared

Sources: Menifee Development Code Article 3, Article 4 and Article 5, PDFs dated 8-15-24, as amended by Ordinance LR24-0135; Government Code 65852.21, 66411.7, 65915 and 66499.41.

Zones That Allow Homes

Menifee has six agricultural and rural zones (AG, RM, RR5, RR2, RR1 and RR1/2) and six residential zones. LDR-1 and LDR-2 need lots of 10,000 and 7,200 square feet. LMDR, MDR, MHDR and HDR are set by density: 5 to 8, 8 to 14, 14 to 20 and 20 to 24 homes per acre. Since July 2025 duplexes and apartments are permitted only in those four; the 2025 ordinance removed duplexes from LDR-1 and LDR-2. Five Economic Development Corridor zones allow apartments mixed with commercial uses, with a conditional use permit. Nineteen specific plans, from Audie Murphy Ranch to Town Center, set their own zones. See the zoning districts page.

Lot Sizes and Dividing Land

Residential lots run from 3,000 square feet in MHDR and HDR to 10,000 in LDR-1; rural lots from one-half acre to 10 acres. Chapter 9.296 sets the SB 9 urban lot split: two lots "of approximately equal size," each at least 40 percent of the original and 1,200 square feet, each with 24 feet of street frontage, decided within 60 days. The new Chapter 9.298 allows small lot maps of up to ten lots, with lots as small as 600 square feet on multifamily land. Title 7, the subdivision ordinance, is published on a host this guide could not read. See the lot size and subdivisions page.

House Lots: ADUs and SB 9

Section 9.295.020 allows a new attached or detached ADU of up to 1,500 square feet, 18 feet tall when detached, with side and rear setbacks of no more than four feet, approved through building plan check within 60 days. The City offers eight permit-ready ADU plans from 306 to 1,198 square feet. SB 9 two-unit projects allow two homes of 500 to 800 square feet each, require a sewer connection, and may not be sold separately. See the ADUs and SB 9 page.

Three or More Homes

A residential project of up to six homes goes to staff as a Minor Plot Plan where streets and utilities are in place; more than six needs a Major Plot Plan and a Planning Commission hearing. Projects follow the City's Multifamily Objective Design Standards, adopted April 6, 2022. Apartments need 1.00 to 2.50 parking spaces per unit by bedroom count plus one guest space per 10 units. See the three or more homes page.

Parking, Setbacks and Height

Residential front yards are 15 feet, with 20 feet in front of a street-facing garage. Buildings may be 40 feet tall in LDR-1 to MDR and 50 feet in MHDR and HDR, with 50 to 60 percent building coverage. A house needs two parking spaces in a two-car garage at least 20 by 20 feet. See the parking, setbacks and height page.

Hillsides, Quail Valley and Fire Zones

Chapter 9.190 limits building on steep slopes and ridgelines: no disturbance within 200 feet horizontally and 50 feet vertically of a ridgeline, between 10 and 20 percent of the steep land disturbed, and homes of two stories at most. In Quail Valley the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board still prohibits new septic systems, with exemptions since 2020 in seven subareas. The City Council approved Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps in June 2025. See the hillside, Quail Valley and fire zones page.

Permits and Fees

The Director decides ministerial permits, the Planning Commission most discretionary ones, and the City Council legislative changes. The Director must rule on completeness within 30 days. City impact fees for July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 total $13,560 per single-family home and $8,322 per multi-family home, before storm drain, habitat and school fees, and the planning fee schedule adds a 5.7 percent technology fee. See the permits and fees page.

How Current the Code Is

The City page on the Development Code says the City Council adopted it on December 18, 2019 (Ordinance No. 2019-289) and that it "became effective January 17, 2020," and links an interactive version and a list of amending ordinances ending with Ordinance No. 2024-384. The interactive version loads its text with a script and was not read. The six article PDFs were read in full on October 11, 2026.

Sources: City Development Code page; the six article PDFs, for example Article 3; Ordinance No. 2024-384; City Council minutes of July 16, 2025.

To check for changes after the PDFs, VanPlex searched the agendas of 69 City Council meetings from January 2024 to October 7, 2026 on the City's agenda system. Only LR24-0135 changes the text of Title 9. Other ordinances in that period rezone named sites or amend named specific plans, and one amends improvement security rules in Title 7. These are the ordinances behind the rules on the guide pages:

Sources: City Development Code page; history notes in the article PDFs; Ordinance LR24-0135 and the June 18, 2025 minutes printed in the same packet.

Recent City Council Actions

• June 18, 2025. The minutes record the introduction of the ordinance approving LR24-0135, the adoption of Ordinance No. 2025-416 on fire hazard maps, and the 2025 fee adjustments.
• July 16, 2025. The minutes record LR24-0135 "Adopted as Part of Consent" by a 5-0 vote.
• November 19, 2025. The agenda lists adoption of the 2025 California Fire and Wildland-Urban Interface Codes and a $20,000 regional grant for the "Permit-Ready Accessory Dwelling Unit Plans Update."
• April 15, 2026. The agenda lists an ordinance on Title 7 improvement security and an ordinance adding construction cost index adjustments to the regional transportation fee.
• June 3 and June 17, 2026. The agendas list an update of the permit-ready ADU plans to the 2025 building codes and the 2026 fee and impact fee adjustments.
• July 15 and October 7, 2026. The agendas list the Menifee North Specific Plan amendment and zone change for the Heritage Valley Business Center for adoption, and the introduction of Menifee Village Specific Plan Amendment No. 7.

Agenda listings are published before each meeting; only the July 16, 2025 and June 18, 2025 minutes were read for votes.

Where the Code, City Documents and State Law Differ

• Junior ADU owner occupancy. Section 9.295.020 asks for an owner-occupancy covenant for every junior ADU; Government Code 66333 requires it only where the junior ADU shares sanitation facilities.
• ADU impact fee threshold. The City exempts ADUs "less than 750 square feet"; Government Code 66311.5 exempts 750 square feet or less.
• ADU guidebook. The June 2026 guidebook prints a 1,200 square foot maximum and a 16-foot height; the code says 1,500 square feet and 18 feet.
• Small lot home size. Chapter 9.298 caps each home at 1,750 square feet; Government Code 66499.41 applies 1,750 to the average.
• Density bonus. The City table stops at 50 and 80 percent; the 2026 statute adds a further bonus.
• Section numbers. Table 9.120.020-1 gives zone chapters as 9.25 to 9.55 instead of 9.125 to 9.155; Chapter 9.190 cites Sections 9.155.020 and 9.290.060 and Table 9.90.060-1; Chapters 9.296 and 9.298 send hillside lots to Chapter 9.195.
• Adoption date of the code. The City Development Code page says the City Council adopted the code on December 18, 2019; the recitals of Ordinance LR24-0135 say the Council adopted Ordinance No. 2019-289 on December 4, 2019. The City page also gives the effective date, January 17, 2020.
• Fee documents. The impact fee memo prints the single-family total as $13,560 on page 1 and $13,561 on page 2, and two rows of the application fee table show totals lower than their amounts.

Limits of This Guide

Not read: the interactive code viewer, Title 7 (published only on a host that refused the one request that reached it), the zoning map, the General Plan and Housing Element, the 19 specific plans and the planned development resolutions, the Steep Hillside Guidelines and Design Guidelines, the fire hazard maps, the engineering, building and fire fee schedules, the TUMF amounts, school fees, and staff reports other than the LR24-0135 item. Minutes were read only for June 18 and July 16, 2025.

Ask the Planning Division, which the City lists at 951-723-3741, which zone, specific plan and standards apply to your lot, and whether an ordinance newer than October 7, 2026 is in force.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the California ADU law page, the California impact fees page and the California SB 684 and SB 1123 page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)