Cities | Merced

Merced, California Multiplex Rules 2026: Zoning, Lot Sizes, ADUs, SB 9, Three or More Homes, the Housing Element Rezone Sites, Permits and Fees

This guide covers the City of Merced, California, a city of 99,724 people in Merced County. Its zoning rules are Title 20 of the Merced Municipal Code, the Zoning Ordinance, and its subdivision rules are Title 18, both published by Municode as Supplement 85, dated January 2026. Three facts shape a project here. Merced already allows a duplex on an R-1 single-family lot and up to three houses on a large one. Apartments are a permitted use in R-3 and R-4. And in April 2025 the City rezoned 27 sites, most of them to R-4, to meet its state housing target, while the state housing department wrote in March 2026 that the housing element was not yet in compliance. The seven guide pages below cover each topic in depth.

Merced Guide Pages

Start With State Law

Five state laws set the minimum Merced 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 Merced 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."

Merced has written ADU law into Chapter 20.42 and the density bonus into Chapter 20.56, both in 2023. It has no chapter for SB 9 or for SB 684, so those statutes apply directly. Merced is a charter city, and the SB 9 and ADU statutes define a local agency as a city "whether general law or chartered", so they reach Merced the same way. Parts of the ADU and density bonus chapters are stricter than today's statutes; the guide pages name each case and note that the statute controls.

Merced in Numbers

The US Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 city file estimates 99,724 people in the City of Merced on July 1, 2025. The 2020 estimates base is 89,830, so the city grew by 9,894 people, or 11.0 percent (VanPlex arithmetic), and the 2024 estimate is 99,142. In that file Merced is the 77th largest city in California, after Daly City (101,261) and ahead of Vista (98,274). Merced County has 297,260 people, so the City holds 33.5 percent of them (VanPlex arithmetic: 99,724 divided by 297,260).

The Ways to More Homes Compared

Sources: Merced Municipal Code 20.08.020, 20.08.040, Chapter 20.42, 20.22.040 and Chapter 20.56; Ordinance 2594 draft; Government Code 65852.21, 66411.7 and 65915.

Zones That Allow Homes

Merced has six residential districts: R-R, R-1 (with subzones R-1-20, R-1-10, R-1-6 and R-1-5), R-2, R-3 (R-3-2 and R-3-1.5), R-4 and R-MH for mobile home parks. The lot area needed for each home is 3,000 square feet in R-2, 2,000 in R-3-2, 1,500 in R-3-1.5 and 1,000 in R-4. Homes are also allowed in the urban village districts, at up to 36 per acre in R-IV, in the downtown districts at up to 36 per acre, and in some commercial districts. See the zoning districts page.

Lot Sizes and Dividing Land

Single-family lots run from 5,000 square feet in R-1-5 to one acre in R-R. Small house lots may be as small as 2,000 square feet in R-4, and a rule for older blocks allows new 50-foot-wide lots. Parcel maps go to a three-member minor subdivision committee and are recorded within twelve months. SB 9 urban lot splits follow Government Code 66411.7 directly. See the lot size and subdivisions page.

House Lots: ADUs and SB 9

Chapter 20.42 allows one attached ADU, one detached ADU and one junior ADU on a house lot, decided within 60 days. A detached ADU may have 1,200 square feet and be 16 feet tall, with four-foot side and rear setbacks. A registered tiny home on wheels of under 400 square feet may serve as an ADU. Two City rules on owner occupancy go beyond today's statutes. See the ADUs and SB 9 page.

Three or More Homes

Apartments are permitted in R-3 and R-4 and need a conditional use permit in R-2. The /UR overlay allows "Mansion Apartments" of two to four homes that look like one house with a minor use permit. Apartments need 1.75 parking spaces per unit of two bedrooms or less, and design standards apply from three units. See the three or more homes page.

Parking, Setbacks and Height

Buildings may be 35 feet tall in R-R to R-3 and 40 feet in R-4. R-1-5 has a 15-foot front yard and interior yards of 10 and five feet, with 50 percent lot coverage. A house needs one parking space. See the parking, setbacks and height page.

The Housing Element and Rezone Sites

Ordinance 2577 rezoned 27 sites, sixteen of them to R-4, on April 21, 2025. HCD wrote on March 17, 2026 that the housing element "cannot be found in substantial compliance until the City has completed the necessary rezones." Ordinance 2594, listed for final adoption on August 3, 2026, would add by-right review and a 20-homes-per-acre minimum on the rezone sites. See the housing element and rezone sites page.

Permits and Fees

The Director decides minor use permits, a staff committee decides site plan review, and the Planning Commission decides conditional use permits with at least four votes. Appeals are due within five business days. The impact fee was $11,671 per house and $8,520 per apartment in 2022 and rises each year with a construction cost index. See the permits and fees page.

How Current the Code Is

Municode's reader for Merced names the current edition "Supplement 85 - 1-26." Its supplement history table lists the ordinances in each supplement; the rows for Supplement 85 run from Ordinance 2581 of November 3, 2025 to Ordinance 2589 of March 2, 2026. The Zoning Ordinance in its current form dates from Ordinance 2465 of September 19, 2016. The City website, www.cityofmerced.gov, refused this guide's request with a 403 response, so its fee schedules, handouts and zoning map were not read.

Sources: Supplement history table, history notes in Title 20, and the Charter.

To find changes after the code, VanPlex listed every City Council and Planning Commission item since June 2024 whose title names an ordinance, on the City's agenda system. Two housing items change what lots allow and are not in the code text: Ordinance 2577, the April 2025 rezoning, which the supplement table lists as "Omitted", and Ordinance 2594, introduced July 20, 2026. Ordinance 2578, on fire hazard severity zones, is in Title 17. The City posts Council minutes only through January 8, 2026, so votes after that date could not be checked.

Recent City Council Actions

• April 21, 2025. Ordinance 2577 adopted, rezoning 27 sites and denying Sites G, R and S (minutes).
• July 7, 2025. Ordinance 2578 adds Section 17.32.105, adopting the state fire hazard severity zone map (code history note); Ordinance 2583 amended it on December 15, 2025.
• December 15, 2025. Items recorded as passed: the 2025 state building codes (item 25-1057) and the impact fee report for fiscal year 2024/2025 (item 25-857).
• July 20, 2026. Agenda item K.1: adoption of the housing element amendment and introduction of Ordinance 2594.
• August 3, 2026. Agenda item J.11: second reading and final adoption of Ordinance 2594; no vote is posted.

Where the Code, City Documents and State Law Differ

• ADU owner occupancy. Section 20.42.040(A) limits R-1 owners to renting the house or the ADU, not both, after January 1, 2025; Government Code 66315 bars any owner-occupant requirement.
• Junior ADU owner occupancy. Section 20.42.050(G) requires it in every case; Government Code 66333 requires it only where the junior ADU shares sanitation facilities.
• Detached ADUs on apartment lots. The City allows two; Government Code 66323 allows up to eight, no more than the existing units.
• ADU impact fee threshold. The City exempts ADUs "of less than seven hundred fifty (750) square feet"; Government Code 66311.5 exempts 750 square feet or less.
• Density bonus. The City table stops at 35 percent; Government Code 65915 reaches 50 percent and 80 percent for fully affordable projects.
• SB 9 street work. Section 18.20.100 allows dedications and frontage improvements on parcel maps; Government Code 66411.7 bars them for SB 9 splits.
• Completeness clock. The City counts 30 days from acceptance; Government Code 65943 counts from receipt.
• Within the code. Setback changes of 10 percent (Section 20.68.040) or 25 percent (Section 20.26.010); rear-home driveways of 22 feet (Section 20.08.040) or 20 feet (Section 20.28.020); cross-references to a Section 20.08.060 and a Section 20.44.180 that do not exist.
• Rezoning documents. Ordinance 2577 names Site Utilization Plan Revision #18 to P-D #46 where other documents say #8, and the Ordinance 2594 draft cites "Ordinance 2557" in its Section 1.

Limits of This Guide

Not read: the City website, including the zoning map, the application fee schedule, handouts and any pre-approved ADU plans; the General Plan and the housing element text; the site utilization plans of the planned development districts; the airport land use compatibility plan; school, water, sewer and building permit fees; and staff reports other than the items named here. Minutes after January 8, 2026 are not posted, so the adoption of Ordinance 2594 is unconfirmed.

Ask the Planning Division of the Development Services Department at the Merced Civic Center, 678 W. 18th Street, which zone, overlay and standards apply to your lot, and whether an ordinance newer than the August 3, 2026 agenda 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)