Vallejo | Historic and Hillside

Vallejo Historic Districts and Hillsides: Certificates of Appropriateness, Slopes, Views and Hazards

Three sets of Vallejo rules sit on top of the base zoning and can decide whether a multiplex works on a given lot. Historic districts and landmarks need a certificate of appropriateness, an approval that new work fits the historic setting. Steep lots need a Hillside Development Permit. Some hill neighborhoods are in a Residential View District, where the City checks that new building does not block views. Fire, flood and earthquake rules add more. This page sets out each one from the Zoning Code and the City's own pages. The Vallejo overview has the summary.

Vallejo's Historic Districts

The City's Historic Districts page says: "City of Vallejo contains three historic districts that are listed in the National Register, these are: Saint Vincent's Hill Historic District, Architectural Heritage District (formally known as Vallejo Old City Historic District) and the Mare Island Historic Core." It adds that the city "is home to 82 landmarks that are either federally and locally designated."

• Saint Vincent's Hill Historic District is "generally bounded by Mare Island Way and Butte Street to the west, Marin Street and properties adjacent to Sonoma Boulevard to the east, Quincy Alley to the north and Florida Street, Carolina Street and Kissel Alley to the south." Its period of significance runs from 1868 to 1947.
• The Architectural Heritage District is "generally bounded by Sutter Street to the west, Monterey Street to the east, Carolina Street to the north and Garford Alley to the south." The page says many of its Victorian homes "date from the 1850s."
• The Mare Island Historic Core, also called Reuse Area 4, is centered on the Mare Island Museum and the Historic Core Plaza, between the buildings on Nimitz Avenue and the Mare Island Strait.

The page names the districts in two ways that do not match. It says Saint Vincent's Hill was "formally listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Vallejo Old City Historic District in 2003," and that the Architectural Heritage District, "formally know as Vallejo Old City Historic District, was formally listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Vallejo Old City Historic District in 1973." So the page gives two districts one listing name with two different years. The Zoning Map controls which lots are in an "H" district, and the City tells owners to check its interactive zoning map by address.

How the Historic Rules Work

Chapter 16.211 creates two overlay districts: the "H" Historic District, which "may be combined with any base zoning district," and the "L" Landmark designation for single properties. Chapter 16.614 holds the rules. Under Section 16.614.08, the base district's use and development rules apply, but "where conflicts arise, the criteria and requirements of any applicable historic district conservation plan or specific plan, shall govern." Work follows the U.S. Secretary of the Interior's "Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties," which are national guidelines for repairing and adding to old buildings.

• Historic resources inventory (HRI). A Planning Division database of "potential historic resources," each evaluated by professionals. Being on the HRI raises the review level for demolition.
• Mare Island. All new construction, demolition and alteration of contributing resources in the Mare Island Historic District follows the Mare Island Specific Plan, in particular Appendix B.1, the project guidelines, and Appendix B.4, the design guidelines.
• Landmark classes. The Architectural Heritage and Landmarks Commission (AHLC) may designate a City Landmark, Historic Structure, Structure of Merit or Contributing Structure, after a public hearing with mailed notice to owners within 200 feet at least 21 days ahead. It must act within 180 days of a request.
• Flexible standards. To help preserve a historic building, the Director may change setbacks, parking dimensions, fences, lot coverage and height by up to 25 percent, and the AHLC may allow more.
• Upkeep. Section 16.614.10 requires owners of inventory, district and landmark properties to keep them in good repair, to stop "demolition of a historic resource by neglecting it." The City can order a vacant building secured and charge the cost as a lien on the property.

Certificates of Appropriateness

Source: Vallejo Municipal Code Section 16.614.09, Table 16.614-A. Staff means the Secretary or the Director's designee. A footnote sends any exterior change visible from the street, windows included, to the AHLC with 14 days' notice.

A certificate "shall be required prior to the construction, demolition, alteration, or relocation of, or addition to, any main or accessory structure or other designated feature in a historic district, or on the property of a designated landmark." It is not needed for ordinary maintenance such as painting and minor repair, for work on a structure listed as non-contributing, for interior work unless the building is a landmark, for most paving, decks, fences and retaining walls, or for an accessory dwelling unit.

To approve, the AHLC or Director must find the project conforms to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and to any conservation plan or specific plan for the district. A demolition needs further findings, for example that "It is not feasible to preserve or restore the structure after considering alternatives," or that the structure "is a deterrent to a major improvement program which substantially benefits the city." Conditions run with the land. Staff decisions may be appealed to the AHLC and AHLC decisions to the City Council. The FY 2026-2027 fee schedule lists a certificate of appropriateness at $363 over the counter, $1,357 at staff level and $3,944 with a public hearing.

For a multiplex, the review level depends on what is built. A new duplex or fourplex is a new main structure and goes to the AHLC. A detached ADU behind a historic house needs no certificate at all, although objective historic standards in the ADU chapter may still apply. Section 16.303.08.C of the ADU chapter lets the City apply standards on "massing, materials, location, and architectural features," except to ADUs a city must approve under Government Code 66323. ADUs in a historic district are also exempt from the parking space, under Section 16.303.08.H.

Hillside Development

Source: Vallejo Municipal Code Chapter 16.212, as amended by Ordinance No. 1879 N.C.(2d) on March 11, 2025.

Chapter 16.212 applies to "any subdivision, new use, or structure (including accessory structures), additions to existing structures and other development on any parcel with an average slope of fifteen percent or greater," which the code calls a "Hillside Parcel." Average slope is computed from contour lines with a formula in Section 16.212.01, measured in steps of no more than ten feet. Where the chapter conflicts with other zoning rules, the chapter applies, except that the stricter noticing of the Residential View District wins where both apply.

• Permit. A Hillside Development Permit, "processed in the same manner as a minor use permit," with a soils and geotechnical report by a licensed geotechnical engineer and engineering geologist, peer reviewed by experts "hired by the city and paid for by the applicant." The city engineer may waive the report for small projects.
• Density. "No density is afforded for areas of the parcel that exceed a thirty percent slope."
• Ridgelines. "The highest point of any structure shall not be located within one hundred vertical feet of a ridgeline."
• Fences. Only wire mesh with wood posts or similar see-through materials; chain link, solid wood and masonry fences are prohibited.
• Exceptions. Additions under half the area of an existing house, if the house has no hillside permit, and one house on a hillside lot already created under the Subdivision Map Act, built to the chapter's rules.

Grading also follows Chapter 12.40, Excavations, Grading and Filling. On a hillside lot, the slope can remove more homes than the zoning would add: a 10,000 square foot RMD lot with half its area over 30 percent slope gets density credit for 5,000 square feet only, which is three homes (VanPlex arithmetic from Sections 16.212.02.C and 16.104.05). Section 16.212.02.C words the rule as a cut to "The minimum density," so confirm with the Planning Division how it applies the rule to the maximum.

The Residential View District

Chapter 16.213 protects views from hill neighborhoods of "San Pablo Bay, Mare Island Channel, the waterfront, Sulphur Springs Mountain, the Vaca Mountains, White Slough, the Napa River Wetlands, Sky Valley and the city itself." Its stated intent is to keep "the existing development pattern of one-story and two-story structures." The City Council applies it to a neighborhood by rezoning.

In a view district the Director reviews all building plans for exterior changes before a building permit. Plans that change the building envelope or add an accessory structure, "including an accessory dwelling unit," but that the Director finds will not hurt views, trigger mailed notice to owners within 200 feet at least 15 working days before the decision. If a neighbor objects within ten days, the project goes to the Planning Commission. A new main structure, or work that "could obstruct significant views," goes to the Commission directly, which must find, among other things, that the project "Protects view corridors." A notice of the restriction is recorded on each parcel. Because state law requires ADUs to be approved without a hearing, ask the Planning Division how it applies this chapter to an ADU.

Fire, Flood and Earthquake Rules

• Fire zones. Section 7.57.010, added by Ordinance No. 1882 N.C.(2d) on July 8, 2025, adopts "the updated Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) maps for Local Responsibility Areas, as issued by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) on February 24, 2025." Properties in Moderate, High or Very High zones must meet Chapter 7A of the California Building Code (fire-resistant construction) and Public Resources Code 4291 (defensible space). Chapter 12.53 adopts the 2025 California Wildland Urban Interface Code, by Ordinance No. 1883 N.C.(2d) of November 25, 2025.
• Wildfire review. Section 16.507.02 sends projects in the moderate or high wildfire risk areas of General Plan Map NBE-4 to the fire department, and requires land within 100 feet of combustible structures to be kept clear of flammable plants.
• Flood. Section 16.507.03 refers projects in the City's Flood Insurance Study areas to the Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District. New and changed structures in the 100-year floodplain must raise building pads above flood levels, and "The construction of permanent structures in designated floodways is prohibited." Development in areas vulnerable to a projected 55-inch sea level rise by 2100 gets environmental review.
• Geology. In geotechnical hazard zones B, C and D, residential uses may need a soils and geologic report with peer review, and "no building or structure to be used for human occupancy may be constructed over or within fifty feet of the trace of a known active fault." The report may be waived for a project of at most two homes when enough information already exists.

Where the Code Disagrees With Itself

• The notice of restriction in Section 16.213.03 cites "Chapter 16.212 Residential View District." Chapter 16.212 is the hillside chapter; the view district is Chapter 16.213.
• Section 16.614.08.B applies the State Historical Building Code "as provided by Section 6.06.071 of the Vallejo Municipal Code." The current code has no Title 6.
• Section 16.507.04 still refers to the "Uniform Building Code," which California has replaced with the California Building Standards Code adopted in Title 12.
• The City's Historic Districts page gives two districts the same National Register name with different listing years, as set out above.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Vallejo overview, the property tax, fire zones and insurance page and the California ADU law page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)