Community Development Department
ZONES IN SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
The Board of Supervisors adopted the Development Title along with the General Plan 2010 in July 1992 as part of the Comprehensive Planning Program. This document replaces the Planning Title and contains information on zones, development application requirements, and standards and regulations relating to such issues as infrastructure, natural resources, safety, and signs.
The Development Title contains new zone designations for San Joaquin County. The following are brief descriptions of the zones now in use. Please consult the Development Title for additional information regarding use types and specific uses, accessory and temporary uses and structures, lot and yard requirements, height and building intensity, etc.
RESIDENTIAL ZONES
R-R Zone (Rural Residential). This zone is intended to provide for large lot rural homesites within or adjacent to existing Rural Communities. Lots will general have sufficient area to allow for individual water supply, sewage disposal, and storm water drainage, but not to support significant commercial agriculture.
New lots in this zone are 1 - 5 acres.
This zone replaces the RR-44, RR-65, RR-100, and RR-200 zones contained in the Planning Title
R-VL Zone (Very Low Density Residential). This zone is intended as a transition from rural to urban areas. It allows for detached, single-family dwellings on large lots located in existing communities or on the urban fringes. Full urban services are required for development in this zone.
New lots in this zone are generally 17,500 - 35,000 square feet.
This zone replaces the RA-30, RA-20, and RA-15 zones.
R-L Zone (Low Density Residential). This zone is intended to provide for neighborhoods consisting of detached, single family residences located within or immediately adjacent to population centers which have public services.
New lots in this zone are generally 6,000 - 17,500 square feet.
This zone replaces the R1-10, R1-8, and R1-U zones.
R-M Zone (Medium Density Residential). This zone is intended to accommodate detached single-family dwelling units, mobile homes, and attached units including duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in neighborhoods most appropriately situated as buffers between less and more intensively developed residential areas or as transitions from residential to commercial areas.
New lots in this zone are a minimum of 6,000 square feet. No maximum is designated, although development cannot exceed 10 dwelling units per acre.
This zone replaces the R-2 and R-3 zones.
R-MH Zone (Medium High Density Residential). This zone is intended to allow for attached housing units such as townhouses and garden apartments in central portions of Urban Communities, along major transportation routes, and around major commercial areas.
New lots in this zone are a minimum of 6,000 square feet. No maximum is designated, although development cannot exceed 15 dwelling units per acre.
This is one of the zones which replaces the R-4 zone.
R-H Zone (High Density Residential). This zone is intended to encompass multiunit housing units located near central business districts, major commercial areas, and major transportation routes.
New lots in this zone are a minimum of 6,000 square feet. No maximum is designated, although development cannot exceed 40 dwelling units per acre.
This is one of the zones which replaces the R-4 zone.
AGRICULTURAL ZONES
AG Zone (General Agriculture). This zone is established to preserve agricultural lands for the continuation of commercial agriculture enterprises.
Minimum parcel sizes within the AG Zone are 20, 40, 80 or 160 acres, as specified by the precise zoning.
This zone replaces the previous AG zone.
AL Zone (Limited Agriculture). This zone is intended to recognize and preserve areas that contain existing concentrations of small-scale agricultural operations and dwellings.
Minimum parcel sizes within the AL zone are 5 or 10 acres, as specified by the precise zoning.
This zone replaces the previous AL zone.
AU Zone (Agriculture-Urban Reserve). This zone is intended to retain in agriculture those areas planned for future urban development in order to facilitate compact, orderly growth and to assure the proper timing and economical provision of services and utilities.
The minimum parcel size within the AU zone is 20 acres.
This zone replaces the previous AU zone.
COMMERCIAL ZONES
C-L Zone (Limited Commercial). This zone is intended to provide for very small commercial areas that offer a limited selection of convenience goods and services to a portion of an urban neighborhood or an industrial area.
There was no corresponding zone in the Planning Title.
C-N Zone (Neighborhood Commercial). This zone is intended to provide for the development of small, localized retail and service businesses which serve immediate residential neighborhoods of 3,000 to 5,000 people.
This zone replaces the C-1 zone.
C-C Zone (Community Commercial). This zone is intended to provide for the development, within central business districts or extensive commercial areas, of a full range of retail and service establishments, providing goods and services necessary to supply Urban Communities or regional markets.
This is one of the zones which replaces the C-2 zone.
C-G Zone (General Commercial). This zone is intended to provide for a wide variety of specialized retail and service uses, normally developed as a separate individual entity rather than as part of a cluster of uses, which serve Urban Communities or regional markets, requiring large amounts of land, and which necessitate special purpose trips by consumers.
This is one of the zones which replaces the C-2 zone.
C-FS Zone (Freeway Service Commercial). This zone is intended to provide areas adjacent to full freeway interchanges for commercial uses oriented to serve the needs of the highway traveler.
This zone replaces the H-S zone.
C-RS Zone (Rural Service Commercial). This zone is intended to establish areas within Rural Communities where retail and service uses frequently required by rural residents and the surrounding agricultural community can be provided. The zone envisions a mix of retail uses, professional offices and commercial services.
New lots in this zone are a minimum of 5,000 square feet.
This is one of the zones which replaces the C-RC zone.
C-X Zone (Crossroads Commercial). This zone is intended to provide a limited variety of retail and service uses and agriculturally related uses at specific intersections to serve rural residents outside of designated urban and Rural Communities.
New lots in this zone are 5,000 square feet.
This is one of the zones which replaces the C-RC zone.
C-R Zone (Commercial Recreation). This zone is intended to provide areas for major recreation-oriented commercial activities and associated facilities.
This zone replaces the C-RE zone.
INDUSTRIAL ZONES
I-W Zone (Warehouse Industrial). This zone is intended to accommodate warehouses and service establishments catering to those uses whose primary distinguishing feature is independence from public sewage disposal systems through the use of septic tanks, without the production of industrial wastes.
New lots in this zone are a minimum of 40,000 square feet.
This is one of the zones which replaces the M-1 Zone.
I-P Zone (Industrial Park). This zone is intended to allow for the development of a combination of corporate offices, warehousing, light manufacturing, wholesaling, and professional offices, as well as the services necessary to support those uses. Design and development within this zone should be such as to allow location near planned or existing residential zones with a minimum of environmental conflict.
New lots in this zone are a minimum of 10,000 square feet.
This zone replaces the R-M zone.
I-L Zone (Limited Industrial). This zone is intended to provide for light impact manufacturing, warehousing, wholesaling, construction contracting, and distribution uses. Activities within this zone have external physical effects that are generally restricted to the immediate area, are compatible with surrounding uses, are conducted entirely within enclosed buildings, and have outdoor storage areas that are screened. Business and professional offices may also be appropriate within this zone.
New lots in this zone are a minimum of 10,000 square feet.
This is one of the zones which replaces the M-1 zone.
I-G Zone (General Industrial). This zone provides for a wide range of manufacturing, distribution and storage uses which have moderate to high nuisance characteristics such as noise, heat, glare, odor, and vibration, and which require segregation from other land uses, and/or may require outside storage areas.
New lots in this zone are a minimum of 10,000 square feet.
This zone replaces the M-2 zone.
I-T Zone (Truck Terminal). This zone is intended to provide a location outside Urban Communities and within easy access of a freeway for truck terminals.
New lots in this zone are a minimum of 43,560 square feet.
There was no corresponding zone in the Planning Title.
NEW ZONES IN THE DEVELOPMENT TITLE
P-F Zone (Public Facilities). This zone is intended to provide for the establishment of major correctional, medical, and infrastructure facilities; publicly owned recreation facilities and areas and similar facilities and areas; educational facilities meeting State requirements for primary, secondary, and higher education; police and fire protection facilities; and supporting uses in areas where they are most likely to benefit the County's residents.
M-X Zone (Mixed Use). This zone is intended to provide for activity centers containing a variety of compatible uses and integrated land uses under a coherent plan.