Saratoga's yearly cleanup of its city code, which this time reaches backyard batteries, pool pumps, accessory dwelling units and the deadline for filing an appeal, is set for final approval at Wednesday's City Council meeting.
The ordinance, numbered 420, is item 1.4 on the consent calendar for the Nov. 4 regular session, which begins at 7 p.m. in the council chamber of the Saratoga Civic Theater, 13777 Fruitvale Ave. Consent items pass together in one vote unless a council member or a resident asks to pull one.
If adopted, the changes take effect 30 days later, City Attorney Richard Taylor's staff report says.
The council introduced the package Oct. 21 on a 4-0 vote, with Councilmember Zhao absent, after a hearing that opened Oct. 7. The piece redrawing the Saratoga Village boundary was split into its own 3-0 motion because Councilmember Fitzsimmons recused herself from it, citing a conflict, according to the meeting minutes. The Planning Commission reviewed the zoning changes Sept. 9 and recommended them.
One idea set aside
The draft would have let the community development director, instead of the Planning Commission, approve tentative and parcel maps that create four lots or fewer, with the same public notice and a right to appeal. At the Oct. 21 meeting the council took that change out and asked staff to bring it back with more information in a future code update.
What would change
Among the roughly two dozen sections in the ordinance, according to the city's summary table:
- Batteries and pool equipment. The code has had no siting rules for home battery storage tied to solar systems. The update would hold batteries to the same limits as air conditioning units: none in a front setback, and at least 6 feet from a side or rear property line, subject to the city's noise rules. Pool pumps and other pool equipment in a rear setback would also need to stay 6 feet from side and rear lines.
- Accessory dwelling units. The ordinance adds a definition of interior livable space, updates how many ADUs and junior ADUs a lot may hold, and raises the bonus floor area for deed-restricted units from 10% to 15%. It also restores ministerial approval for a second-story ADU added on top of an existing one-story house, a rule the council approved in November 2024 that staff say was dropped by mistake in a later update.
- SB 9 lot splits. The text makes clear that urban lot splits are barred on historic landmark properties, sets a 60-day window for the city to decide an application and lines up parking rules for two-unit projects, lot splits and small subdivisions.
- Affordable rentals. Inclusionary housing agreements could apply to individual lots rather than a whole subdivision, and if an owner charges more than the allowed rent for an affordable unit, the excess could be recovered and returned to the tenant.
- Housing on faith and college land. To follow changes in state law, the article covering homes on religious and higher-education property would no longer be limited to R-1 zones, and its affordability terms would change.
- Appeals. Appeals would have to reach the city clerk by 4 p.m. on the deadline day, filings by email would count only at the clerk's posted address, and hearings could no longer be pushed back past deadlines set by state law.
- Commissions and trees. City commissioners, except Youth Commission members, would have to be at least 18. A tree-removal ground that cites the owner's "economic or other enjoyment" would be limited to cases where keeping the tree would force a smaller version of an otherwise allowed project.
Smaller fixes clarify that trash carts may sit in the street on collection day, confirm block parties can get special event permits, add massage establishments to the definition of a personal service business, let the city bill sign-removal costs on top of a fine and remove a mistaken bike-lane requirement for hillside collector streets.
Sources
saratoga.ca.us
saratoga.granicus.com
saratoga.granicus.com
saratoga.granicus.com
saratoga.granicus.com
