Kromer for Berkeley D1 · Reference
Development permitting: what each law allows.
Five ways to add homes to a Berkeley lot, three state tracks that stack on one parcel, and the count of what any of it has produced. Every figure is sourced in the strip at the foot of its board. Screenshot a board or print this page. Each source is a public document on berkeleyca.gov or leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, named with its date so it can be found directly.
Three state tracks on one lot
They stack. They do not replace each other. Eligibility, tenant protections, demolition rules and lot size decide which combination is real on any given parcel.
ADU / JADU track
- Statewide ministerial accessory dwelling units since 2016–17, now recodified at Gov. Code 66310–66342.
- On a single-family lot: typically one ADU plus one junior ADU, plus conversions.
- On existing multifamily: attached conversions, plus — after SB 1211 (2024) — up to eight detached ADUs, or one per existing unit, whichever is fewer.
- 60-day decision. Parking replacement is usually barred.
- 2025–26: SB 543 sets completeness clocks. SB 9 of 2025 voids local ADU ordinances that conflict with state law — a different bill from SB 9 of 2021.
SB 9 lot-split / duplex track
- SB 9, the HOME Act (2021): Gov. Code 65852.21 and 66411.7.
- On an eligible single-family lot: two units, a two-lot urban split, or both. Each new lot can then hold two units.
- Ministerial. Objective standards only. A city cannot impose rules that physically block two 800 sq ft units.
- SB 450 (2024): 60-day clock, limits on extra design rules, HCD enforcement, and it reaches charter cities.
- On its own this track does not produce six- or eight-unit buildings. Those come from a different path.
Small-lot map track
- SB 684 (2023) added Gov. Code 65852.28, 65913.4.5 and 66499.41. SB 1123 (2024) amended 65852.28 and 66499.41.
- Ministerial subdivision of 2 to 10 lots and units on qualifying sites, with a 60-day decision.
- SB 1123 opened vacant single-family lots. Size and vacancy tests apply.
- The state track caps average unit size at about 1,750 sq ft.
- Berkeley implemented this locally in 2026 as BMC Chapter 21.30, Middle Housing Infill Projects, with a state track and a local parcel-map track beside it.
A fourth overlay
SB 79 sits near major transit. Signed October 2025, it takes effect July 1, 2026 across California’s urban transit counties, of which Alameda is one. In Berkeley it reaches the half mile around North Berkeley, Downtown and Ashby BART, where the state standard runs to 95 feet and 160 units per acre within 200 feet of a station. That is mid-rise construction, and it is a different question from middle housing on a residential lot.
Sources
Gov. Code 66310–66342 (ADU) · Gov. Code 65852.21 and 66411.7 (SB 9, 2021) · SB 450 (2024) · Gov. Code 65852.28, 65913.4.5, 66499.41 (SB 684, 2023, as amended by SB 1123, 2024) · SB 1211 (2024) · SB 543 and SB 9 of 2025 · Berkeley Municipal Code Title 21, Chapter 21.30 · Berkeley Planning Commission staff report on SB 79 and AB 893, 15 April 2026
kromerforberkeley.org/hot-topics/permitting · Kromer for Berkeley D1 · Paid for by Kromer for City Council 2026, FPPC ID #1492682
What each law actually allows
On a typical eligible lot. The State Density Bonus and local rules can add more. Berkeley’s high fire hazard area in the hills is excluded from the local track. Do not add these counts together as though one lot can use every track at once.
A · ADU only
Keep the house. Add a backyard or garage unit. The fastest path, and it does not rezone the lot.
1+2house plus
1 ADU + 1 JADU
B · SB 9
Two primary units, or split the lot in two and put two on each. Four units is the classic maximum before ADUs. Ministerial where the lot qualifies.
4classic max
before ADUs
C · SB 684 / 1123
Carve one lot into small ownership parcels, each with its own deed. Two to ten homes. This is the track aimed at for-sale middle housing.
2–10deeded homes
own parcel each
D · Berkeley Middle Housing
Ord. 7,978–N.S.
In force 1 Nov 2025 in R-1, R-2, R-2A and MU-R. Hills excluded. Objective standards: 35 ft, three storeys, 60% lot coverage, 70 units per acre as amended 26 June 2025. Zoning certificate if the checklist is met. On many lots this is more generous than SB 9.
2–6homes
35 ft · 3 storeys
E · HAA + SB 330 +
Density Bonus
These are not a building type. They are the procedural rules: a city cannot deny a code-compliant housing project on subjective grounds, a preliminary application vests the rules that apply, and bonuses and waivers sit on top of whatever local base density applies.
—adds no units of its own
protects and extends the four at left
Read it this way
Each square is one home. A hollow square is a home the track permits where the parcel supports it. The binding constraint on any real lot is the lot itself — its size, its shape, what is standing on it now, and who lives there.
Sources
Berkeley Ordinance 7,978–N.S., council item and annotated agenda, 26 June 2025 · City of Berkeley, Middle Housing Zoning · Gov. Code 65852.21 and 66411.7 · Gov. Code 65852.28, 65913.4.5 and 66499.41 · Gov. Code 66310–66342 · Housing Accountability Act, Gov. Code 65589.5 · Housing Crisis Act, Gov. Code 65905.5 and 66300 · State Density Bonus Law, Gov. Code 65915
kromerforberkeley.org/hot-topics/permitting · Kromer for Berkeley D1 · Paid for by Kromer for City Council 2026, FPPC ID #1492682
What Council ordered, and what arrived
Local law can go beyond the state floor. It cannot go below it. Whether anyone is measuring the result is a separate question, and it has a separate answer.
The state floor — Berkeley cannot go below this
SB 79 · near major transitUrban transit counties, from 1 July 2026. Alameda is one.
SB 684 / 1123 · small-lot mapsMinisterial subdivision, 2 to 10 lots.
SB 9 · duplex and lot splitUp to four units on an eligible lot.
ADU statuteMinisterial statewide.
The Berkeley layer — wider than the floor on many lots
Ord. 7,978–N.S. · Middle HousingTwo to six homes by zoning certificate in R-1, R-2, R-2A, MU-R. In force 1 Nov 2025.
BMC Ch. 21.30 · Middle Housing Infill ProjectsOrd. 8,002–N.S., adopted 10 Mar 2026. A state SB 684 track and a local parcel-map track.
BMC Ch. 21.29 · ADU condominiumsOrd. 7,999–N.S., adopted 10 Feb 2026, implementing AB 1033.
The procedural rules — they add no density of their own
Housing Accountability Act · SB 330 · Permit Streamlining ActThey govern how an application is processed and on what grounds it can be denied. They sit alongside every track above rather than on top of them.
1What Council passed
Second reading 8 July 2025. In force 1 November 2025. Ministerial middle housing across the flats, with the hills fire area excluded.
Companion repairs through 2025–26: design review for MU-R projects, a trailer on nonconforming lot coverage, floor area ratio and density, and the small-lot subdivision chapter.
2What Council also ordered
Councilmember Humbert’s amendment, carried in the adoption motion of 26 June 2025: a simple quantitative report to Council, by 1 April 2026 and annually thereafter, covering the present year and all previous years beginning 2025.
- Applications
- Units proposed
- Building permits
- Certificates of occupancy
3What arrived instead
An off-agenda memo of 27 March 2026 from the City Manager, transmitting the 2025 Housing Element and General Plan Annual Progress Reports that had gone to the state on 23 March. Section 7 reads:
“… we do not yet have data on Middle Housing unit production. Beginning in 2027, this annual memo will include data on the entitlement, permitting and completion of Middle Housing units.”
A different set of fields, a year later.
- Entitlement, permitting and completion — promised from 2027
- Applications and units proposed — absent from the 2027 list, and Berkeley has been taking applications since 3 November 2025
The point
The state set a floor. Berkeley built something wider on many lots. Nobody has published the count of whether anyone used it — and the annual progress report is a state form filed under Gov. Code 65400, which leaves the Council’s own four-field assignment standing. No Council vote has changed it.
Sources
Annotated Agenda, Special Meeting, 26 June 2025 (Humbert amendment, quoted in full) · Annotated Agendas of 10 February, 24 February and 10 March 2026 · City Manager off-agenda memorandum, 27 March 2026, Section 7 · 2025 Housing Element Annual Progress Report · Berkeley Municipal Code Title 21, Chapters 21.29 and 21.30 · Gov. Code 65400
kromerforberkeley.org/hot-topics/permitting · Kromer for Berkeley D1 · Paid for by Kromer for City Council 2026, FPPC ID #1492682
Who does this work, and what is funded
The count on the board above was assigned to one team. The Planning Commission’s work plan for this fiscal year says how large that team is and which follow-on projects have no money behind them. Council received it on 29 September 2026 as an information report.
Finished — the ordinances on the boards above
ADU state law compliancePlanning Commission 3 Mar 2025 · Council 27 Jul 2025.
Middle housing zoning and General Plan amendmentsPlanning Commission 27 Feb and 9 Oct 2024 · Council 26 Jun 2025.
AB 1033 · ADU condominium ordinancePlanning Commission 7 May 2025 · Council 16 Sep 2025.
SB 684 implementation · Titles 21 and 23Planning Commission 8 Oct 2025 · Council 24 Feb 2026.
Active this fiscal year — staff assigned
San Pablo Avenue Specific PlanAdopted by Council 9–0 on 29 Sep 2026 (Item 34). Second reading of the zoning 13 Oct 2026.
Corridors Zoning UpdateListed as a complex multi-year project, continuing.
Ashby BART station area planningContinuing.
General Plan · Disaster Preparedness and Safety Element, and Berkeley’s first Environmental Justice ElementState-mandated, continuing.
Local density bonus for the San Pablo plan areaAnticipated to start in FY 2026–27.
Cannot start without budgeted money
Objective design standards in the middle housing districtsCouncil referral, ranked 21st in the February 2026 prioritization vote.
Rezoning Gilman from San Pablo Avenue to Interstate 80 for commercial usesRanked 4th.
Zoning modifications for added density to offset costs of the HARDHATS ordinanceRanked 5th.
1The team
From 2023 through 2026 the Planning and Development policy team had eight full-time employees. A temporary grant-funded senior planner position expired, and a senior planner, an associate planner and an assistant planner became vacant.
Today it is four: two principal planners and two associate planners. The department expects to fill two posts and share a third with the project planning team, reaching 6.5.
2The work the finished work created
“… several recently completed projects referred by City Council require substantial staff time to train staff and inform the public about new processes, such as ministerial permit pathways for SB 684-compliant small-lot subdivisions and middle housing zoning applications.”
Passing the ordinance starts the staffing work. It does not finish it.
3The question staff put to the Commission
Council approved the Project to Increase Telegraph and Claremont Housing rezoning on 10 March 2026 and recommended funding it through the FY27 budget on 16 June 2026.
“Given that PITCH has been budgeted by the City Council, how should this project be prioritized relative to the other Council-referred projects?”
The point
The four-field count was assigned to a policy team that has halved since the assignment was written. That is a reason and it is not an answer to the board above: the application figure has existed since Berkeley began taking middle housing applications on 3 November 2025, and publishing a number already in the permit system takes no consultant and no environmental review.
Sources
FY 2026–2027 Planning Commission Work Plan, staff report dated 1 July 2026, transmitted to Council as Item 40 of the agenda for 29 September 2026 · Berkeley City Council Agenda & Rules Committee special meeting packet, 14 September 2026, pages 42–53 · Council referral prioritization by re-weighted range voting, adopted 10 February 2026
kromerforberkeley.org/hot-topics/permitting · Kromer for Berkeley D1 · Paid for by Kromer for City Council 2026, FPPC ID #1492682