Building Use & Parking

Santa Clara City Code ch. 18.26, Downtown Form-Based Code ch. 12

in effect

Santa Clara City Code ch. 18.26, Downtown Form-Based Code § 12.1 Building Use

A. Introduction This section includes provisions for building use and parking for all properties within the Plan area. Uses not listed in Table 12-1 Specific Building Use Provisions shall be allowed by right unless prohibited everywhere in the City by the Santa Clara City Code. All uses are subject to all applicable development standards, State law, and any other applicable requirements that are beyond the scope of this Chapter. Any use that is not specifically prohibited within in this section, but is deemed by the Director of Community Development to be of such a nature as to be detrimental to neighboring properties by reason of emission of odor, excessive noise, or any other factor that is adverse to their comfort, peace, enjoyment, health, or safety, shall also be prohibited. All procedural requirements of SCCC § 18.110 shall apply. Parking requirements associated with building uses, as well as standards for how that parking may be provided, are established in Section 12.3. Legend Notes TABLE 12-1 | SPECIFIC BUILDING USE PROVISIONS

Use	Shopfront Overlay1	Retail-Ready1	Downtown General
Automobile service	Not permitted	Not permitted	Not permitted
Automobile dealership	Permitted only as a small-format showroom within a Shopfront
Assisted living / memory care	Not permitted	Not permitted	Not permitted
Corporate cafeteria, as accessory to office use	Not permitted	Not permitted	Not permitted
Data center	Not permitted	Not permitted	Not permitted
Drive-through facility	Not permitted	Not permitted	Not permitted
Dwelling unit	Permitted on upper floors; not permitted on ground floor	Permitted on upper floors; not permitted on ground floor	Permitted
Heavy industrial/manufacturing	Not permitted	Not permitted	Not permitted
Laboratory	CUP required on upper floors; not permitted on ground floor	CUP required on upper floors; not permitted on ground floor	CUP required
Liquor store	CUP required	CUP required	CUP required
Office	Permitted on upper floors; CUP required for ground floor1	Permitted1	Permitted
Lobby	Permitted on upper floors; not permitted on ground floor2	Permitted on upper floors; not permitted on ground floor2	Permitted
Place of assembly	CUP required	CUP Required	CUP Required
Private building amenities and leasing offices	Permitted on upper floors; not permitted on ground floor	Permitted on upper floors; not permitted on ground floor	Permitted
Specified “regulated businesses” (per SCCC § 18.70)	CUP required	CUP required	CUP required
Storage/warehouse	Not permitted	Not permitted	Not permitted
Surface parking	Not permitted3	Not permitted3	Not permitted4
Thrift shop (not including buy-sell-trade stores)	CUP required	CUP required	CUP required
Vehicle fueling facility	Not permitted anywhere in zone	Not permitted anywhere in zone	Not permitted anywhere in zone

CUP: Conditional Use Permit (SCCC § 18.110) 1 All ground-floor office uses in the Shopfront or Retail-Ready Overlay shall be designed with Shopfront frontages (See Table 9-1 and Section 9.4.A). 2 Exception: If a project has no frontage in the Downtown General Overlay, a Lobby of 20' maximum width and designed as a Shopfront is permitted in the first of the following options where the project has frontage: Option 1) in the Retail-Ready Overlay on any street other than Franklin St; Option 2) in the Shopfront Overlay on any street other than Franklin St; Option 3) in the Retail-Ready Overlay on Franklin St; or Option 4, last resort) in the Shopfront Overlay on Franklin St. (Example: Option 1 shall be chosen over Option 2 if a project has frontage in both locations.) 3 Exceptions: Parking spaces along an alley, with no additional aisles for the purposes of accessing parking, are permitted. Also, interim on-site surface parking is permitted with a Conditional Use Permit, provided that it serves a phased development strategy.

Santa Clara City Code ch. 18.26, Downtown Form-Based Code § 12.2 Specified Use Definitions

Each use listed in Table 12-1: Specific Building Use Provisions is defined below. In cases of uncertainty, the Director shall have the authority to make a determination. Automobile service. An establishment for which the primary purpose is the on-site repair, cleaning, detailing, dismantling, or similar work on cars. Automobile dealership. An establishment which sells automobiles. A small-format showroom is similar to a typical retail establishment with Shopfront frontage. Assisted living / memory care. Specialized housing accommodations for those requiring permanent on-site medical care. Corporate cafeteria, as accessory to office use. A cafeteria that is closed to the public but provides meals to employees of a particular company. Data Center. A facility for housing computing and data storage systems and equipment. Drive-through facility. An establishment where customers are regularly attended while remaining seated within an automobile. Dwelling unit. Any building or portion thereof that is used as an independent living facility for one or more persons. Heavy industrial/manufacturing. An establishment that includes labor-intensive manufacturing, assembly, fabrication, or repair processes that produces odors, noise, vibration, has large industrial vehicles visiting more than once per day, hazardous waste materials, or particulates that may negatively affect other uses on the same site or neighboring properties. Uses permitted in MP (Planned Industrial) zoning districts, per SCCC § 18.46.030, with the exception of laboratories, are not included in this category. Laboratory. A space, room or building equipped for scientific experiments, research, or teaching, or for the manufacture of drugs or chemicals. Liquor Store. A retail establishment which has 25% or more of the shelving devoted to the public display and sale of alcoholic beverages for off-site consumption. Lobby. An entry hall accessed by a common entrance shared by building tenants. Place of Assembly. Facility for public or private assembly and meetings, including civic and private auditoriums, banquet halls, community centers, conference and convention facilities; meeting halls for clubs, religious institutions (i.e., church, temple, synagogue, and mosque), and other membership organizations. Private building amenities and leasing offices. Spaces shared by the tenants/ inhabitants of a building but closed to the public and offices dedicated to leasing and sales for the building. Office. A building or portion thereof used as a place for commercial, professional, or bureaucratic work that does not depend on regular on-site visits from customers. Specified regulated businesses. Uses including adult book stores, adult cabarets, adult motion picture theaters, nude encounter studios, nude photography studios, and other uses, as specified in SCCC 18.70.090. Storage/warehouse. A facility for the storage of furniture, household goods, or other commercial goods of any nature. Thrift shop. Any individual personal partnership, firm or corporation whose business includes buying, selling, trading, taking in pawn, accepting for sale on consignment, or accepting for auctioning, secondhand tangible property. Buy-sell-trade stores—stores at which items are bought and sold outright (rather than used as collateral for loans)—are exempt from this category and are permitted by right. Vehicle fueling facility. A gas station— does not include electric vehicle charging stations.

Santa Clara City Code ch. 18.26, Downtown Form-Based Code § 12.3 CUP Conditions

of Approval Those seeking a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) must go to Planning Commission for determination and approval. In addition to the requirements listed in Santa Clara City Code, any use seeking a CUP is subject to the following required findings: A. The use shall not be noxious or a nuisance, including the disturbance of neighboring uses or uses in other portions of the building. B. The use shall contribute to, and in no way impede, the use of the adjacent public realm as a walkable, active mixed use environment throughout the day for a diversity of people. C. The use shall meet all other standards of this Form-Based Code, as applicable. For example, if a Place of Assembly is approved, it shall not present blank walls to a street or open space (see Chapter 10, Facade Design). D. The physical building and space shall be designed to be flexible and adaptable; it should facilitate the possibility that it be filled with a by-right use in the future.

Santa Clara City Code ch. 18.26, Downtown Form-Based Code § 12.4 Parking Requirements

A. Introduction. For new development Downtown, transportation demand management (TDM) strategies and parking strategies are intended to implement a pedestrian-oriented district that is accessible by all modes of travel and not dominated by wide roadways and traffic. Auto-oriented environments are typically characterized by large and exposed surface parking areas. It is the intent of the Precise Plan and this Form-Based Code to both minimize the aesthetic damage of existing and new parking areas through occupiable building lining, and to facilitate the rationalization of parking areas to better levels of efficiency to support existing and new development. B. Applicability 1. The standards within this section shall apply to all residential and non-residential development and/or redevelopment within the Precise Plan boundaries. 2. Compliance with these standards is not required in the following instances a. a change of use within an existing building; or b. an expansion of an existing building; or c. a replacement of an existing building that does not result in an increase in floor area by more than 25 percent. C. Required Number of Vehicular Parking Spaces. In the Downtown Precise Plan Area, parking requirements shall be as summarized in Table 12-2, except for any reductions allowed per this Section. These requirements reflect a strong transit orientation for downtown. D. Shared Parking. Parking shared among uses is encouraged, and up to twenty percent (20%) of parking spaces provided may be shared between two uses. For the purposes of this title, those parking spaces shared between two uses count towards the parking requirement of both. Shared parking is justified when reduced parking reflect different uses have different time-of-day parking demand profiles, based on evaluation by a qualified transportation planner and the City. TABLE 12-2 | REQUIRED PARKING

Use	Minimum Vehicular Parking Required
Office, civic, cultural and conference uses	1 space per 500 sq. ft. of building area
Grocery stores	1 space per 500 sq. ft. of building area
All other commercial uses, including restaurants and bars	1 space per 1,000 sq. ft. of building area
Hotels	0.5 spaces per room
Residential units	1 space per unit for units greater than or equal to 550 sq. ft.; 0.5 spaces per unit for units less than 550 sq. ft.; 1 space per 20 units for guest parking
Residential units for seniors, with on-site staff	1 space per employee plus 0.1 spaces per unit

E. Unbundled Parking. A maximum of one parking space shall be rented or sold with each unit. Additional parking spaces shall be rented or sold separately. As an alternative to renting or selling parking spaces separately from residential units, property managers may implement a parking preference program, with prospective renters without cars put on a separate waiting list from renters with cars, and renters being chosen alternately from the two lists. Require employers who provide free employee parking to offer a cash payment in lieu of the parking benefit. F. Off-Site and On-Street Parking. Required parking may be provided off-site but within the Downtown Zone. Directly adjacent on-street parking may count toward parking requirements for commercial uses. G. Required Electric Vehicle Charging Spaces (EVCS). All new development shall conform to the City of Santa Clara building electrification Reach Codes regarding EVCS (see Ordinance No. 2056), the Green Building Standards Code (SCCC Chapter 15.38), and/or any current City standard at the time of application. New residential development shall provide for EVCS and EV Ready Spaces in the quantities identified in SCCC Section 15.38.040 for residential uses and SCCC Section 15.38.050 for non-residential uses. H. Transportation Demand Management. 1. New development should provide secure indoor bicycle parking consistent with Zoning Code requirements. 2. New development should contribute to Transportation Demand Management (TDM), in order to promote transit and walkability in Downtown. Such TDM measures include: a. Transit Passes for Residential Uses – when residential developers commit to provide a monthly transit pass benefit to each residential unit; b. Transit Passes for Commercial Uses – when commercial developers commit to a monthly transit pass benefit, paired with a “guaranteed ride home” benefit for when employees have family or medical emergencies; c. Bike Commuter Facilities – when commercial projects make locker room(s) with shower(s) available to employees; d. Carsharing Spaces – when developers of large projects dedicate one or more on-site parking spaces to a carsharing operator for carsharing by residents and/or employees, with further reduction when on-site carsharing is available to the public; and/or e. Vanpool Spaces – when larger commercial projects reserve one or more parking spaces for an established employer-run vanpool program.

Santa Clara City Code ch. 18.26, Downtown Form-Based Code § 12.5 Parking Design Standards

FIGURE 12-1 | LINED STRUCTURED PARKING A. Standards. Except where in conflict with the provisions of this chapter, parking facilities shall be designed and built to the standards of SCCC § 18.74.040 through SCCC § 18.74.050. The following standards also apply: 1. Driveways. a. One-way driveways shall not exceed a width of 10 feet; two-way driveways shall not exceed a width of 20 feet. b. Curb cut flares shall collectively not exceed the width of the driveway by more than 20%. c. All driveways shall be perpendicular to the street. d. Driveways shall not affect the slope or direction of the sidewalk. 2. Structured parking a. Where adjacent to any street, structured parking shall be behind a depth of at least 30 feet of occupiable space on the ground floor, except as provided for in §12.4.A.2.c (below). The lining shall be designed per the Standards in Figure 12-1. Property Line | Building Frontage Line Upper Story Liner Ground Story Liner | Parking Street Min Depth - 30' b. Fully-subterranean garages may extend to all lot lines. Semi-subterranean garages may extend to building faces, provided that the ground floor is not more than 4 feet above sidewalk grade.See Figure 12-2. FIGURE 12-2 | SUBTERRANEAN PARKING c. Parking structures may be unlined in specific locations. Figure 12-3 regulates "Allowable Garage Building Frontage Property Line Line Street Facade Street Exposure", which varies by street and by ground and upper levels. d. Guidelines for efficient and effective parking structures include: i. A 255 ft minimum length allows one bay to slope, rising 10 ft, with the opposite bay having a level floor. The level floor improves visibility and allows for a street-facing facade to be level. ii. A 122 ft minimum width provides for 2-bays with 2-way traffic and perpendicular parking. iii. In the case of a garage in Block B adjacent to the existing office building: 6 levels of parking would make the garage rooftop the same height as the adjacent 7-story office building, potentially creating public rooftop space for both structures (with a connecting bridge). iv. Glass-backed elevators and glass enclosed stairways enhance security. v. Ground floor commercial space in parking garages is encouraged. vi. Garage rooftops can include vegetation and/or solar collectors. 3. Private garages: a. Front-loaded garages are not permitted. On-site parking shall be accessed from alleys or from drives where permitted per Section 5.3.C. FIGURE 12-3 | ALLOWABLE GARAGE FACADE STREET EXPOSURE LEGEND All Stories: Parking garage may be exposed (unlined) on all stories of the facade Upper Stories Only: Parking garage may be exposed (unlined) on upper stories of the facade only (not on the ground floor)

Source: City of Santa Clara Zoning Code (santaclaraca.gov PDF)URL: https://www.santaclaraca.gov/our-city/departments-a-f/community-development/planning-division/zoningFetched: 10/24/2026