Santa Clara Zoning Code § 7.2 Applicability

New buildings whose primary facade (s) exceeds the maximum Massing Increment length listed in Table 7–1 —which varies by whether the facade is within or outside the Neighborhood Edge Overlay (see Figure 4-2, Character Overlays )—shall be divided into smaller ‘Massing Increments’ per the standards of Table 7–1 and the content of this Chapter If a primary facade is less than the maximum Massing Increment length, it does not need to be broken into multiple Massing Increments The standards of this Chapter are organized as follows:

1. Section 7.3.A regulates facades outside the Neighborhood Edge

2. Section 7.3.B regulates facades within the Neighborhood Edge

3. Section 7.3.C regulates when Massing Increments, regardless of location, shall and shall not appear as distinct buildings

WELL-SCALED MASSING INCREMENTS (A) in Historic Downtown Santa Clara and a newly-built building

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A A

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SANTA CLARA CODE

29 | Chapter 7: Building Massing

TABLE 7-1 | MASSING INCREMENT DIMENSIONAL STANDARDS

Notes

• 1 There shall be a minimum of 4 Massing Increments per block face. Where a block face includes an open space, the open space counts as a Massing Increment.

FIGURE 7-1 | MASSING INCREMENT DIMENSIONAL STANDARDS

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B
A A
C

MASSING INCREMENTS OUTSIDE THE NEIGHBORHOOD EDGE See Section 7.3.A

MASSING INCREMENTS WITHIN THE NEIGHBORHOOD EDGE See Section 7.3.B

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A
A
D
Street

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Publication, Apr 2026

ZONING

30 | City of Santa Clara Downtown Form-Base Code