Sonoma County Municipal Code Art. 02 In General

This chapter is adopted to promote and protect the public health, safety, peace, comfort, convenience and general welfare. It is also adopted for the following specified purposes:

(a) To provide for the orderly and beneficial land use of the county;

(b) To protect the character and social and economic stability of agricultural, residential, commercial, industrial and other communities within the county;

(c) To protect the public safety and welfare by regulating the location and uses of all structures and land;

(d) To protect and conserve the scenic, recreational and natural resource characteristics of the county;

(Ord. No. 2392, § 4)

(e) To provide for the orderly and timely processing of development projects as anticipated by the California Permit Streamlining Act. Development projects do not include rezonings, plan amendments or other applications accompanied by a request for a rezoning or plan amendment.

(Ord. No. 4643, 1993.)

(a) The zoning ordinance establishes various districts within the unincorporated territory of the county and designates lawful permitted uses, and uses which may be approved through the use permit process. Within these districts (1) it is unlawful to erect, construct, alter or maintain certain buildings or to carry on certain trades or occupations or to conduct certain uses of land or buildings, (2) the height and bulk of future buildings shall be limited, and (3) certain open areas shall be required around future buildings. The various districts also consist of appropriate regulations to be enforced in such district, all as set forth in this chapter.

(b) In conformance with the open space and public safety elements of the general plan, the county of Sonoma declares that the following articles of this chapter constitute its open space zoning pursuant to Government Code Section 65910:

(Ord. No. 4643, 1993.)

The planning director or his or her designee, without following the procedures necessary to amend the provisions of this chapter, may periodically renumber or reletter the sections of this chapter so long as no text changes are made.

(Ord. No. 4643, 1993.)

No ministerial or discretionary permit, such as, but not limited to, rezonings, use permits, variances, building or zoning permits for any use in any district, shall be issued if such rezoning or permit is inconsistent with the Sonoma County general plan or any duly adopted specific or area plans, except that:

(a) Issuance of a permit for an accessory dwelling unit is exempt from general plan density restrictions.

(Ord. No. 6444, § I, 8-22-2023; Ord. No. 4643, 1993.)

Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, the following provisions shall control and prevail for a period of one year following the effective date of this section, unless otherwise amended by subsequent action of the Board of Supervisors:

(a) Time Extensions. All approved land use entitlements that have not expired by the effective date of this section, and are not related to code violations, are hereby automatically extended for a period of one year from the date of expiration of the entitlement, but not to exceed the period of time allowed on an accompanying tentative map. This extension shall be in addition to any other time extensions allowed under the code.

(b) Vacation Rentals in the LIA. Notwithstanding the fact that vacation rentals are not listed as an allowable use in Article 04, Land Intensive Agricultural Zoning District, of Chapter 26 of the Sonoma County Code, existing and new vacation rentals that are registered with the Sonoma County Auditor and Tax Collectors office to pay Transient Occupancy Tax and have submitted a complete application for a vacation rental permit within two (2) years of the effective date of this ordinance, may be permitted with a zoning permit, which shall expire upon transfer or sale of the property, provided that they comply with all of the following:

(1) The vacation rental is within a primary residence and not within a second unit, farm family, agricultural employee, or farmworker unit which have restricted covenants; and the property is not under a Land Conservation Act (Williamson Act) contract;

(2) The vacation rental complies with all operating standards of Section 26-88-120 of the Sonoma County Code;

(3) No cultural events, special events, weddings or large gatherings are permitted;

(4) The septic system serving a vacation rental permitted with a zoning permit shall be properly functioning and shall meet Class 3 standards or better, as verified by a registered Civil Engineer or registered Environmental Health Specialist;

(5) The owner signs and records a Right to Farm Declaration.

(Ord. No. 6063, § II, 4-15-2014; Ord. No. 5941, § I, 5-10-2011; Ord. No. 5929, § II, 4-12-2011)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 6444, § II, adopted Aug. 22, 2023, repealed § 26-02-050, which pertained to Sonoma Valley residential growth management plan and derived from Ord. No. 4527; and Ord. No. 4643, adopted in 1993.

Editor's note— Ord. No. 6444, § III, adopted Aug. 22, 2023, repealed § 26-02-060, which pertained to Sonoma County Area No. 6 residential growth management plan and derived from Ord. No. 4643, adopted in 1993.

Provisions of this chapter shall apply to cities, special districts and state or federal governments or any agency of such governmental units, to the extent legally permissible. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to public projects of the county. Private projects on leased lands owned by the county are not public projects of the county.

(Ord. No. 5961, § 4, 1-24-2012; Ord. No. 4643, 1993.)

In accordance with section 2-76 of this code, the board of directors of the Sonoma County agricultural preservation and open space district shall make the general plan conformity reports, as required by Government Code section 65402, for the district's acquisition of open space interests in real property in the unincorporated area of Sonoma County, and any related transactions including, but not limited to, those that result in an acquired interest being held by another public entity.

(Ord. No. 5180 § 2, 1999.)

The districts established by this chapter are as follows:

(Ord. No. 6140, § II(Exh. B), 1-5-2016; Ord. No. 4643, 1993.)

In addition to the districts enumerated in Section 26-02-090, the following combining districts are established as set forth in this chapter:

(Ord. No. 6140, § II(Exh. B), 1-5-2016; Ord. No. 4991 § 1, 1996; Ord. No. 4774 § 1(A), 1994: Ord. No. 4643, 1993.)

The districts indicated in Sections 26-02-090 and 26-02-100 are established or may be established by progressive amendments to this chapter. The designations, locations, and boundaries thereof are set forth and indicated in the official zoning database. Such database, and all notations, references, data, and other information shown therein are hereby made a part of this chapter, or may be made a part of this chapter by the progressive amendment thereto.

(Ord. No. 6051, § I, 11-5-2013; Ord. No. 5739 § 1, 2007: Ord. No. 4643, 1993.)

Where uncertainty exists as to the boundaries of any of the districts, the board of supervisors, upon written application or upon its own motion, shall determine the boundaries of such district.

(Ord. No. 4643, 1993.)

The official zoning database shall consist of an electronic database which shall contain zoning data for properties under provisions of Section 26-02-110, and shall be available at the Sonoma County permit and resource management department.

(Ord. No. 5739, § 1, 2007; Ord. No. 4643, 1993.)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 6335, § II, adopted Feb. 9, 2021, repealed § 26-02-140, which pertained to definitions. See Ordinance List and Disposition Table for a detailed history of derivation.