Fontana's Planning Commission voted 3-0 this week to recommend a package of zoning code amendments that would give developers up to three extra years to act on project approvals, ease building rules for older properties, and let manufactured-home owners sign off on their own home-based businesses. The changes now head to the Fontana City Council for final approval.
The commission's recommendation, reported by the Fontana Herald News, covers a range of updates to Chapter 30 of the city's municipal code. Staff proposed allowing up to a three-year time extension for design review and conditional use permit entitlements, compared with the current rule that allows only a one-time two-year extension beyond the original approval. The change would give applicants and developers more breathing room to vest entitlements by starting construction or putting a conditional use permit into action.
That flexibility arrives as land-use decisions in Fontana have been running heavily in developers' favor. A land-use tracking analysis of Fontana board decisions over the last 24 months found that 90% of applications were approved, including 100% of conditional use permits and 80% of multi-family housing requests, according to ZoneWire. The commission's own recent agenda reflects that pace, as Hoodline has previously reported on Fontana planning matters.
Easing Rules for Older, Non-Conforming Properties
Beyond entitlement timing, the proposed amendments would adjust frontage coverage requirements and exempt certain non-conforming buildings and sites in form-based code zoning districts from having to meet those standards in full. Article III of Chapter 30 of the city's zoning code outlines Form-Based Code districts, which regulate frontage styles like stoops, shopfronts and forecourts rather than standard land-use zoning. The proposed flexibility would allow improvements to non-conforming sites and buildings without requiring a full redo of the site or complete compliance with frontage rules, though projects involving remodeling or reconstruction would still need screening, including a screening wall and certain landscaping, per the city's senior planner.
The amendments also include a graphic cleanup of the Auto Center Overlay Map, which was last amended in 2022. Per city official Session-Goins, the map does not clearly depict planning area boundaries. Established in 2004, the overlay district encompasses roughly 139 acres across four planning areas near State Route 210, Sierra Avenue and Citrus Avenue, according to a filing on CEQAnet.
Drive Aisles and Fire Access Standards
Another piece of the package would explicitly require pavement for drive aisles and driveways, an obligation the current code only implies. The proposed width requirements would also align drive aisle and driveway dimensions with current fire department emergency access standards. Those standards set a 20-foot baseline unobstructed width for emergency access roads, with a 26-foot provision where a hydrant is on the road, and provide guidance for vehicles weighing up to 75,000 pounds, according to county guidelines.
The proposed updates would also streamline minor, administratively approved amendments to existing entitlements, building on changes the City Council already made on October 28, 2025, when it adopted Ordinance No. 1973, which revised design review requirements and updated tentative tract map time extension rules, per Municode records.
A Fix for Mobile-Home Business Owners
One of the more targeted changes addresses manufactured-home owners who want to run a home-based business but don't own the land their home sits on. Under current rules, a property owner normally has to sign authorization for any business operating on a rented property. The proposed code change would instead let the manufactured-home owner authorize their own home-based business when the land underneath is separately owned and rented.
Home-occupation rules have also been the subject of proposed changes in Jurupa Valley, according to the City of Jurupa Valley.
Meeting Moved While City Hall Rebuilds
The commission held its vote at the Steelworkers' Auditorium at the Fontana Lewis Library & Technology Center, where planning commission meetings are temporarily taking place at 6 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month while City Hall construction continues. The auditorium is located at 8437 Sierra Avenue. The new City Hall building features architectural accents honoring Fontana's citrus farming history alongside exposed structural steel beams that pay tribute to the city's legacy with Kaiser Steel, according to SILLMAN. Meetings are livestreamed on KFOnTV.
City Hall construction has prompted commission meetings to move to the Steelworkers' Auditorium.
The zoning proposals also arrive amid broader pressure on Fontana to add housing. Under the Southern California Association of Governments' 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Assessment spanning 2021 to 2029, the city is mandated to plan and zone for 17,519 new housing units, a target Hoodline has previously reported alongside Fontana's median home sale price reaching $655,000 by mid-2026. The commission's steady pace of approvals reflects that ongoing push to move projects forward under the existing framework while the city works to update the rules underneath them.
With the Planning Commission's 3-0 recommendation now in hand, the proposed amendments move to the Fontana City Council for final approval, where officials will decide whether to formally adopt the extended entitlement timelines, revised frontage rules, updated drive aisle standards, and the mobile-home business authorization change.
