Cathedral City, CA Accessory Structures: ADU Rules (2026)

In Cathedral City, Riverside County, California, Chapter 9.114 of the Municipal Code treats an accessory dwelling unit as a ministerial building permit, not a discretionary zoning case. Under Section 9.114.030, the building official acts without discretionary review or a public hearing, within sixty days of a completed application when a dwelling already stands on the lot. Section 9.114.040 requires approval in any district where one-family or multiple-family uses are permitted by right or with a conditional use permit, and a unit that misses the objective standards can still be allowed with a conditional use permit.

Section 9.114.050 sets the standards. An ADU is no less than one hundred fifty square feet under Section 9.114.020. A new detached unit is limited to eight hundred fifty square feet for a studio or one-bedroom and one thousand square feet for a unit with more than one bedroom, with no more than two bedrooms. A new attached unit gets the same figures or fifty percent of the existing primary dwelling, whichever is less.

Height follows the primary dwelling, with exceptions: a detached unit can reach sixteen feet if the primary dwelling is lower than sixteen feet, and eighteen feet on a lot with an existing or proposed multifamily, multistory dwelling or within one-half mile of a major transit stop, with an additional two feet for a roof pitch matching the primary dwelling in the transit case. An attached unit stops at twenty-five feet or the primary dwelling's limit, whichever is lower, and never above two stories.

Side and rear setbacks are four feet, the front setback follows the underlying zone, and a detached ADU sits five feet from the main residence and from other structures. Units go to the rear or side of the primary dwelling, match its building materials, color and roofing, and need an independent exterior entrance. One new parking space is required unless an exception applies. A single-family lot gets one JADU and one ADU, and a JADU is no more than five hundred square feet. An ADU can be rented but not sold separately, and it cannot be used as a short-term vacation rental under Chapter 5.96.