Cathedral City, CA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Density Bonus Law (2026)

Chapter 9.48 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code is titled Density Bonus and Affordable Housing Program, and it works by incorporation rather than by local formula. Section 9.48.010 states three purposes: to incorporate the State Density Bonus requirements set out in California Government Code Sections 65915 through 65918, as amended; to increase production of affordable housing consistent with the city's goals, objectives, and policies; and to implement the general plan housing element policies and programs relating to the provision of affordable housing.

Section 9.48.020 does the legal work. The city incorporates the rules and regulations of the State's Density Bonus Law, currently codified at Government Code Sections 65915 through 65918, as amended from time to time. Because the incorporation reads 'as amended from time to time,' it is not frozen to a calendar year. The chapter prints no bonus percentages, affordability tiers, concessions or parking tables of its own; those sit in the incorporated Government Code sections.

Section 9.48.030 hands procedure to the City Council: the council shall adopt, by resolution, procedures for the implementation of this chapter. Those procedures are set by council resolution, not printed in the code. The chapter's history line shows adoption by Ordinance 668 in 2009 and Ordinance 862 in 2022.

Local base densities are printed district by district. In the DRN Downtown Residential Neighborhood district, § 9.25.060 allows 1 D.U.E. to 2,200 square feet of net lot area on lots of 10,000 to 20,999 square feet, 1 D.U.E. to 1,600 square feet on lots of 21,000 to 41,999 square feet, and 1 D.U.E. to 1,200 square feet on lots greater than 42,000 square feet. Under § 9.25.050, a studio counts as one half dwelling unit, a one bedroom as three fourths, and a two bedroom as one. In MXC, multiple-family residential is a conditional use at the maximum density described in the DRN zone (§ 9.31.030).