Lake County, CA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Density Bonus Law (2026)

Article 13 sets the baseline for how many units a Planned Development Residential ("PDR") project may build: Section 13.22 caps density at whatever the land use plan of the Lake County General Plan specifies for that parcel. Section 13.23, Density bonus provisions, is the only mechanism for going above that cap. It allows "additional density as provided for in the Lake County General Plan" to be approved as part of the general and specific plan of development approvals a PDR project must go through, but only under one of two pathways: the General Plan's below market homeownership provisions, or the energy conservation provisions found in Article 41 of the zoning ordinance. The section carves out one hard exception: it "shall not apply to the Urban Land Use Category of the land use plan of the Lake County General Plan," so parcels the General Plan already designates Urban cannot use this bonus regardless of homeownership pricing or energy features.

Because the bonus is granted through the same general and specific plan of development process that creates a PDR district in the first place, an applicant seeking it has to go through the pre-application meeting with Planning Department staff described in Section 13.6(a), covering consistency with the General Plan and Lake County Code, then file a formal rezoning and plan of development application under Section 13.6(b) with the required fees, information and supplemental plans. The density bonus is not a by-right add-on; it is folded into the Board's discretionary review of that plan of development, and the applicant has to show the project actually qualifies through affordability or energy conservation measures the ordinance requires. Development standards for whatever base use is proposed still apply under Section 13.21, and a bonus can be denied outright if the parcel falls in the Urban Land Use Category described above.