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

Chapter 18.48 of the Land Use Code implements the housing element by adopting the State Density Bonus Law. Under § 18.48.040, projects of five units or more get the density bonus provisions of Government Code Section 65915. The chapter also requires affordable units that are comparable in size, design and quality to the market units in the same project, and the city manager or designee has discretion and authority to enforce that during the application process. The applicant must agree to keep every very low- and low-income rental unit that earned the bonus affordable for fifty-five years, or longer if the financing, mortgage insurance or rental subsidy program requires it.

Eligibility comes from § 18.48.030. A project qualifies with ten percent of total units for lower income households, five percent for very low-income households, a senior citizen housing development or age-restricted mobile home park, ten percent moderate-income for-sale units offered to the public, ten percent for transitional foster youth, disabled veterans or homeless persons, twenty percent lower income student units, or one hundred percent lower income units. Section 18.48.020 defines the base as a density increase of up to thirty-five percent, and fractions round up to the next whole number.

Section 18.48.050 scales the benefits. One incentive or concession comes with ten percent lower income or five percent very low-income units, two with seventeen and ten percent, and three with twenty-four and fifteen percent. The bonus tables run from a twenty percent bonus at ten percent low-income units up to fifty percent at twenty-four percent, and from twenty percent at five percent very low-income units up to fifty percent at fifteen percent. Parking ratios are capped at one onsite space for zero to one bedroom, one and one-half for two to three bedrooms and two and one-half for four or more, and the city is not required to give direct financial incentives such as fee waivers.

Under § 18.48.060, applicants hold a pre-application conference, file with the planning division, and are processed like a conditional use permit. The planning commission decides, and appeals go to the city council. Section 18.48.070 requires a density bonus housing agreement recorded with the County of San Diego Recorder's Office.