After two months of delay due to potential conflicts of interest involving three Councilmembers, on June 3, 2025, the Santa Ana City Council voted 6-0 to adopt its draft Transit Zoning Code (TZC) Update for Specific Development No. 84 (SD-84). In writing and verbally at the hearing, NAIOP SoCal opposed the City’s Zoning Ordinance Amendment to adopt the TZC Update.

During the June 3^rd hearing, Councilmember Phan recused herself from the hearing due to a conflict of interest involving her employer – Rutan & Tucker, LLP – and a client involved in the TZC Update. Councilmember Phil Bacerra suggested a few amendments to the proposed TZC Update, including changes in Sections 8a. to 8d. (“Elimination of Nonconforming Uses and Structures”) whereby the term “nonconforming uses” was uniformly changed to “noxious uses.”

Over the past five months, NAIOP SoCal staff engaged with the City’s Planning Commission, Planning Division staff, industrial/commercial property owners and owner/operators, commercial real estate brokers, and residents of the City’s historic Logan and Lacy neighborhoods to try to find solutions that would be acceptable to property owners, residents, and the City.

The TZC Update in SD-84 is a mechanism for the City to remove two longstanding Industrial Overlays – namely the M-1 (Light Industrial) and M-2 (Heavy Industrial) zones. The City’s stated intention is to replace the two Industrial Overlay zones with Urban Neighborhood (UN-2) and Urban Center (UC) districts, which would allow for the development of multifamily and mixed-use residential buildings, in addition to limited commercial uses, in the Logan and Lacy neighborhoods. NAIOP SoCal’s office is located in the Lacy neighborhood, which lended an added reason for NAIOP SoCal to be active in TZC Update discussions.

During the City Planning Commission’s March 6, 2025 Special Hearing on the TZC Update, commissioners voted 4-2 to move the proposed TZC Update to the City Council, despite concerted efforts by NAIOP SoCal, property owners and owner/operators, and even some residents of the Logan and Lacy neighborhoods to agree on a sensible compromise encouraging the City to focus on regulating three to four serious "bad actors" in the Specific Development No. 84 area.

The adoption of the TZC Update for SD-84 sets a terrible precedent for the continued existence of industrial zones and uses across the City of Santa Ana. NAIOP SoCal staff and Members with industrial and commercial assets in Santa Ana are currently engaged with City staff and its retained consultant, MIG, to discuss concerns and propose sensible solutions to the City’s forthcoming Comprehensive Zoning Code Update.

For questions about Santa Ana’s Comprehensive Zoning Code Update and how you can get involved, please email Mihran Toumajan at mtoumajan@naiopsocal.org.