Commercial Real Estate in Rancho Cordova: Title 23 Zones, Business Parks and Town Centers

By Matthew Martinez, Founder, CEO & Managing Broker, Diamond Real Estate Group. California DRE #01869679.

Rancho Cordova’s commercial property ranges from retail and services along Folsom Boulevard and other arterials to large office, flex and light industrial parks, heavy industrial land and growing planned communities to the south and east. The city incorporated out of Sacramento County and wrote its own zoning code, Title 23, with mixed-use, business park and form-based town center districts the County code does not have. Confirm the zone, any overlay and any specific plan for each parcel with the City of Rancho Cordova.

Who controls the parcel

Inside city limits, the Rancho Cordova Zoning Code (Title 23) applies. Its district list in Chapter 23.301 dates from Ordinance 27-2008 and was last restated by Ordinance 4-2017. Unincorporated land around the city, including Mather and Gold River, is zoned by Sacramento County; see our Sacramento County commercial guide.

Two holdovers from the County era still matter. Some parcels carry old PD or PDC planned development zoning carried over from the County code, but the city says no additional property may use those zones. Specific plans (SP) and special planning areas (SPA) are mapped by name or number, each tied to its own adopted ordinance. Where an overlay conflicts with the base district, the overlay controls. The overlays include:

CO Convention
TOD Transit Oriented Development
F Flood
PC Parkway Corridor
SM Surface Mining
SGC Sunridge General Commercial

Rancho Cordova zoning for commercial, industrial and mixed use

District	Intended uses	Notes
GC General Commercial	Wide range of commercial uses on major streets, with some higher-density housing	100 ft, up to 150 ft with design review. 25 ft front setback
CMU Commercial Mixed-Use	Retail and services with offices or homes; ground-floor retail in multi-story buildings	Downtown housing at 10 to 18 units per acre
OPMU Office Professional Mixed-Use	Larger office buildings and business parks, plus hospitals, banks and hotels	Downtown housing up to 40 units per acre
OIMU Office Industrial Mixed-Use	Office and light industrial with supporting retail	Storage yards by use permit
LIBP Light Industrial Business Park	R&D, manufacturing and warehousing, mostly enclosed	Limited office and retail
M-1 Light Industrial/Manufacturing	Fabrication and assembly of pre-processed materials	40 ft cap. 15 ft setback next to residential
M-2 Heavy Industrial/Manufacturing	Intensive industry and warehousing away from sensitive uses	100 ft, up to 150 ft. Extra buffers may be required
VC, LTC, RTC Town Centers	Village, local and regional town centers	Form-based standards in Article 5

Business parks, town centers and the industrial edge

Business parks. OIMU and LIBP serve the city’s office, flex and light industrial parks. In LIBP, warehousing and distribution are permitted by right. Warehouse, storage and wholesale uses are largely prohibited in the more commercial and office mixed-use districts, so a distribution user should not assume a CMU or OPMU site works.

Town centers. The Village Center, Local Town Center and Regional Town Center districts follow form-based standards in Chapter 23.313 and Article 5.

Village Center. Neighborhood-scale, within walking distance of homes. Drive-throughs are not allowed.
Local Town Center. Serves major retail and entertainment needs, including nightlife.
Regional Town Center. Regional retail, office and housing, with buildings over four stories.

Downtown height. Downtown mixed-use districts have no height maximum in the code. FAA rules limit heights to roughly 150 to 350 feet, and anything over 150 feet needs FAA approval.

Heavy industry and auto dismantling. M-2 is the only one of the three general zones where auto dismantling is possible, by conditional use permit, and storage yards are permitted there with screening. Title 23 also has a dedicated South Sunrise Auto Dismantlers Special Planning Area (Chapter 23.1005) for that cluster.

Use limits, drive-throughs and other Rancho Cordova rules

Title 23’s use tables are stricter than the County’s on several popular tenant types:

Cannabis. Commercial marijuana uses are not permitted in GC, M-1 or M-2.
Check cashing. Not permitted in any of those three zones.
Smoke shops. Barred in GC and M-1, conditional in M-2. Pawnshops and tattoo parlors are conditional in M-2 only.
Drive-throughs. Permitted in GC. In most mixed-use districts they need a conditional use permit, which is always required within 500 feet of residential zoning or uses. Adding one to an existing building may need only an administrative use permit.
Auto sales. Need an administrative use permit in GC, M-1 and M-2. Service stations are conditional in all three, and car washes are conditional in GC.
Personal storage. Not permitted in GC; permitted with conditions in M-1 and M-2.
Housing in GC. Multifamily is permitted only as senior independent living, though live-work and caretaker units are allowed.

Title 23 also has chapters on unified sign programs (23.119), outdoor display and storage (23.728), and noise, odor and vibration performance standards (23.737) that commonly affect commercial tenants.

Transfer tax, business tax and property tax

Rancho Cordova does not levy its own transfer tax; the County Clerk-Recorder collects the County rate of $0.55 per $500 and identifies the City of Sacramento as the only city in the county with an added tax. Businesses in the city need a Rancho Cordova business license rather than the County license; confirm the current fee with the city. A change of ownership generally triggers Proposition 13 reassessment.

Due diligence that matters in Rancho Cordova

Start with our commercial due diligence checklist, then add:

Confirm city limits versus unincorporated County, especially near Mather and Gold River.
Read the base zone, then any overlay, specific plan, SPA or legacy PD.
Check the use table for the specific district; warehouse, storage, cannabis and check cashing are often barred.
For a drive-through, measure the distance to residential zoning.
For tall buildings downtown, plan for FAA review above 150 feet.
Confirm business license status and any conditional or administrative use permit conditions.

Questions people ask

Does Rancho Cordova use the County zoning code?

No. The city has its own Title 23 Zoning Code, though some parcels still carry legacy County PD zoning.

Where can a warehouse go in Rancho Cordova?

Warehouses are permitted in M-1 (enclosed or screened), M-2 and LIBP. They need an administrative use permit in GC.

Are cannabis businesses allowed?

Commercial marijuana uses are not permitted in GC, M-1 or M-2.

How tall can a commercial building be?

GC and M-2 allow 100 feet, or 150 with design review. M-1 is capped at 40 feet. Downtown districts have no code maximum but need FAA approval over 150 feet.

Is a drive-through allowed?

By right in GC. In most mixed-use districts it needs a use permit, and always within 500 feet of residential.

Is there a Rancho Cordova transfer tax?

No city transfer tax; only the County’s $0.55 per $500.

Does Diamond handle commercial property in Rancho Cordova?

Contact Matthew Martinez to discuss buying, selling or leasing commercial property in Rancho Cordova.

Sources & notes

Note: We did not review the Article 5 form-based standards, the South Sunrise Auto Dismantlers SPA text, individual specific plans or the city’s business license fee schedule. Some height and use cells in the extracted tables were hard to read; confirm against the official tables.

This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.

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