Commercial Real Estate in Carmichael: Fair Oaks Boulevard Main Street, County Zones and Corridor Rules

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

Carmichael’s commercial property is concentrated on Fair Oaks Boulevard, the community’s long main street, with neighborhood centers at a few key intersections such as Manzanita and Marconi Avenues and Manzanita and Winding Way. Carmichael is not a city. Its commercial land is zoned by Sacramento County, and the boulevard itself has a form-based special planning area that sets uses, heights, setbacks and parking. Confirm the zone and any SPA for a parcel with Sacramento County Planning before relying on this page.

Who controls the parcel

Carmichael is an unincorporated community, so the Sacramento County Zoning Code and County Planning decide land use, even though addresses read "Carmichael, CA." The Carmichael Community Plan, adopted by the Board of Supervisors on October 15, 1975, describes a planning area of about 6,864 acres bounded by Walnut Avenue and Arcade Creek on the west, Madison Avenue on the north, San Juan Avenue on the east and the American River and Arden Way on the south. The Fair Oaks planning area begins east of San Juan Avenue, so parcels near these edges need a boundary check.

The County’s Land Use Regulation Library also lists two neighborhood preservation areas here, the Carmichael Creek NPA and the Carmichael Colony NPA, and a separate Carmichael CAP document. The colony name dates to 1909, when developer Dan Carmichael divided the land into 10-acre parcels, according to the community plan.

Carmichael zoning for commercial, industrial and mixed use

Outside the SPA, Carmichael’s commercial parcels carry the County’s standard districts. Inside the Fair Oaks Boulevard Main Street SPA, the SPA’s own designations control.

Within 20 feet of single-family zoning, heights step down to one story and 20 feet for commercial and office designations, and two stories and 24 feet for residential designations.

Fair Oaks Boulevard Main Street SPA

The SPA calls Fair Oaks Boulevard Carmichael’s primary economic and social center. It was adopted October 26, 2011 to carry out the Fair Oaks Boulevard Corridor Plan, and was amended November 7, 2023 and June 11, 2026. It mixes form-based rules for building placement with more flexible parking and use rules.

Permitted by right. Restaurants and cafes, retail under 50,000 square feet, offices, medical offices and clinics, hotels, motels and B&Bs, personal services, fitness, and public or commercial parking structures. Stand-alone apartments, mixed-use housing and live/work units are also permitted.

Conditional use permit. Drive-through service, car washes, nightclubs, smoke shops, veterinary clinics, child day care, and retail or grocery stores over 50,000 square feet. Liquor stores are allowed only as an accessory use, with a CUP.

Not permitted. Auto sales and rental, service stations, major and minor vehicle repair, check cashing, pawn shops, massage, tattoo parlors, tanning salons, mini-storage, mortuaries, billboards and outdoor commercial recreation. Uses not listed are prohibited unless the Planning Director finds them substantially similar to a listed use.

Frontage and setbacks. Ground-floor commercial is required on designated frontages. Commercial and mixed-use buildings must sit at least 16 feet from the back of curb, giving room for sidewalk and planters, and 15 feet from residential property lines.

Parking. Retail and office need one space per 300 square feet. Apartments need 1.25 spaces per unit, at least 1.0 on site. Shared parking on adjacent parcels within 300 feet counts.

Signs. Monument signs are capped at 6 feet tall and 24 square feet, building signs at one square foot per linear foot of building on one side.

Losing nonconforming status. An existing nonconforming use, such as a repair shop, may continue, but a vacancy or business license lapse of more than 12 months ends that right unless the Planning Commission extends it. This is the single most important rule for anyone buying an older auto or service property on the boulevard.

The rest of Carmichael’s commercial land

The 1975 community plan described Fair Oaks Boulevard as a roughly two-mile commercial strip between El Camino and California Avenues and designated commercial centers at Fair Oaks and Marconi, Fair Oaks and Manzanita, and Manzanita and Winding Way. It recommended against further strip commercial zoning and favored unified centers with shared parking and signage. That direction still shows in the pattern of corner centers, but the plan is decades old; current zoning, not the plan text, decides what a parcel can do today.

Combining districts can add limits near the American River. The County’s PC Parkway Corridor and F flood combining districts overlay base zones, so a commercial parcel near the river should be checked for both.

Transfer tax, business tax and property tax

Carmichael pays only the County documentary transfer tax of $0.55 per $500, less assumed loans; the County Clerk-Recorder confirms the City of Sacramento’s added tax applies only inside that city. Businesses in Carmichael need a County General Business License, per the Department of Finance business license FAQ. Hotels and B&Bs pay the County’s 12% transient occupancy tax plus tourism district assessments. A sale generally triggers Proposition 13 reassessment.

Due diligence that matters in Carmichael

Start with our commercial due diligence checklist, then add:

• Confirm unincorporated status and whether the parcel is inside the Fair Oaks Boulevard Main Street SPA.
• Inside the SPA, check the use against Table 1; auto sales, service stations and repair are not permitted.
• For an existing nonconforming use, confirm it has not been vacant or unlicensed for more than 12 months.
• Check the designated ground-floor commercial frontages before planning a housing-only project.
• For residential over 24 units per acre or two stories, expect Planning Commission development plan review; over 45 units per acre, a CUP.
• Check PC and F combining districts on parcels near the American River.

Questions people ask

Sources & notes

1. Sacramento County, Fair Oaks Boulevard Main Street SPA
2. Sacramento County, Carmichael Community Plan (1975)
3. Sacramento County Zoning Code, Chapter 2
4. County Clerk-Recorder, documentary transfer tax
5. County Department of Finance, business license FAQ

Note: We did not review the SPA’s maps of required ground-floor frontage, the later sections of the SPA text, the Carmichael CAP document or the two NPAs. The community plan’s data dates from the early 1970s.

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

Related: Carmichael real estate guide · Multifamily property in Carmichael · Commercial real estate services