Commercial Real Estate in Esparto: Downtown Mixed Use, Community Plan and Utility Limits

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

Esparto is an unincorporated town at the mouth of the Capay Valley in western Yolo County. Its commercial property is concentrated in a small historic downtown along Yolo Avenue and Woodland Avenue, with farm-related and service businesses on the edges of town and agricultural processing, farm stands and agritourism in the surrounding countryside. The county has written downtown rules specifically for Esparto. Confirm zoning, utilities and permits with Yolo County before relying on this page.

Who controls the parcel

Esparto has no city government. Yolo County’s zoning code governs land use, and the County Planning Division issues permits. Two other bodies shape what is possible:

• The Esparto Community Plan. The county lists an Esparto Community Plan adopted in 2019. Its environmental filing on CEQAnet describes it as a general plan amendment updating the 2007 Esparto General Plan and covering about 620 acres, every parcel in the community.
• Esparto Community Services District. According to Yolo LAFCo’s 2021 municipal service review, the district began in 1960 as a sanitary district, became a CSD in 1969, and provides water, wastewater, stormwater and street lighting, with park powers added in 2016.

Farmland up the Capay Valley falls under the 2010 Capay Valley Area Plan. See our Yolo County commercial guide for countywide rules.

Esparto zoning for commercial, industrial and mixed use

Check the county GIS viewer to see which of these is mapped on a specific Esparto parcel.

Downtown Esparto: the DMX rules

The county code’s DMX section speaks directly to Esparto:

• Required retail. New or renovated mixed-use buildings on Yolo Avenue, Woodland Avenue and County Road 87 must include ground-floor retail, and apartments cannot occupy the street frontage. Lots with under 50 feet of frontage need at least 800 square feet or 25% of the ground floor, whichever is greater; wider lots need at least 20%.
• Minimum height. New or renovated mixed-use buildings along Yolo and Woodland Avenues must be at least 22 feet tall, so a one-story infill building may not qualify. The maximum is 50 feet or four stories.
• Big vacant sites. On vacant land over an acre, projects that are 60% or more residential by acreage are prohibited, and ground-floor retail is strongly encouraged.
• Store size. Individual stores are capped at 25,000 square feet, or 35,000 if they sell multiple merchandise lines. Retail over 10,000 square feet needs a minor use permit and public water and sewer.
• Form. Facades must sit within 10 feet of the street, cover 80% to 100% of the lot width, and have 40% to 75% window transparency on Yolo and Woodland Avenues, with at least three architectural relief features.
• Design guidelines. Projects should follow the design review guidelines of the Esparto General Plan; historic buildings can be exempted from some of them.
• Live/work. Live/work units are allowed by right if the street level meets retail standards, living space is no more than one-third of the unit, and a resident holds a business license for the space.

Utilities, flood and farm business rules

Water and sewer. The Esparto CSD served about 1,001 water connections from four wells and treated wastewater in ten ponds on about 40 acres, according to the LAFCo review. The same review notes that the 2019 Community Plan scaled back development areas, partly because of flooding. Commercial intensity in the county zones depends on public water and sewer; without them, a two-acre minimum applies to new building permits.

Farm business. Around town, small wineries, permanent farm stands and small B&Bs are possible with site plan review in the farm zones, while hotels and motels are not allowed in any agricultural zone.

Lodging tax. The county’s May 2026 Board presentation put the unincorporated room tax at 8% and proposed asking voters on November 3, 2026 to raise it to 12%. We did not confirm the measure’s ballot status or result.

Transfer tax, business tax and property tax

Esparto is unincorporated, so only Yolo County’s documentary transfer tax applies: $0.55 per $500 under Section 3-2.04. A change of ownership generally triggers Proposition 13 reassessment, and newer parcels can carry special district assessments, so ask for the tax bill. We did not verify a county business license tax.

Due diligence that matters in Esparto

Start with our commercial due diligence checklist, then add:

• Confirm the parcel’s zone and whether it is on Yolo Avenue, Woodland Avenue or County Road 87, where retail is required.
• Check the 22-foot minimum height before planning a new downtown building.
• Get a will-serve letter or capacity confirmation from the Esparto CSD for water and sewer.
• Check the flood zone, since flooding shaped the 2019 plan’s growth areas.
• For larger stores, plan on a minor use permit above 10,000 square feet.
• In the countryside, check Williamson Act status and farm-zone permit levels.

Questions people ask

Sources & notes

1. Yolo County Code Title 8, Chapter 2, Article 6, Commercial Zones (GoCodebook)
2. Article 3, Agricultural Zones and Article 7, Industrial Zones
3. Yolo County Planning Division, Zoning Code and Planning Documents
4. CEQAnet, 2019 Esparto Community Plan, SCH 2019012021
5. Yolo LAFCo, Combined Community Services Districts MSR/SOI draft, January 2021
6. Yolo County Code Section 3-2.04
7. Yolo County Board of Supervisors, TOT presentation, May 26, 2026

Note: We did not read the Esparto Community Plan itself, its zoning map or the DMX parking rules in Article 13. The LAFCo figures come from a January 2021 draft; current connection counts may differ. Farm-zone permit levels are summarized from the county code as previously reviewed.

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

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