Home / Investors / Development / SB 79 Transit Upzoning

SB 79 Transit-Oriented Upzoning: What It Means for Bay Area Owners

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

SB 79 is a 2025 California law, signed on October 10, 2025, that sets minimum heights, densities and floor area ratios for housing within a half mile of qualifying rail and bus rapid transit stops in “urban transit counties,” and it began applying to cities on July 1, 2026. In the Bay Area, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) lists only San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties as eligible. Sonoma, Marin and Napa aren’t on that list, so land near SMART stations isn’t upzoned by SB 79.

This page explains, as of October 2026, how the law’s tiers and standards work, where it applies, the exclusions and local alternative plans that can change the result for a given parcel, and what an owner or buyer should verify before pricing land on it. The law is codified in Government Code sections 65912.155 through 65912.162. Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco wrote the bill, and both Streetsblog California and an August 1, 2026 Los Angeles County planning memo report the October 10, 2025 signing. For the other state laws that can add units, see our development guides.

Where SB 79 applies

The law applies only in an “urban transit county,” which section 65912.156 defines as a county with more than 15 passenger rail stations. The statute doesn’t list the counties. ABAG’s summary, last updated July 1, 2026, says legislative analysis points to eight statewide: San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange.

Area	Eligible under ABAG’s summary?	What that means for owners
San Francisco	Yes	Stops on qualifying rail lines can trigger the standards
Alameda County (including Oakland and Berkeley)	Yes	Parcels near qualifying stops may gain height and density
San Mateo and Santa Clara counties (including San Jose)	Yes	Same, subject to each city’s implementation
Sonoma and Marin (SMART)	No	No SB 79 upzoning near SMART stations; local station-area plans still apply
Napa, Solano and Contra Costa	Not listed	Treat SB 79 as not applying unless the state or ABAG says otherwise

Two timing rules matter. Under section 65912.157(n), the standards didn’t apply to a local agency until July 1, 2026, unless it adopted a compliant ordinance or alternative plan earlier, and they don’t apply in unincorporated county areas until the seventh regional housing needs allocation cycle. Our guide to homes near SMART and the ferries covers the North Bay stations themselves.

Transit stop tiers

A “transit-oriented development stop” is a major transit stop, as defined in the Public Resources Code, served by heavy rail, commuter rail at the frequencies the law sets, light rail or qualifying bus rapid transit in an urban transit county. Its “TOD zone” is everything within a half mile.

Tier 1: stops served by heavy rail or very high frequency commuter rail, meaning at least 72 trains a day in both directions combined.
Tier 2: other qualifying stops served by light rail, high frequency commuter rail of at least 48 trains a day, or bus rapid transit.

The train counts are measured at any point in the past three years, ignoring temporary changes of under a month and unplanned disruptions. Stops on new routes that weren’t in the regional transportation plan by January 1, 2026 generally don’t count unless they would be Tier 1. Distance is measured in a straight line from the nearest edge of the parcel to a pedestrian access point of the stop.

The law firm Allen Matkins, in its October 10, 2025 alert on the signing, said virtually all BART and Caltrain stations qualify as Tier 1 stops and gave San Francisco Muni as a Tier 2 example. It also noted that California High-Speed Rail and Amtrak long-distance service don’t qualify, and that separate provisions apply to projects on transit agency land. Confirm a specific stop’s tier with the city before relying on it.

Height, density and FAR standards

Section 65912.157 sets floors that a city can’t go below for an eligible project. They are minimums the local rules must allow, not requirements to build that much.

Stop and distance	Height	Density	Residential FAR
Tier 1, within 1/4 mile	75 feet	120 units/acre	3.5
Tier 1, 1/4 to 1/2 mile (cities of 35,000 or more)	65 feet	100 units/acre	3.0
Tier 2, within 1/4 mile	65 feet	100 units/acre	3.0
Tier 2, 1/4 to 1/2 mile (cities of 35,000 or more)	55 feet	80 units/acre	2.5

A project immediately adjacent to a stop gets 20 more feet of height, 40 more units per acre and 1.0 more FAR before any density bonus. ABAG’s summary reads “adjacent” as within 200 feet of a pedestrian access point, which gives 95 feet, 160 units per acre and 4.5 FAR at Tier 1 and 85 feet, 140 units and 4.0 at Tier 2. Residential FAR counts only net habitable square footage in residential use.

Projects that reach set densities and meet state density bonus requirements can earn additional concessions. ABAG lists those thresholds as 90 units per acre for Tier 1 within a quarter mile, 75 for Tier 1 farther out and for Tier 2 within a quarter mile, and 60 for Tier 2 farther out.

Which projects qualify

SB 79’s standards attach to a housing project, not to every parcel in the zone. Under the statute and ABAG’s summary, a project generally must:

Sit on land zoned for residential, mixed-use or commercial development within a TOD zone.
Include at least five homes, at a density of at least 30 units per acre or any higher local minimum.
Keep the average unit size at or below 1,750 net habitable square feet.
Include affordable units, generally 7% for extremely low income, 10% for very low income or 13% for lower income households, unless a stricter local inclusionary rule applies; ABAG says this applies to projects of 11 or more units, with 55-year terms for rentals and 45 for ownership.
Avoid excluded sites: mobilehome and RV parks, and some sites with existing or recently demolished rent-controlled housing, under a seven-year look-back in the statute.
Meet labor standards if the building exceeds 85 feet, plus airport compatibility and fire safety rules, according to ABAG.

SB 79 doesn’t create its own by-right approval, ABAG notes, but a qualifying project may also use SB 35 or SB 423 streamlining if it meets those laws. From January 1, 2027, under section 65912.157(m), denying a qualifying project in a high-resource area creates a presumption that the city violated the Housing Accountability Act, which the city can rebut only on health, life or safety grounds.

Exclusions and local alternative plans

A city can narrow where SB 79 applies, within limits. ABAG’s summary describes three tools:

Exemptions: a city may exempt sites with no walking path of less than a mile to the stop, and, where a city has at least 15 TOD stops, industrial employment hubs of at least 250 acres designated in its general plan by January 1, 2025.
Delayed exclusions: until one year after a city adopts its seventh-cycle housing element, it may exclude sites in very high fire hazard severity zones, sites vulnerable to sea level rise, sites on a local historic register as of January 1, 2025, and sites that already allow at least half the SB 79 density and FAR. Excluded sites must be shown on the public zoning map.
Local TOD alternative plans: a city may substitute its own plan if it keeps equivalent total capacity across its TOD zones and HCD approves it. No site or zone may lose more than half its capacity, with exceptions for fire, sea level rise and historic sites, and no site may gain more than 200% above SB 79’s maximums.

For an owner, this means the state table is a starting point. The answer for a specific parcel is in the city’s adopted SB 79 ordinance or alternative plan and its zoning map. The builder’s remedy, explained in our builder’s remedy guide, is a separate law with its own conditions.

What owners and buyers should verify

The county. If the parcel isn’t in one of the eligible counties, SB 79 doesn’t apply, whatever its distance from a station.
The stop’s tier. Confirm the line’s service level and whether the stop counts as Tier 1 or Tier 2 under the statute. Section 65912.160(f) has the regional metropolitan planning organization map affected stops, as the Los Angeles County memo notes, so ask the city which map it uses.
The measured distance. Measure from the parcel’s nearest edge to a pedestrian access point, not to the platform’s center.
The city’s implementation. Ask the planning department for its SB 79 ordinance, alternative plan, exemptions and exclusion map.
Site exclusions. Check fire hazard zones, historic listings, existing rent-controlled units and tenant history.
Feasibility. A higher allowed height doesn’t mean a building pencils; construction cost, affordability, labor rules and financing decide that.

Existing tenants also matter. In Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco and San Jose, local rent and eviction ordinances add their own steps; see our guides to East Bay rent stabilization, San Francisco multifamily and San Jose’s rent ordinance.

What this means in the North Bay

Under ABAG’s reading, a Santa Rosa, Petaluma or San Rafael parcel near a SMART station gets no SB 79 height or density. Development potential there still comes from local station-area plans, the general plan and zoning, and state laws that apply everywhere, such as ADU rules, SB 9 lot splits and SB 684 small-lot subdivisions.

If you own near a station in Santa Rosa or San Rafael, ask the city what its own plans allow. Diamond works with multifamily and land investors in Oakland, Berkeley and San Jose as well as the North Bay, and can help you compare a site’s local zoning with what the state laws add.

This page is general information, not legal advice. The statute page we read for section 65912.157 shows an update dated July 16, 2026, so have a California land use attorney check the current statute and the city’s implementing ordinance before you price, buy or sell land on the strength of it.

Questions people ask

Is SB 79 in effect?

Yes. It was signed on October 10, 2025, and began applying to cities on July 1, 2026, unless a city adopted a compliant plan earlier. Unincorporated county areas are exempt until the seventh housing element cycle.

Does SB 79 apply to SMART train stations?

No, according to ABAG’s July 2026 summary. Sonoma and Marin aren’t listed among the Bay Area’s eligible urban transit counties, so SMART station areas aren’t upzoned by SB 79.

Which Bay Area counties does SB 79 cover?

San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara, according to ABAG. The statute defines an urban transit county as one with more than 15 passenger rail stations.

How tall can buildings be under SB 79?

Within a quarter mile of a Tier 1 stop, a city must allow at least 75 feet; within a quarter mile of a Tier 2 stop, at least 65 feet. Immediately adjacent sites get 20 more feet, and the band from a quarter to a half mile, which applies in cities of 35,000 or more, has lower minimums.

Does SB 79 make my single-family lot worth more?

Only if the parcel is eligible, the city hasn’t excluded it, and a qualifying project is feasible there. Many parcels near stations are in zones or circumstances the law or a local plan leaves out.

Can a city opt out of SB 79?

Not entirely. It can adopt exemptions, temporary exclusions or an HCD-approved alternative plan that keeps equivalent housing capacity, but it can’t simply decline to apply the law.

If you’re weighing a parcel near a BART, Caltrain or light rail stop, or wondering what a North Bay station-area lot can support, talk with our investment and development team before you set a price.

Sources & notes

Statutes were read on California Public Law because the Legislature’s site couldn’t be opened from our research environment.

Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.