National City, Calif. - Area Specific Plans

Legal Disclaimer

Area Specific Plans – Area specific plans are created to implement the general plan.  They are discussed in National City’s Draft General Plan, but they are separate documents that must be independently approved by the City Council.  There are three specific area plans currently in existence:  the existing Downtown Specific Plan; the Westside Specific Plan; and the Harbor District Specific Area Plan.  Of these three, only the Downtown Specific Plan is currently being amended.

Downtown Specific Plan Amendment – The Downtown Specific Plan (DSP) covers an area of downtown running along either side of National City Boulevard from just north of First Street all the way to 16th Street.  The DSP area is divided into 16 different “development zones.”  The DSP Amendment provides general development and land use guidelines, as well as permitted and restricted land uses, for each of the 16 development zones.  View this map to find out what development zone you are in. 

The DSP Amendment applies to a large section of downtown.  It changes the kinds of things you can do on your property, and it also changes the physical requirements for the buildings.  If the City Council passes the DSP Amendment, many of the current uses and buildings will no longer be allowed.

The DSP Amendment assigns different land use designations for each development zone.  The different land use designations are defined in the Draft Land Use Code. 

The DSP area includes the following land use designations:

• Major Mixed Use Corridor (MXC-2) – This zone should have primarily “mixed-use” buildings.  That means buildings with retail on the ground floor and residential housing on the upper floors.  sample photo 1 and sample photo 2.
• Open Space – This zone is reserved for outdoor spaces like parks, golf courses, playgrounds, and community gardens.  The area around Kimball Park is the only Open Space zone in the Downtown Specific Plan area.
• Institutional – This zone is meant to provide space for educational facilities, hospitals, community centers, and public safety facilities, such as fire and police stations.  The one-square block bounded by 15th Street, D Avenue, 16th Street, and C Avenue is the only Institutional zone in the Downtown Specific Plan area.
  

Read more about the different land use designations in the proposed Downtown Specific Plan Amendment area.

The most important change in the DSP is the new Floor Area Ratio (FAR) guidelines. The FAR describes the relationship between the total floor area of a building and the size of the plot of land the building is on.   The DSP Amendment provides a minimum Floor Area Ratio for each of the 16 development zones.  It requires all buildings along National City Boulevard to be at least two or three stories high.  In addition, the “permitted” land uses are primarily described as residential, retail, office or hospitality.  Some development zones will only permit residential uses.

View National City’s Downtown Specific Plan Amendment.