Lincoln Downtown Code Audit
Lincoln, CA · 2023
Client: City of Lincoln
Location: Lincoln, CA
Year: 2023
CP Role: Lead consultant
Practice Area: Zoning Code Reform
Team: Alex Joyce; Julia Michel; Tara Sorrels; Ciara Williams, Report Author
The Challenge
Lincoln's 1992 Downtown Urban Design Plan called for a walkable downtown with housing above shops, but the zoning code worked against it. Density limits allowed only three units on a typical downtown site, and limits on residential uses, minimum lot sizes, parking minimums, and ground-floor commercial requirements kept infill housing from penciling.
Our Approach
Funded through the Sacramento Area Council of Governments' Regional Early Action Planning grant, we audited the code for five downtown zones. We modeled housing prototypes on typical lots in 3D under existing standards, ran each through a pro forma with local market data, and interviewed developers. We then tested code changes against each prototype and wrote zone-by-zone amendments, such as raising density from a fixed cap to 30 units per acre, with standards to offset any negative effects.
Outcome
The audit found that the zoning code was blocking new downtown housing and recommended higher residential densities, lower parking requirements, and streamlined approvals for housing. The City's Downtown Master Plan and Objective Design and Development Standards build directly on it. Opticos Design leads that plan, with Cascadia Partners providing the economic analysis, and public review drafts went to the community in English and Spanish in September 2026.
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