One Foot of Eave, Four Feet for Stairs: Oceanside's 26 ADU Findings
Oceanside's March 2026 ADU ordinance drew 26 HCD findings — including an eave rule that treats ADUs worse than other buildings.
You're designing an ADU in Oceanside. The eaves can reach only one foot into the required yard. Any staircase serving the unit needs a four-foot setback from the side and rear lines. And the unit can't be larger than half the house it sits beside. You redraw to fit all three.
Here's the thing: HCD looked at those exact rules and said several of them don't belong in the ordinance.
On June 17, 2026, HCD reviewed the City of Oceanside's ADU Ordinance No. 26-OR0104-1 — adopted March 25, 2026 — under State ADU Law (Gov. Code §§ 66310–66342) and issued written findings. HCD's conclusion: the ordinance "fails to comply with State ADU Laws." It laid out 26 numbered findings, and gave the City until July 17, 2026 to amend the ordinance or adopt a resolution with findings explaining why it believes the ordinance complies anyway.
Verified against HCD's ADU Ordinance Findings letter to the City of Oceanside (Ordinance No. 26-OR0104-1), dated June 17, 2026.
Four of the 26 are the kind you feel at the counter.
The eave an ADU gets, but no one else's building does
Oceanside's ordinance says "Cornices and eaves may project into the required yards by no more than one foot." For every other kind of project in town, HCD found, "the Oceanside Municipal Code allows cornices and eaves to project up to two feet for other project types." Same roof detail, half the reach — for ADUs only.
HCD's position rests on the Legislature's intent that ADU rules not be "so arbitrary, excessive, or burdensome so as to unreasonably restrict the ability of homeowners to create accessory dwelling units" (Gov. Code § 66311). So the directive:
the City must amend the Ordinance to allow cornices and eaves on ADUs to project in the same manner as they are allowed to project for other projects
A barrier that treats your ADU worse than the house next to it is exactly the kind HCD reads as arbitrary.
A four-foot setback on every stair
The ordinance reads: "Staircases serving an ADU shall provide a setback of no less than four feet from the side and rear property lines subject to approval by the Fire Department." A blanket four feet, every time.
HCD found that too broad. Fire separation is governed by the California Building Standards Code, which may or may not require a setback depending on the stair design and the fire zone. In HCD's words, "Applying a uniform stairway setback of four feet is not acceptable for all ADUs." HCD told the City to tie a conversion ADU's stair to the building code's fire-safety requirements and "remove the uniform four-foot setback."
The 50 percent cap that can shrink a unit below the floor
Oceanside caps an attached ADU so it "shall not exceed 50 percent of the total existing or proposed living area of the primary dwelling." On a small house, half of it can land well under the size state law guarantees.
HCD's position: the City must "remove the arbitrary 50 percent rule, or qualify that the percentage does not limit an ADU's floor area to less than 850 square feet or less than 1,000 square feet of interior livable space" — depending on the number of bedrooms. On HCD's reading, the percentage can't drop you below that floor.
Height handed back to the zone
The ordinance sends ADUs over 16 feet to "the height and maximum lot coverage of the underlying zoning district." HCD found the state's height allowances — at least 16, 18, or 20 feet depending on transit proximity, roof pitch, and the primary dwelling — can be taller than the zone allows, so the zone limit "has the potential to be more restrictive than the height allowances in State ADU Law." Its fix: an ADU "is entitled to the greatest applicable height described in subdivision (b)(4) of Government Code section 66321."
Read this before you rely on it
An HCD findings letter is HCD's enforcement position, not a court ruling — courts are the final arbiter, and the City still has two lawful options on the table. But the letter is a precise map of where a local ADU rule can diverge from the state floor: eaves, stairs, size, height. If a rule at your Oceanside counter blocks something state law appears to allow, that's the moment to ask which standard is actually being applied. Confirm the current ordinance language and your specific situation with the City and your own counsel before you act — this isn't legal advice.
What CrossBeam does with it
When the letter lands on your desk, CrossBeam turns it around the same day: what each item is actually asking, the code or law behind it, and a written response you can hand to your team or your attorney — the back-and-forth that used to eat weeks, done in a couple of hours.