Glendale Upzoned Its Bus Corridors Before the Bus Arrived

California's SB 79 took effect on July 1, 2026, and it reached Glendale through two kinds of transit. One is the Larry Zarian Glendale Transportation Center. The other is a set of bus rapid transit stops on West Glenoaks Boulevard, Central Avenue and East Broadway. Metro is still building that bus line. The North Hollywood to Pasadena BRT runs in dedicated lanes, and Metro expects to finish it in 2028.

For anyone comparing Glendale blocks this fall, the order of events matters. The higher density that comes with transit access started on July 1. The buses are expected about two years after that. A house a few doors from Glenoaks and Grandview or Broadway and Verdugo now sits next to lots where state law sets a minimum building envelope that local zoning can't go below. The deciding question for that house is how far the lot is from one of seven intersections. Whether a bus is running there yet doesn't change the rules.

Seven intersections draw the map

The City of Glendale's SB 79 page counts eight BRT stops. Its own breakdown lists three on West Glenoaks between the Burbank border and Central Avenue, one at Central and Lexington, and three on East Broadway between Brand Boulevard and the Los Angeles border. That adds up to seven. The Southern California Association of Governments is the agency that maps qualifying stops under the law, and its current data also names seven intersections. Each one has eastbound and westbound access points.

Sources have disagreed on the transportation center's tier. In June, Crescenta Valley Weekly described it as Tier 1, the heavy rail category. SCAG's current layer lists the Glendale commuter rail station as Tier 2, the same tier as the bus stops. In practice, every qualifying stop in Glendale falls under the same set of numbers.

SCAG put out an initial map on July 1, 2026 and published an updated version on October 29. The update moved stop points to more precise access locations at specific Metro stations and added points for planned routes. None of the changes it lists name a Glendale stop.

What a neighbor could build within each ring

SB 79 sets a floor. Near a Tier 2 stop, a city can't enforce a height limit, density cap or floor-area rule that would stop a qualifying project from reaching the numbers below. Projects can also qualify for density-bonus concessions and waivers on top of these numbers.

The quarter-mile and half-mile figures come from the text of SB 79 for Tier 2 stops in a city with more than 35,000 residents. Parcels within 200 feet get an extra 20 feet of height, 40 homes per acre and 1.0 of floor area on top of the base numbers. Crescenta Valley Weekly translated those figures into stories: about eight near the stop, six within a quarter mile, five out to a half mile.

Not every project qualifies. A project using SB 79 needs at least five homes. It has to reach 30 homes per acre or the local minimum, whichever is higher. Its units can average no more than 1,750 square feet. It also has to follow state and local rules on demolition and displacement and Glendale's inclusionary requirements. With a five-home minimum and a cap on average unit size, a single large house can't qualify as an SB 79 project.

Government Code section 65912.157 makes these projects an allowed use on "any site zoned for residential, mixed, or commercial development" within the qualifying distance. The statute doesn't exclude single-family zoning as a category. Within the half-mile radius, a lot on a residential side street isn't excluded just because of its zoning. Which ring it falls in determines the numbers that apply.

The delay Glendale chose covers a narrow slice

Glendale opposed SB 79 before it passed, asked Governor Gavin Newsom to veto it, and later opposed SB 677, a follow-up bill that would have widened its reach. Once the law was certain, the City Council used a provision built into it. On March 3, 2026 the council told staff to prepare a "delayed effectuation" ordinance. It introduced that ordinance June 9 and adopted it June 23.

The ordinance holds back SB 79 only on parcels in a state-designated very high fire hazard severity zone and parcels with a locally designated historic resource. The Glendale News-Press reported that historic status is measured as of January 1, 2025. The same report said about 339 properties are excluded and about 8,782 remain subject to the law. Crescenta Valley Weekly's account of the June 9 meeting put the larger pool at 8,656. Using either count, the carve-out covers about four parcels in every hundred.

The delay also has an end date. It lasts until one year after the City adopts its seventh-cycle Housing Element, which the City expects around 2030. It can end earlier if Glendale adopts a qualifying TOD Alternative Plan first. So a Craftsman on a historic register near the Broadway corridor has a pause, and the pause is expected to run out around the time the BRT has been in service for about two years.

Other cities have gone further. The News-Press reported that Beverly Hills adopted a TOD Alternative Plan that moves capacity off single-family sites near its Metro stations to a mixed-use overlay near La Cienega. In Glendale, Crescenta Valley Weekly reported that Councilmember Dan Brotman proposed three things: pursuing remedies related to SCAG, looking at local rent control measures that could exempt developments, and rezoning proactively so the delay could cover entire TOD zones. City staff is still studying whether to extend the delay to more sites.

The public comment showed how differently people read the same map. Mike Borisov, a transit advocate who supports SB 79, urged the council to "fully up-zone and not delay effectuation for BRT stops in downtown and along existing multi-family corridors," according to Crescenta Valley Weekly. He also pointed out that three- and four-story buildings already stand along Glenoaks.

What still shapes the building that goes up

SB 79 decides how much can be built. Glendale's design rules still affect how it looks. On May 19, 2026, the council unanimously adopted an Objective Design Standards ordinance for multifamily and mixed-use projects, and the City says SB 79 applications have to meet those standards. On a block where the height floor is 65 feet, those standards still govern the building's facade and its relationship to the street.

This affects buyers in two ways. A house inside a ring now sits next to land that state law values differently, so the land itself may be worth more. A house just outside a ring keeps its current zoning while the blocks around it change. For more on how Glendale's pockets already price differently, see our look at Glendale's micro-markets. The BRT is also only one of several projects reshaping downtown Glendale's civic core.

Checking one address

1. Open Glendale's updated zoning map, which state law requires to show where SB 79 applies.
2. Compare it with SCAG's SB 79 map, which SCAG updated on October 29.
3. Note which ring the parcel falls in: within 200 feet, within a quarter mile, or out to a half mile from the nearest of the seven intersections or the transportation center.
4. Find out whether the parcel had a locally designated historic resource as of January 1, 2025, or sits in a very high fire hazard severity zone. Those are the only two categories the June 23 ordinance holds back.
5. Run the same check on the lots on either side and across the street, then take the results to the City's planning staff or a land-use attorney to confirm them.

Everything here is general information about a state law and a local ordinance. It isn't legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm how any of it applies to a specific property with a land-use attorney or the City's planning staff.

Quick answers

Does SB 79 wait for the BRT to open? No. SCAG already lists the Glendale BRT intersections as Tier 2 stops, and the law took effect July 1, 2026. Metro expects to finish the line in 2028.

Is Glendale's whole downtown covered? SB 79 applies about a half mile around the qualifying stops, and the City says it does not change zoning citywide.

Could the excluded list grow? Possibly. The City has said it is still analyzing whether to expand the delay to more sites.

If you're weighing a home near Glenoaks, Central or Broadway, or wondering what SB 79 means for a property you already own along one of these corridors, Thomas Atamian + Associates can go through the parcel, its ring and the lots around it with you. Request a Confidential Consultation, or start with a home valuation that takes the new map into account.