Picture two single-story houses a few hundred feet apart in West Hills. One faces Fallbrook Avenue and has its garage off a rear alley. The other sits around the corner on a quiet interior street. Today, both lots allow one home. Under the draft plan the City of Los Angeles released this month, the Fallbrook lot could allow up to four.
That difference matters if you're about to make an offer on a corridor house, or if you already own one. It also matters less than it sounds, and the reason is in the city's own numbers. Under the proposed rules, West Hills and its neighboring communities would have room for far more homes than the regional forecast expects anyone to build. So the zoning map won't decide what changes on a given block. The economics of each parcel will.
What the Draft Would Change on a Corridor Lot
The Southwest Valley Community Plans Update rewrites the land use rules for three plan areas. One of them is Canoga Park-Winnetka-Woodland Hills-West Hills. The draft environmental impact report came out in October 2026. That's the point where the public can respond to a specific proposal, not a set of concepts.
The change most likely to reach a West Hills buyer is the rezoning of single-family lots on major corridors that have alley access behind them. The Draft EIR executive summary lays out the proposal next to an alternative that keeps these lots close to their current designations:
| Proposed Plans | Alternative 2, close to current rules | |
|---|---|---|
| Land use designation | Low Neighborhood Residential, Low Medium Residential | Very Low Residential, Low Residential |
| Homes per lot | Up to four, or one per 1,500 sq ft of lot area | One |
| Maximum height | 33 to 36 feet, or up to three stories | 33 feet |
| Floor area ratio | 0.45:1 to 2.0:1 | 0.35:1 to 0.47:1 |
| Small commercial uses | Allowed in select areas, capped at 2,000 sq ft | Not included |
The DEIR lists the corridors where this applies. In or near West Hills, those are Victory Boulevard, Vanowen Street, Sherman Way, Saticoy Street, Roscoe Boulevard and Fallbrook Avenue. In its October 15 coverage, Urbanize LA used the area around Fallbrook Avenue and Sherman Way as its example. There, planners want to make room for "missing middle" housing such as townhomes and courtyard apartments.
A second change applies to land zoned only for parking, which is about six percent of the plan area. The update would drop that designation and give those lots the same zoning as the property next to them. Urbanize LA notes this would open larger car-oriented shopping centers on corridors like Sherman Way to housing or commercial redevelopment.
The Capacity Number That Changes the Story
Read the table alone and you might expect fourplexes to appear along Fallbrook Avenue soon. The plan's own capacity math tells a different story.
Table 1.1 in the draft community plan text compares three housing figures for the Canoga Park-Winnetka-Woodland Hills-West Hills plan area:
- Existing homes: 72,286
- SCAG's 2050 projection: 88,543
- Proposed plan capacity: 137,362
The plan's horizon year is 2050. The Southern California Association of Governments forecasts about 16,000 more homes in this plan area by 2050. The proposed zoning would allow roughly 65,000 more.
The gap isn't new, either. Urbanize LA reports that the current rules, last updated in the late 1990s, already allow close to 100,000 homes. For almost three decades, the area has been zoned for tens of thousands more homes than it has. Zoning capacity hasn't been what limited growth here.
The plan describes what could be built. Each project still has to work for the owner who builds it: land cost, construction cost, financing, and what the finished units can rent or sell for. A rule allowing four homes on a corridor lot is a permission. Whether anyone uses it comes down to that individual parcel.
A current West Hills project shows the gap between what's allowed and what gets built. At 7556–7572 N. Woodlake Avenue, Urbanize LA reported in September 2026 that site preparation has started on a senior affordable housing project. Current permits show 160 units, down from an earlier 332-unit plan. The largest center in West Hills is still being run as retail. Fallbrook Shopping Center at 6633 Fallbrook Avenue is currently marketed for lease, with eight suites totaling about 149,000 square feet available.
What This Means for a Corridor Purchase
For a buyer comparing West Hills streets, the plan adds one more factor to weigh beyond price and square footage. Lots on interior streets aren't part of the corridor rezoning described in the DEIR. Lots on the alley-loaded corridors are. If the proposal is adopted as written, a corridor house next door to yours could someday be replaced by a three-story building with up to four homes.
Read the same way, the rezoning affects corridor owners in a few ways:
- A corridor lot may gain uses it doesn't have today. A seller's lot could be worth more to a buyer who plans to build, depending on whether that particular parcel pencils out.
- The house next door could change. Under the proposed standards, a neighboring corridor lot could go up to 33 to 36 feet, or three stories, instead of 33 feet.
- None of this is final. The DEIR studies Alternative 2, which would leave these lots out of the rezoning entirely.
The plan's designations apply at the parcel level, and this post can't tell you how any single address is zoned. City Planning publishes an interactive land use map where you can look up a specific property. If you're thinking about adding units to a lot you already own, our guide to Los Angeles ADU rules covers the separate path that already exists today.
Where the West Hills Neighborhood Council Stands
The proposal has local opposition. On its Zoning and Planning committee page, the West Hills Neighborhood Council says its Board approved a letter on March 5, 2026, asking for a City Council motion to restore local control to city planning and delay the community plans. That followed an August 8, 2025 letter asking for planning and land use decisions to return to local jurisdictions. The same page says the council supports protecting single-family neighborhoods.
The council's October 13, 2026 agenda lists its next joint Board and Zoning and Planning Committee meeting for Tuesday, November 10, 2026. That meeting falls before the comment period closes.
How to Read the Draft Before November 22
The public comment period on the Draft EIR runs from October 8 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 22, 2026. That leaves roughly a month from the week this post goes up. The city says the date of the public hearing will be announced in a separate notice.
Printed copies are available here:
- Platt Branch Library, 23600 Victory Boulevard, Woodland Hills
- Woodland Hills Branch Library, 22200 Ventura Boulevard, Woodland Hills
- City Planning, 6262 Van Nuys Boulevard, Room 351, Van Nuys, by appointment through [email protected] or (213) 978-1194
The Canoga Park Branch Library at 20939 Sherman Way is also listed. The city notes it's closed for maintenance and is expected to reopen in early November. The full document set and draft plan are on the city's project page.
A Few Questions West Hills Owners Ask
Does the plan approve any specific building in West Hills? No. Urbanize LA notes that the updated plans would not propose any individual projects. They set the rules future projects would follow.
Is the horizon year 2025 or 2050? 2050. Urbanize LA's October 15 article says "by the year 2025," which appears to be a typo. The city's Draft EIR identifies 2050 as the planning horizon.
Does this affect West Hills homes away from the main corridors? The single-family rezoning in the DEIR is aimed at alley-loaded lots on major corridors and at select lots near transit. Interior streets aren't named in that passage. The interactive map is the place to check a specific address.
This post is general information about a proposed city plan, not legal, tax or financial advice. Please confirm how any rule applies to your property with the appropriate professional.
If you own a house on Fallbrook, Sherman Way, Victory or Roscoe, or you're weighing an offer on one, Sterling Realty & Lending can pull comparable sales for that block and walk you through how the draft plan fits into your pricing, financing and insurance decisions. You can start with a home valuation or schedule a free consultation with Caroline.
