Changes to California housing laws are reshaping how Santa Clarita grows and limiting how much say the city has in the process.

The Santa Clarita Planning Commission reviewed a series of updates to the city’s housing regulations Tuesday, including significant changes to accessory dwelling units, commonly known as ADUs, as the city works to comply with evolving state housing laws.

The proposal aims to bring Santa Clarita’s Municipal Code into alignment with California legislation and recent feedback from the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development.

City officials say the changes focus on three key areas: 

• Updates to the ADU ordinance
• Revisions to rules governing two-unit residential developments under Senate Bill 9 
• Broader zoning updates tied to the city’s Housing Element

At the heart of the proposal is a shift in how Santa Clarita regulates ADUs. In recent years, California has expanded laws requiring cities to allow these smaller, secondary housing units on residential properties, limiting local control over development standards.

Under the proposed changes, Santa Clarita would defer more directly to state law, meaning certain ADUs must be approved if they meet statewide requirements – even if they conflict with previous local restrictions related to design, parking or environmental considerations.

These “state-mandated” ADUs can include conversions of existing spaces like garages or attics, as well as new detached units up to 800 square feet. Similar rules apply to multifamily properties, where additional units may be created within existing structures or as detached buildings.

During the discussion, Planning Commission Chair Nathan Keith acknowledged the long-term implications of state housing laws on local development.

“Knowing that state law somewhat controls this subject matter… maybe planning in general, as projects come in, we need to consider what will be by right for all these projects,” Keith said. “The project that gets brought before the planning commission might not be the final end product that will be built there five or 10 years from now.”

Keith added that future developments could include additional ADUs or junior ADUs that the city would have little authority to deny under current state law.

“Just knowing that your hands are tied by state law,” he said.

In addition to ADU updates, the city is revising its ordinance tied to Senate Bill 9, which allows property owners to split single-family lots and build up to two units on each parcel. The city would continue to approve these developments ministerially, meaning without discretionary review, as required by state law.

The changes would also remove certain local regulations for urban lot splits and instead rely on standard parcel map requirements.

The proposal also includes broader zoning updates tied to Housing Element Program HP-2.1, which is designed to ensure Santa Clarita remains compliant with state housing policies.

These updates address regulations for supportive housing, transitional housing, emergency shelters and other state-designated housing types, while also aligning local rules with state requirements for group homes and other residential uses.

Commissioner Tim Burkhart expressed frustration with what he described as the loss of local control over land-use decisions.

“The pragmatic decision tonight is going to be to approve this, since we really have no recourse against the state and what they want to do,” Burkhart said. “But I just want to say that about 39 years ago, we became a city for this very same reason, because decisions were being made far away without local input.”

Burkhart compared the state’s role in housing policy to the conditions that led to Santa Clarita’s incorporation, noting the distance between local communities and decision-makers in Sacramento.

“Now Sacramento is 400 miles away and doing the same thing to us,” he said. “I disagree with losing our local control of our city, and hopefully, as a result of that statement, a few more people can get up in arms about it in Santa Clarita, the way that it happened 39 years ago, and maybe we can address this with the state.”

City staff emphasized that the proposed amendments do not involve any specific development projects or changes to zoning maps or density limits, but instead ensure the city remains compliant with state law while expanding housing opportunities.

The project has been determined to be exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), as it involves only text changes to existing regulations and does not directly result in physical development.

The Planning Commission voted 3-2 to recommend approval of the updates.

If ultimately approved by the City Council, the changes would limit how Santa Clarita implements state housing mandates moving forward.

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