Can I build an ADU in Woodland Hills (91364, 91367)?

Can I build an ADU on my Woodland Hills lot?

Almost certainly some kind of ADU, yes. Los Angeles allows ADUs in any zone where a house is a permitted use, which covers the single-family zones that make up Woodland Hills' residential lots ¹⁰.

State law gives every single-family lot three kinds of ADU the city has to approve:

• A detached backyard house of up to 800 square feet, with four-foot side and rear setbacks, which can be paired with a JADU ⁷.
• A conversion of a garage or other existing accessory building, which can grow by up to 150 square feet only to fit an entry or exit ⁸.
• A junior ADU (JADU) of no more than 500 square feet, inside the house ⁹.

The city's own ordinance adds a larger detached unit of up to 1,200 square feet and two stories ¹¹. Woodland Hills lots are big enough to make that tempting. The middle single-family lot is 9,450 square feet in 91364 and 11,056 square feet in 91367, and a quarter of 91364 lots are over 15,797 square feet ². The larger city option is exactly where the fire zone starts to matter.

How much of Woodland Hills is in the fire zone?

Most of 91364, and about a quarter of 91367. We tested every City of Los Angeles single-family parcel in both ZIPs against the city's fire-zone and Hillside Area map layers ³⁴:

• 91364: 6,661 of 7,780 parcels (86%) are in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, 5,743 (74%) are in a Hillside Area, and 5,663 (73%) are in both ³⁴.
• 91367: 1,900 of 7,868 parcels (24%) are in the fire zone, but only one parcel in the whole ZIP is also in a Hillside Area ³⁴.

That difference decides the rest of this guide. In 91364, about three lots in four are in the both-zones group that the city's ADU ordinance singles out. In 91367, a lot in the fire zone is almost never in a Hillside Area, so the restriction rarely applies. The fire zone still changes how the unit is built there: LADBS plan check asks for the fire-resistant materials of Chapter 7A on a building in the zone ¹². Our fire zone guide covers what that means for walls, roofs and vents.

What can I build if my lot is in both the fire zone and a Hillside Area?

The three state-law ADUs, without the city's fire-zone bar. City Planning says the city code prohibits ADUs on lots in both zones, but that, under HCD guidance, the prohibition may not be enforced on state-law ADU types ⁶.

What the restriction still reaches is the city's own Ordinance ADUs. The city's tables mark these as subject to it ¹³:

• the city's detached Ordinance ADU, the type that can reach 1,200 square feet;
• the city's attached Ordinance ADU;
• a movable tiny house.

The restriction is not an absolute ban even for those. The city has said it cannot apply the ordinance's sprinkler and parking conditions where they conflict with state law, but an Ordinance ADU on a both-zones lot may still be required to dedicate land and improve the street so that it meets a 20-foot street frontage requirement ⁶¹⁴. On a narrow hillside street, that can be the deciding cost. Our Hillside Area guide explains street width, grading and the Baseline Hillside Ordinance.

The state has pushed back on the rule itself. In November 2024, HCD told the city it had not shown that ADUs affect public safety in the fire zone, and that it had to either remove the prohibition or back it with specific evidence ¹⁵.

Will CAL FIRE's new fire maps take my lot out of the zone?

Do not plan on it. CAL FIRE issued new recommended fire hazard maps for the City of Los Angeles on March 24, 2025, and state law requires the city to adopt them by ordinance ¹⁶. As of October 2026 we have not found an adopted ordinance.

We ran the same parcel test against CAL FIRE's 2025 recommended map as the Fire Department publishes it. In 91364, 3,209 parcels (41%) are rated Very High, 884 (11%) High and 793 (10%) Moderate, and 2,894 (37%) are unrated ⁵. That is far fewer Very High lots than the city's current map shows. It does not mean those lots leave the zone. The Fire Department says a city may not lower the state's hazard level but may raise it or add areas beyond what the state recommends ¹⁶.

So the honest answer is that the boundary that governs your permit today is the city's current one, and the one that will govern it after adoption is not settled. Check your parcel at the time you apply, not before you buy plans.

Is the city changing the fire-zone ADU rules?

It is proposing to. City Planning's Missing Middle LA package includes an update to the ADU ordinance that, in the department's words, would bring the 2019 rules in line with state law and "expand protections in hillside fire zones" ¹⁷. A staff hearing was held October 1, 2026, and written comments are open through October 16, 2026; the comments then feed a recommendation report to the City Planning Commission ¹⁷.

One draft detail matters for large Woodland Hills lots. The September 3, 2026 draft would allow an extra "Opportunity ADU" on lots of 7,500 square feet or more in higher-opportunity areas, but not on a lot in a "Fire Restriction Area" ¹⁸. Until an ordinance is adopted, the current code and the state-law ADUs described above are what apply.

Are other Woodland Hills homeowners getting ADU permits?

Yes, and more each year, but 91364 builds at about half the rate of 91367. LADBS issued 30, 39 and 48 ADU and JADU building permits in 91364 in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and 51 in 2026 through Oct. 4, already more than all of 2025 ¹. In 91367 the counts were 73, 73 and 88, and 89 in 2026 through Oct. 4 ¹. Counts are permits, not units, because one project can carry more than one permit.

Per home, that is about 6 permits for every 1,000 single-family parcels in 91364 in 2025, compared with about 11 in 91367 ¹². The permit data does not say why, but the fire-zone and hillside overlap above is the most obvious difference between the two ZIPs. Our Valley permits by ZIP guide has the full ranking.

What should I look up first for my Woodland Hills address?

Start with the city's free parcel report. Look up your address in ZIMAS, the city's mapping system for a parcel's zoning and permit history ¹⁹, and note these items:

1. The Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone and Hillside Area rows. Both together limit the larger Ordinance ADU; either one changes how you build ⁶.
2. Lot size. Compare it with the Woodland Hills range above before sketching anything over 800 square feet ².
3. The street in front. On a both-zones lot, the width of the street decides whether an Ordinance ADU is realistic ¹⁴.
4. The garage's permit history, if you want a conversion. Our guide to checking whether a garage was permitted shows how.

Then look at what ZIMAS does not settle on a hillside lot: whether a backyard house would sit more than 150 feet from the street (fire access guide), whether the slope calls for a soils report, and whether an oak is in the way (protected trees guide). Putting those answers together for one address is the kind of thing a lot check settles.

Quick answers

Sources

1. Building Permits Issued from 2020 to Present (N), dataset pi9x-tg5x, ZIPs 91364 and 91367, LADBS via City of Los Angeles Open Data (Greenlight query). Facts checked 2026-10-12
2. LA County Assessor parcel layer (LACounty_Parcel), single-family parcels in ZIPs 91364 and 91367, City of Los Angeles, LA County Assessor (Greenlight analysis). Facts checked 2026-10-12
3. Greenlight parcel count: City of LA single-family parcels in ZIPs 91364 and 91367 tested against the City of LA Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones layer, LA County Assessor parcel layer / City of Los Angeles GeoHub (Greenlight analysis). Facts checked 2026-10-12
4. Greenlight parcel count: City of LA single-family parcels in ZIPs 91364 and 91367 tested against the Hillside Area and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone layers, LA County Assessor parcel layer / City of Los Angeles GeoHub (Greenlight analysis). Facts checked 2026-10-12
5. Greenlight parcel count: City of LA single-family parcels in ZIPs 91364 and 91367 tested against CAL FIRE's 2025 recommended LRA Fire Hazard Severity Zones as published by LAFD, CAL FIRE via Los Angeles Fire Department GIS (Greenlight analysis). Facts checked 2026-10-12
6. ZA Memorandum No. 143, Revision 1 (LAMC Chapter 1): Implementation of the ADU Ordinance and State ADU Law, issued Aug. 1, 2025, Q.42, Los Angeles City Planning / LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-12
7. ZA Memorandum No. 143, Revision 1 (LAMC Chapter 1): Implementation of the ADU Ordinance and State ADU Law, issued Aug. 1, 2025, quoting Gov. Code § 66323(a)(2), Los Angeles City Planning / LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-12
8. ZA Memorandum No. 143, Revision 1 (LAMC Chapter 1): Implementation of the ADU Ordinance and State ADU Law, issued Aug. 1, 2025, on Gov. Code § 66323(a)(1), Los Angeles City Planning / LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-12
9. ZA Memorandum No. 143, Revision 1 (LAMC Chapter 1): Implementation of the ADU Ordinance and State ADU Law, issued Aug. 1, 2025, section B (JADUs), Los Angeles City Planning / LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-12
10. ZA Memorandum No. 143, Revision 1 (LAMC Chapter 1): Implementation of the ADU Ordinance and State ADU Law, issued Aug. 1, 2025, Q.2, Los Angeles City Planning / LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-12
11. ZA Memorandum No. 143, Revision 1 (LAMC Chapter 1): Implementation of the ADU Ordinance and State ADU Law, issued Aug. 1, 2025, Table 1 (detached ADUs), Ordinance ADU column, Los Angeles City Planning / LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-12
12. Accessory Dwelling Unit Plan Check Correction Sheet (PC/STR/Corr.Lst.20A1, Rev. 8/03/2021), item C.1, Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS). Facts checked 2026-10-12
13. ZA Memorandum No. 143, Revision 1 (LAMC Chapter 1): Implementation of the ADU Ordinance and State ADU Law, issued Aug. 1, 2025, Table 1 (detached ADUs and Movable Tiny Houses) and Table 2 (attached ADUs and JADUs), VHFHSZ/Hillside Area Restriction rows, Los Angeles City Planning / LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-12
14. ZA Memorandum No. 143, Revision 1 (LAMC Chapter 1): Implementation of the ADU Ordinance and State ADU Law, issued Aug. 1, 2025, Q.32, Los Angeles City Planning / LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-12
15. Los Angeles ADU ordinance review letter (findings), Nov. 19, 2024, California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). Facts checked 2026-10-12
16. 2025 CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zones Map Recommendation (Apr. 4, 2025), Los Angeles Fire Department. Facts checked 2026-10-12
17. Missing Middle LA Public Hearing (CPC-2025-4430-CA, CPC-2025-4421-CA, CPC-2026-4383-CA), Los Angeles City Planning. Facts checked 2026-10-12
18. Draft ADU Amendment, September 3, 2026, ADU Bonus Program (Opportunity ADU), Los Angeles City Planning. Facts checked 2026-10-12
19. Zoning Search (ZIMAS), Los Angeles City Planning. Facts checked 2026-10-12

Greenlight is not a contractor, architect or engineer, and this is not legal advice. Rules change; every fact here shows the date we last checked it.