01
The City's own building department
Calabasas has its own Building and Safety Division at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Way. It is not the Los Angeles County office on Agoura Road, which also sits in Calabasas but serves other places. A Calabasas address goes to the City counter, and its applications start in the City's online permit center.
Mailing names cross the line too. A test address on Mulholland Highway with a Woodland Hills mailing name geocodes inside the City of Calabasas, so the City's rules apply to it, oak ordinance included. We confirm the jurisdiction on the first call, because the answer decides which planner, which forms and which fee schedule the project will meet. Source: City of Calabasas, Building and Safety Division
Bring any past oak permits or arborist reports if you have them. In Calabasas they can be part of a property's history, and they can shorten the next review.
02
Oaks on or near the lot
Before any construction or earthwork on a property with an oak tree within 200 feet, the City asks owners to contact its Planning Division. The Oak Tree Ordinance, Calabasas Municipal Code 17.32, requires preservation of healthy oaks, and pruning any oak or encroaching into its protected zone needs an Oak Tree Permit. Source: City of Calabasas Planning Division, Oak Tree Ordinance, CMC 17.32
Some oak work also requires an arborist with ISA certification, including an oak tree report. In practice, a deck or patio or a new driveway near an oak starts with the arborist and the planner, not with the builder, and the design follows what they allow. Replacing an existing improvement inside a protected zone can still need a minor permit.
We ask for the oak locations to be drawn on the site plan, because the protected zone is the line the rest of the design has to respect.
03
Houses from the 1980s in fire country
The City holds about 9,400 homes, with a median year built of 1984 and the 1980s the largest decade. About 38 percent predate 1980, and about 60 percent are detached houses. Roughly two thirds are owner occupied. Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, table B25034, Calabasas city
Every Calabasas point we checked, from Park Sorrento to Old Topanga Canyon Road, sits in the Very High class on CAL FIRE's map published March 24, 2025. That shapes the exterior of nearly every project: siding, vents, decking and replacement windows are all chosen for it, and a 1980s house being updated is a natural time to make those changes together.
A remodel is also a chance to clear the ground right around the house. Plants, woodpiles and stored materials near the walls are part of the same fire picture.
Source: City of Calabasas, Fire Hazard Severity Zones, map published March 24, 2025
04
Ground conditions and the first visit
Five of the eight Calabasas points we checked also sit in a state liquefaction zone, mostly on the Calabasas quadrangle, and a point on Mulholland Highway falls in a state earthquake landslide zone. Canyon floors and hillsides each carry their own risks, and both appear inside city limits.
So the first visit covers more than the room. We look at the oaks, the slope, the drainage and the fire class, then bring in the planner or arborist where the City requires one. The written scope and fixed price come after that, never before, and they name every approval the project needs.
The state's EQ Zapp viewer takes a street address and shows the ground zones, and we check it alongside the fire map before any design work.
Source: California Geological Survey, Seismic Hazard Zones, landslide layer, Calabasas quadrangle 1998
