01
A County community with its own standards
Castaic has an elected advisory Town Council, but land use is decided by the County. The Castaic Area Community Standards District covers Castaic, Castaic Junction, Val Verde, Hasley Canyon and Hillcrest, among other areas, and it sits on top of ordinary County zoning. Val Verde is also its own subarea, so it is read on its own terms.
Permits go to Los Angeles County Public Works. A single family home is excepted from the district's usual site plan review unless the creek preservation rule applies, but many of the district's standards still reach an addition or a new fence, so we read the district for the parcel before the drawings start, and we plan the County review into the schedule.
Tell us early if the property is in Val Verde, Hasley Canyon or Hillcrest, because the district reads those areas with their own standards and the drawings need to start from them.
Source: Los Angeles County Code, Chapter 22.312, Castaic Area Community Standards District
02
Houses from the 1980s onward
In ZIP 91384 the median home was built in 1991, and the 1980s are the largest single building decade. About 85 percent of homes are detached houses and about 84 percent are owner occupied, among the highest shares in the valley. Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, table B25034, ZCTA 91384
A Castaic house built in the 1980s is due for the usual round of updates, from kitchens to heating and cooling. Most homes here heat with utility gas, which matters when a remodel moves a range or a water heater. A kitchen remodel in Castaic starts with where that gas line runs today and where the new layout needs it, and the permit covers both. Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, table B25034, ZCTA 91384
Castaic houses from the 1980s have often had earlier updates, so we ask what has been changed before we open anything. Prior work that was never permitted is easier to handle when it is known at the start.
03
Oaks, fences and native plants
Castaic treats oaks more strictly than the rest of the County. Removing or relocating even one oak for a single family home needs a published notice and a public hearing. On lots of an acre or more, clearing native plants over more than a tenth of the lot is prohibited, apart from brush clearance the fire department requires.
Fences along roads have a short list of materials: split rail, open wood, rock, block or iron. Chain link is allowed only when it is landscaped along its full length. A block wall or hardscape job in Castaic is drawn to those rules from the first sketch, and outdoor lighting follows the County's rural lighting rules.
Source: Los Angeles County Code, Chapter 22.312, Castaic Area Community Standards District
04
Ridgelines and fire zones
The district protects mapped significant ridgelines, with no development close to a crest, although an addition to an existing house can sometimes be allowed through a minor conditional use permit. In Hasley Canyon and Violin Canyon, new lots must be at least two acres, and larger setbacks apply to vacant lots there.
Fire shapes the rest. For a new structure, or an addition of half or more of the existing square footage in a Very High zone, County Fire asks for a fuel modification plan. Several Castaic addresses fall in Very High zones, so exterior materials and windows in Castaic are chosen with that in mind, and priced that way from the first estimate.
On a ridgeline or hillside lot, the first site visit maps the slope, the brush and the access road, because slope and brush matter to County Fire and to the district alike.
Sources: Los Angeles County Code, Chapter 22.312, Castaic Area Community Standards District. Los Angeles County Fire Department, fuel modification
