01
Two Encinos, two housing stocks
In ZIP 91436, which takes in the Encino hills, the median home was built in 1962, about 82 percent are detached houses and about 79 percent are owner occupied. In ZIP 91316, to the north, the median year built is 1969, but only about 41 percent are detached houses and about half are owner occupied. Sources: US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, table B25034, ZCTA 91436. US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, table B25034, ZCTA 91316
The southern hills ask for larger remodels on houses from the 1950s and 1960s, often with an addition in mind. The northern flats ask for condo and townhome interiors, where an association has a say. A home addition on a hillside and a condo kitchen are different projects, with different approvals, and we plan them differently from the first visit.
Either way, bring what you know about the house: past permits, association rules, and any plans. They shape the first conversation more than any photo can.
02
Native trees on the lot
Hillside lots can carry native trees, and the City of Los Angeles protects them. A permit from the Board of Public Works is needed before removing or relocating a native oak other than scrub oak, a Southern California black walnut, a western sycamore, a California bay, a Mexican elderberry or a toyon, once it measures four inches or more across at four and a half feet up.
Removal includes more than cutting. Damaging roots with equipment or changing the grade inside the drip line counts too, which is where additions and driveways get into trouble. Trimming or root pruning a street tree needs its own permit as well. We map the protected trees before a footing is drawn.
Street trees in the parkway are covered too, so a new driveway apron or a sidewalk repair starts with the Urban Forestry Division, not with the concrete truck.
Source: Los Angeles Municipal Code Sec. 46.01, 46.02
03
Flats, hills and the fire map
Eight of the twelve Encino points we checked sit in a state liquefaction zone, mapped on the Canoga Park and Van Nuys quadrangles. South of Ventura, points on Hayvenhurst Avenue, Valley Meadow Road and Woodley Avenue sit in the City's hillside area and its Very High fire zone.
CAL FIRE's 2025 map goes further and marks some flat points Very High, including one on Balboa Boulevard and one on White Oak Avenue. The City must adopt that map by ordinance and cannot lower it. Along Mulholland Drive, a lot may also fall inside the scenic parkway plan, which brings design review, so we check that for any hillside address as well. Source: Los Angeles Fire Department, 2025 CAL FIRE map recommendation
You can look up your own parcel on EQ Zapp and on the City's map before we visit, and we go over what both show when we walk the lot.
Source: California Geological Survey, Seismic Hazard Zones, liquefaction layer
04
Where an Encino project starts
Every Encino address is inside the City of Los Angeles, so permits run through the City. The Ventura Boulevard frontage also sits under two corridor specific plans, so a property on the boulevard itself gets an extra check. Away from the boulevard, the trees, the slope and the fire class drive the approvals.
For a house, the first visit covers all three. A new driveway or patio is planned around the drip lines, and exterior painting is timed with any window or siding work the fire zone requires, so the house is not painted twice. The written scope and fixed price follow the visit.
On a hillside lot, the order is trees, then grading, then design. Getting that order right is what keeps an Encino project from being redrawn.
