Lancaster | Design and Flood Rules

Lancaster Objective Design Standards, Flood Zones and Drainage Rules

Two sets of Lancaster rules shape a project after the zoning numbers are met. The first is the City's objective design standards, rules for how a building looks that can be checked by measurement, such as wall offsets in feet and window area in percent. The second is the flood and drainage rules for a city in the high desert, where new building must not send storm water onto neighbors or sit below a mapped flood level. Both come from the Municipal Code. The Lancaster overview sums up the whole guide.

Why Lancaster Has Objective Design Standards

State housing laws such as Government Code 65589.5 and 65913.4, which Section 17.41.070 names, hold many housing projects to objective standards, ones that can be measured with no personal judgment. Lancaster wrote them into Chapter 17.41, Article IV, added by Ordinance No. 1106 on October 10, 2023. Section 17.41.070 lists its aims, including to "Reduce barriers to housing for very low-, low-, or moderate-income households" and to "Accelerate housing production through the clear communication of design objectives and efficient permitting process."

Section 17.41.072 applies the standards to "all residential projects and mixed-use developments consisting of residential and nonresidential uses with at least two-thirds of the square footage designated for residential use." Older parts of the code still hold broader, judgment-based design measures. Section 17.08.070 asks builders, for example, to "Articulate building façades by including variation in massing, roof form, and wall planes." It then says a project that meets the objective standards "shall be deemed to have met these measures." SB 9 homes must meet the standards too, under Section 17.41.058, while ADUs follow their own article. Where Title 17 and the design standards conflict, "the ODS in this chapter shall prevail," and where a master plan or specific plan sets its own objective standards, the plan prevails.

The Standards at a Glance

Sources: Lancaster Municipal Code 17.41.076, 17.41.078, 17.41.080 and 17.41.084, Supplement 10 - 2025.

Houses, Duplexes, Triplexes and Fourplexes

Section 17.41.076 covers "single-unit and multi-unit buildings up to 4 units." Its rules for the street side of a building are specific. A front or street side wall longer than 25 feet may not run blank for more than 25 feet: "Wall plane variation of at least 2 feet in depth and 5 feet in length shall be provided for relief for every 25 feet of building facade." A bay window that sticks out at least one foot, or a porch at least 5 feet deep, can stand in for the offset. Each home's main entrance must face the street and sit within 8 feet of the longest street-facing wall, with a porch at least 5 feet deep and 8 feet long or a stoop of at least 4 by 4 feet. "At least 15% of the area of each facade that faces a street lot line must be windows or main pedestrian entrance doors."

Roofs and garages have their own rules. "Residential buildings shall use tile roofing (concrete, ceramic, etc.)," with other roofs allowed to match neighbors, except that asphalt shingles are banned on lots next to a public street and metal sheets are banned everywhere. A building with 2 or more main homes needs at least 2 exterior materials on the front and street side facades, and window glass does not count as one. The garage wall facing the street may be up to half the length of that facade, with roll-up doors only. A subdivision of fewer than 20 homes needs at least 3 different elevations, and no two homes of the same model and floor plan may sit side by side or directly across the street.

Buildings of 5 or More Units

• Facades. "At least 25% of the area of a street-facing facade is divided into facade planes that are off-set by at least 2 feet," plus two features from a list: a recessed entrance 3 to 6 feet deep, eaves of 12 inches, a 2 foot offset at least 4 feet long, a bay window, or a balcony for each home facing the street. Rooflines change at least every 50 feet.
• Materials. Two materials on all facades. "Prohibited materials include vinyl and aluminum siding, T-111 plywood siding, and exterior insulation finishing system (EIFS)."
• Windows. 20 percent of each street facade, with more for ground-floor shops in mixed-use buildings.
• Next to house zones. Within 25 feet of a lot line next to an Urban Residential zone, height steps down to 35 feet. Upper-floor windows within 20 feet of a neighbor's window must be opaque or clerestory (high on the wall), or start 5 feet above the floor. A masonry wall or metal fence of 5 to 6 feet goes on the shared line.
• Lighting. Walkways lit to 2 to 3 foot-candles, a measure of light on the ground, and building entries to at least 3.

Open space rules start at more than 20 homes. Section 17.41.082 requires "At least 15% of the total gross development area shall be common open space," in spaces at least 40 feet across, at least half "landscaped with live plant material suitable for the desert climate," with three features such as seating, shade trees or play equipment. Projects where every home has its own door within 20 feet of the street and 200 square feet of private yard are exempt. Every apartment needs private space: "80 square feet for ground-floor units" and "40 square feet for upper-story units."

Flood Zones

Lancaster's flood rules are in Article III of Chapter 17.40, "Flood Damage Prevention." They apply in "areas of special flood hazard" mapped by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The code defines the "Base flood" as "the flood having a 1% chance of being equalled or exceeded in any given year." The code adopts FEMA's "Flood Insurance Study (FIS) dated July 6, 1981, and the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), dated January 6, 1982, and all subsequent amendments and/or revisions." The Director of Public Works is the floodplain administrator.

• Permit. "A development permit shall be obtained before any construction or other development begins within any area of special flood hazard," with plans showing floor elevations.
• Floor height. New homes and substantial improvements must have "the lowest floor, including basement, elevated to or above the base flood elevation," the water height of that base flood, certified by an engineer or surveyor. In zone AO, an area of shallow flooding, the floor must rise above the highest nearby ground by the depth on the map, "or at least 2 feet if no depth number is specified."
• Garages and storage below the floor. Enclosed areas below the lowest floor need flood openings of at least one square inch for every square foot, no higher than one foot above grade.
• No raising the flood. A project may not, with other development, raise the base flood "more than one foot at any point" where a floodway is not mapped. In a mapped floodway, new building is barred unless an engineer certifies no rise.
• Subdivisions. Proposals must show the flood area and base flood elevation, and certified pad elevations where land is filled.

SB 9 projects face a separate test. Sections 17.41.058 and 16.17.050 exclude sites "Within a 100-year flood hazard area" unless FEMA has issued a letter of map revision for the site or it meets the National Flood Insurance Program's flood plain rules, and sites in a regulatory floodway without a no-rise certification. Section 15.52.010 also adopts Los Angeles County's "Interference with Flood Control Works" ordinances, Nos. 1549 and 5468.

Drainage Fees and Studies

Lancaster pays for its storm drains through a master plan of drainage and a fee on new building. Section 13.04.050 says the City intends "to construct the planned drainage facilities described in the master plan of drainage and to collect drainage fees to defray the cost." The fee amount is set "by resolution, from time to time," and "collected prior to issuance of any building permit" (Section 13.04.090). Existing developed properties are exempt "unless additional dwelling units are constructed on the property in residential and multifamily zones" (Section 13.04.060), so adding homes to a built lot in a residential zone brings the fee. Chapter 15.64 lists the same charge as the "drainage/flood control improvements fee." A project that pays it must also annex into the "Lancaster drainage benefit assessment district," which charges assessments for upkeep of the drainage facilities (Section 13.04.120).

Subdivisions carry more. "A hydrology study shall be submitted and approved prior to the filing of the final map," showing that streets "carry a fifty (50) year storm, top of curb to top of curb, and one hundred (100) year storm within the right-of-way" (Section 16.24.140). The subdivider installs "culverts, detention/retention basins, channels, swales" as the City Engineer requires, and pays the first year's district charge before final map approval. Septic tanks are allowed only in non-urban areas where sewers are not feasible and the soil suits them (Section 16.24.210).

Fire Rules and Code Gaps

Section 15.32.010 adopts "the 2025 California Fire Code, while maintaining the 2026 Los Angeles County Fire Code," and "If a conflict should exist between the 2025 California Fire Code and the 2026 Los Angeles County Fire Code, then the more restrictive will govern." An ADU needs fire sprinklers only if the main home does. Section 17.04.110 creates a "-VM (Vegetative Management)" version of every zone, but the code text read for this guide sets no standards for it.

• A missing section. Section 17.41.072 sends design modification requests to "Section 17.41.100," which Supplement 10 does not contain. Ask the Planning Division how it handles a request.
• A cross-reference to the mixed use chapter. Section 17.08.040, in the residential chapter, says projects meeting the standards are deemed to meet "the discretionary design standards in Section 17.10.070," which is the mixed use section. Section 17.08.070 carries the residential rule directly.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Lancaster overview, the CEQA and permit streamlining page and the property tax and insurance page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)