Pasadena, California | Lots and Subdivisions

Pasadena, California Lot Size and Subdivisions: Minimum Lots, Maps and SB 9 Lot Splits

In Pasadena, California, the size of a new lot comes from the Zoning Code (Title 17), and the process for dividing land comes from the subdivision title (Title 16) and the state Subdivision Map Act. This page gives the minimum lot sizes, who approves a map, the extra limits on hillside and flag lots, and how Pasadena applies SB 9 urban lot splits and the small-lot laws SB 684 and SB 1123. The Pasadena overview has the short version.

Minimum Lot Size by District

Tables 2-3 and 2-4 set the "Minimum area and width for new parcels." Width is the distance across the lot, measured from one side lot line to the other. An existing lot smaller than these figures can still be built on if it was legally created; the limits apply when land is divided.

Sources: Pasadena Municipal Code Table 2-3, Table 2-4 and Sec. 17.22.050.G, Supplement 79.

Section 16.12.240 ties the subdivision code to these numbers: for subdivision purposes, "the minimum lot sizes shall be the same as shown for the official zoning plan." The advisory agency may approve a map with smaller lots, but only on the condition that each undersized lot later receives a final variance (permission to depart from a zoning rule) or a zone change that makes it a legal lot.

Two rules protect owners of older lots. Under Section 17.40.040, a legally created lot that is smaller or narrower than the district minimum may get its land use permit "without needing a Variance for lot width or area." On a lot under 5,000 square feet, the small size of the lot may not be the only reason for granting a variance from other standards. Under Section 17.40.030, an undeveloped lot created before March 4, 1972 by means other than a parcel or tract map needs a recorded Certificate of Compliance before any land use permit. A Certificate of Compliance is the County-recorded statement that a lot was legally created.

Who Decides a Map

A tentative map is the first, detailed drawing of a planned division of land; after approval and once its conditions are met, a final map or parcel map is recorded with the County. In Pasadena, Section 16.18.020 makes the advisory agency "the decision maker for all applications" under the chapter. Section 16.08.020 defines the advisory agency as "a hearing officer appointed by the director." The same section creates a three-member subdivision committee of a zoning administrator, the general manager of Water and Power and the director of Public Works, and says no map it reviews is approved without "the unanimous approval from all three members."

Section 16.18.080 lets "any interested person" appeal a decision to the City Council, filed with the City Clerk "within 10 days after the action." The Council can also call a decision up for review in the same 10 days. Section 16.18.060 keeps tentative maps valid for the period in the Subdivision Map Act. Other subdivision permits, such as lot line adjustments, are valid for 2 years, and the Planning Director may renew a permit once "for a maximum of 1 year" without notice or a hearing.

A lot line adjustment moves a line between existing lots without adding a lot. In Pasadena it is a "certificate of exception" under Section 16.40.030: land taken from one parcel is added to the next, no new parcel is created, and the advisory agency approves it by resolution. If the adjustment is not exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the state environmental review law, it is processed as a tentative map instead. A lot line adjustment may not be used to create a flag lot.

SB 9 Urban Lot Splits in Pasadena

SB 9 (2021) lets an owner split a single-family lot into two and approve the map by staff review, with no hearing. Pasadena calls this an "Urban Lot Split" and writes its rules into the definition at Section 16.08.240, which also requires compliance with Government Code 66411.7. The City's rules are:

• Size. Each parcel must be "no less than 40% the size of the original parcel." The Two-Unit Development table in Section 17.22.050.G sets a minimum lot of 1,200 square feet, the same figure as the statute, and says "All newly created lots are required to have access to or abut a Public Right-of-Way."
• Homes. No more than 2 residential units on any lot, "inclusive of Accessory Dwelling Units and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units."
• Filed together. The split "must be submitted concurrently with an application for proposed residential development."
• Tenants. If housing will be altered or torn down, the owner must give a history of occupancy for the past three years (five years if a home is demolished), and sign an affidavit, a signed sworn statement, that the split will not remove rent-restricted housing, rent-controlled housing, housing withdrawn from rental within 15 years, or "Housing that has been occupied by a tenant in the last three years."
• One split only. The owner signs an affidavit that no one acting with them has split an adjacent parcel this way, and records a covenant, a promise recorded on the title that binds later owners, that bars a second split, non-residential use, rentals of fewer than 30 consecutive days, and more than 2 units on a lot.
• Owner occupancy. The applicant signs an affidavit of intent "to occupy one of the housing units on the newly created lots as its principal residence for a minimum of three years," as Government Code 66411.7(g) also requires.

Pasadena is a charter city, which is a city that runs under its own local charter. SB 9 still applies: Government Code 66411.7 defines a local agency as a city "whether general law or chartered." The ADUs and SB 9 page covers the two-unit rules for the homes that go on the new lots.

The Eaton Fire Ban and Its Repeal

Section 16.08.240.J on Municode still reads: "Urban Lot Splits are prohibited in very high fire hazard severity zones identified pursuant to Government Code section 51178 within the boundary of the 2025 Eaton Fire." That text came from Ordinance No. 7455 of September 15, 2025. A July 20, 2026 City Council staff report calls 7455 an "Uncodified Interim Urgency Ordinance," says Ordinance No. 7457 of October 27, 2025 extended it "for a total validity period of 24 months," and recommends repeal after a lawsuit, Yes In My Back Yard v. Newsom (Case No. 25STCP04761).

Municode's ordinance bank lists Ordinance No. 7474, adopted August 3, 2026, as "REPEALING ORDINANCE NOS. 7455 AND 7457." The staff report says that once they are repealed, "SB 9 applications will be processed in VHFHSZ within the boundaries of the Eaton Fire, as appropriate." The repeal is the later law, so it controls over the text still printed in Supplement 79, which was current only through May 18, 2026. The same printed ban appears in Section 17.22.050.G for two-unit projects. Government Code 66411.7 still applies its own site limits by reference to Government Code 65913.4(a)(6)(B) to (K) "as that section read on September 16, 2021." This guide did not read that section, so check it before you plan a split on a lot in a fire hazard zone.

Hillside Subdivisions

Land in the HD and HD-SR hillside overlays needs a Hillside Development Permit for any subdivision. Section 17.29.040 divides the site into "cells of similar slope" and multiplies the number of lots the base district allows by a factor for each cell, from Table 2-8:

Source: Pasadena Municipal Code, Sec. 17.29.040, Table 2-8, Supplement 79.

Slope is the rise of the ground over its horizontal run, given as a percent. Land steeper than 50 percent may hold "not exceeding one lot for each five acres." The review authority may cut the count further for problems found in environmental review. Each new lot must have at least one building site where every planned structure meets the hillside rules, and each new road "shall follow natural terrain contours to the maximum extent feasible to minimize grading." Section 17.29.050 sets the graded and paved driveway width at 15 feet for one home and 20 feet for two or more, with an average grade no steeper than 15 percent.

Flag Lots

A flag lot reaches the street through a narrow strip, the "pole." Section 17.40.050 allows a new flag lot "On property zoned RS, and only within the Hillside Development (HD) Overlay District," and never in HD-1 or any other district. It must be the only reasonable design because of extreme slopes or other physical limits, and "a conventional subdivision would first have to be possible." The process needs a parcel or tract map, a Conditional Use Permit from the advisory agency, and a geotechnical report on the stability of the site.

• The pole must keep 20 to 25 feet of frontage and width along its length, and private access easements are not allowed.
• Lot width, area and floor area are measured on the flag portion only, leaving out the pole.
• No more than two poles may sit side by side, with a combined width of no more than 40 feet.
• The advisory agency must find the lots fit the neighborhood, judged against all properties within 1,000 feet.

SB 684 and SB 1123 Small-Lot Maps

SB 684 and SB 1123 require ministerial review of a map of 10 or fewer parcels with 10 or fewer homes, under Government Code 66499.41. Ministerial means staff check the plan against fixed rules, with no hearing. The statute covers a lot zoned for multifamily use of up to five acres, or a vacant single-family lot of up to one and one-half acres, in both cases "substantially surrounded by qualified urban uses." Housing occupied by tenants in the five years before the application does not count as vacant.

Supplement 79 of the Pasadena code has no section that carries out Government Code 66499.41, so the statute applies on its own terms. RM-12, RM-16, RM-32 and RM-48 are the Multi-Family Residential districts in Table 2-1, so a small-lot map is one way to sell homes there on their own lots. Ask the Planning Division which application form it uses for these maps.

Map and Lot Fees

The City Council sets subdivision fees by resolution (Section 16.18.090), and no action is taken until the fee is paid. The FY 2027 Current Planning Fees, effective July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, list a base fee and a lower fee "For single-family residential use and designated historic resources." A 3 percent records management fee is added to the base application fee.

Source: City of Pasadena, Current Planning Fees, Fiscal Year 2027 (PDF), read October 9, 2026.

A subdivision also triggers the Residential Impact Fee. Section 4.17.050.A requires the subdivider to pay it as a condition of a tentative tract map or preliminary parcel map, "prior to the approval of the final map by the city council." Subsection C of the same section says the fee "shall be paid upon issuance of certificate of occupancy or the final inspection, whichever occurs last." The two timing rules sit side by side in the code; ask the City which one it applies to your map. The permits and fees page lists the amounts.

Where the Code Disagrees With Itself

• Section 16.08.240.J and Section 17.22.050.G still print the Eaton Fire SB 9 ban that Ordinance No. 7474 repealed. The repeal controls.
• Section 16.18.010 says map applications follow "the standard procedure of Chapter 17.80"; Chapter 17.80 is now the glossary, and the permit procedures are in Chapters 17.60 to 17.76.
• Section 17.40.050 sends steep flag lot subdivisions to "Section 17.39.040 (Hillside Subdivision Design Standards)"; Section 17.39.040 is now part of the East Colorado Specific Plan, and the hillside rules are in Section 17.29.040.
• Section 16.20.040 still says the "board of directors" sets map filing fees, while Section 16.18.090 gives that job to the City Council.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Pasadena overview, the SB 9 page and the SB 684 and SB 1123 page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)