West Covina | Lot Size and Subdivisions

West Covina, California Lot Size and Subdivisions: House Lots, Apartment Sites, Parcel and Tract Maps, SB 9 Lot Splits and Small-Lot Maps

A subdivision is the division of one piece of land into two or more lots that can be sold separately. In West Covina the lot sizes are in Article II of Chapter 26 and the subdivision rules are in Article VIII of the same chapter, because the 2024 Development Code merged the old subdivision chapter into the zoning code. This page gives the lot size for each zone, who approves each kind of map, and how the City applies the two state laws that allow smaller lots: SB 9 urban lot splits and the SB 684 and SB 1123 small-lot maps. The West Covina overview has the summary.

Lot Sizes in the House Zones

Section 26-46 sets the lot size by the zone name. "A number following and connected by a hyphen with the district symbol shall designate the minimum required building site area." Section 26-3 adds that any new subdivision "shall be consistent with the minimum lot size requirements of the applicable zone."

Source: West Covina Municipal Code Sec. 26-46, Table 2-3 (Supplement 94); the City's Residential Subdivision Guidelines handout, updated April 2025, prints the same table.

• Plain R-A. Ordinance No. 2525 added the R-A rows to the table. The staff report said "Residential-Agriculture was unintentionally left out of the zoning designations with the minimum lot sizes."
• Flag lots. The code defines a flag lot as one whose building site "is set back from the street on which it fronts and includes an access strip not less than twenty (20) feet in width at any point."
• Hillside land. In the hillside overlay the minimum lot is one acre, or 20,000 square feet where homes are grouped under the density transfer rules. See the hillside page.
• Planned residential developments. In a PRD overlay a lot may be 24 feet wide if it fronts at least 20 feet on a street or pedestrian way, under Section 26-60.

Apartment and Mixed-Use Sites

Table 2-5 sets one minimum site size, 20,000 square feet, for MF-8, MF-15, MF-20 and MF-45. The site must be 150 feet wide in the first three zones. In MF-45 it must be 100 feet wide at the street line with an average depth of 150 feet. The 20,000 square foot figure dates from Ordinance No. 2525 of March 2025. The staff report said "The minimum lot size for all multifamily zones is proposed to be decreased to 20,000 square feet," and listed the change among those HCD, the state housing department, required before it would certify the City's housing plan.

In the mixed-use zones, Table 2-13 requires 15,000 square feet in NMU, OPMU and SMU, with a width of 70 feet in NMU and OPMU and 100 feet in SMU, and 30 acres in RMU. Several parcels may be combined to reach the size if the design is "integrated and unified."

These figures bind new maps. For a lot that already exists below them, Section 26-174 gives two rules that do not agree. Subsection (b) says a lawfully created parcel that falls short on area, width, depth or frontage "may continue indefinitely with such nonconformity and may be developed and use as if it were a conforming parcel." Subsection (a) says "Any improved nonconforming parcel may not be further developed with any additional structure." Ask the Planning Division in writing how it applies the two to your lot.

Maps and Who Approves Them

State law, the Subdivision Map Act, sets two kinds of map. Government Code 66426 requires "A tentative and final map," which West Covina calls a tract map, "for all subdivisions creating five or more parcels," with listed exceptions. Smaller divisions use a parcel map. A tentative map is the proposed layout that the City approves with conditions; the final or parcel map is the surveyed version that is recorded. Article VIII applies the Act locally, and Section 26-304 says who decides.

Source: West Covina Municipal Code Sec. 26-304, Table 8-1, as amended by Ordinance No. 2525 (Supplement 94).

• Parcel maps. "The Community Development Director shall review and deny, approve, or conditionally approve the filing of tentative parcel maps," under Section 26-343. The Director may also waive the tentative parcel map after a surveyed plot map is filed and four findings are made; a final parcel map is still recorded (Section 26-341).
• Tract maps. The Planning Commission holds a hearing. Section 26-321 requires mailed notice to owners "within five hundred (500) feet of the boundaries of the tentative tract map" and a notice posted on the site. Section 26-323 lists seven findings, among them that the site "is physically suitable for the proposed density of development."
• Expiration. A tentative parcel map "shall expire twenty-four (24) months after its approval." A subdivider "may apply for up to three (3) two-year extensions of time."
• Vesting maps. A vesting tentative map is a tentative map filed under the vesting rules of the Subdivision Map Act, which give the subdivider rights to build under the approved map. Those rights "shall last for an initial time period of one (1) year after the recording of the final map."
• Soils report. A preliminary soils report by a registered civil or soils engineer "shall be required for all subdivisions unless waived by the Planning Commission."
• Improvements. Section 26-310 lists what a map may require: subdivision streets, half of the adjoining street at a minimum width of 20 feet, street lights, street trees, sewer, water and drainage, and a fair share of nearby traffic signals.

Park Land, Lot Line Changes and Condominiums

• Park land. A dedication is land a subdivider gives to the City. Section 26-308 sets park dedication at "3.2 acres per one thousand (1,000) residents of the subdivision," counted as homes times the City's average household size from the latest federal census. Where land is not taken, "an in-lieu fee shall be paid" equal to the fair market value of the land. The February 2024 staff report said the new code raised the rate "from 3.0 acres per 1,000 residents to 3.2 acres per 1,000 residents."
• Lot line adjustments. A lot line adjustment moves the line between existing lots without creating a new one. The City Engineer reviews a scale sketch, legal descriptions and a notarized request from all owners. An adjustment among four or fewer adjoining parcels is recorded after that review; one among five or more goes to the City Council (Section 26-350).
• Mergers and certificates. The City Engineer may record a merger of adjoining parcels under common ownership. An owner may also ask the City Engineer for a certificate of compliance, a recorded statement that a parcel complies with the Subdivision Map Act and the City's subdivision rules (Section 26-355).
• Condominium conversions. Converting rental housing to condominiums needs a conditional use permit from the Planning Commission. Each tenant gets written notice and a right of first refusal, the right to buy the unit before it is sold to others, that lasts "not less than ninety (90) days" from the date units are offered to the public (Sections 26-363 and 26-364).

SB 9 Urban Lot Splits (Article VIII, Division 11)

SB 9 requires cities to approve the split of a single-family lot into two by staff, with no hearing. West Covina first adopted its rules by Urgency Ordinance No. 2493 on December 7, 2021, according to the City's Urban Lot Splits page, and carried them into Division 11 of the 2024 code. The table compares the City text with Government Code 66411.7 as amended effective June 30, 2026.

Sources: West Covina Municipal Code Sec. 26-357, 26-358, 26-360 and 26-361 (Supplement 94); Gov. Code 66411.7.

• The arithmetic. A 7,500 square foot R-1 lot may be split into lots of 3,000 and 4,500 square feet at the 40 percent limit, or two of 3,750 (VanPlex arithmetic).
• Sites excluded. Section 26-357 excludes historic districts and landmarks, very high fire hazard severity zones unless the site has adopted fire mitigation measures, and earthquake fault zones unless the project meets seismic building standards.
• Protected housing. The split may not require demolishing or altering rent-restricted housing or "Housing that has been occupied by a tenant in the last three (3) years."
• What the City may not ask for. Section 26-359 prohibits the City from requiring "dedications of rights-of-way or the construction of offsite improvements" and from requiring "the correction of nonconforming zoning provisions."
• The affidavit. An affidavit is a sworn written statement. The recorded affidavit also states that uses are residential only, that any rental is "for a minimum of thirty-one (31) days," that the site "is not eligible for any street parking permits," and that the parcels hold no more than two units each.
• No repeat splits. Section 26-362 excludes a parcel created by an earlier urban lot split, and a parcel next to one already split by the same owner or a person "acting in concert" with the owner.
• The process. The City page lists a "Tentative Parcel Map (TPM) Application for ULS." It says an approval letter "is not a permit for construction or subdivision," and that the application is not accepted unless the owner's signature is notarized.

Where City Documents, the Code and State Law Differ

• Decision time. The City's Urban Lot Splits page says "The city has 30 days to review a project from the initial official submittal," after which the applicant gets a correction letter or an approval letter. Division 11 states no deadline. Government Code 66411.7 says an application "shall be considered and approved or denied within 60 days from the date the local agency receives a completed application," or it "shall be deemed approved." The statute controls.
• Grounds to deny. Section 26-361 lets the building official deny a split for an adverse impact "upon the public health and safety or the physical environment." The statute now reads "upon public health and safety." A Planning Commission staff report of January 14, 2025 says the 2024 state law SB 450 "has removed 'physical environment' as a basis for denial." The statute controls.
• R-A lots. Section 26-357 and the City page limit lot splits to the R-1 zone. The statute uses the words "single-family residential zone." Table 2-2 allows a single-family residence in R-A and no duplex or multi-family residence, so an R-A owner should ask the Planning Division in writing how it reads the statute.
• Front setback in the handout. The City's ULS-UDU Development Guidelines show a 4-foot front setback for new construction. Section 26-358 says "The minimum setback from the front property line is twenty-five (25) feet," reduced only when an 800 square foot home would not fit. The code controls.
• Who approves parcel maps. The City's Planning Division page calls the Planning Commission "the decision-making body on" tentative tract and parcel maps. Table 8-1, amended in March 2025, gives parcel maps to the Community Development Director.
• Who extends parcel maps. Section 26-346 still says an extension "may be granted by the Planning Commission," while the staff report for Ordinance No. 2525 said the intent was to give the Director authority over "extension of time requests for subdivisions." Ask the Planning Division which body hears an extension.
• A pending update. On January 14, 2025 the Planning Commission was asked to start a code amendment for SB 450. A search of the City's agenda system through the October 6, 2026 City Council meeting shows no ordinance amending Division 11 since then.

Small-Lot Maps Under SB 684 and SB 1123

SB 684 and SB 1123 created a second kind of map that staff approve, for up to 10 lots. A text search of Chapters 17 and 26 finds no reference to Government Code 66499.41, so West Covina has no local section and the statute applies as written. The version in force until January 1, 2027 says a city "shall ministerially consider, without discretionary review or a hearing, a parcel map or a tentative and final map for a housing development project" that meets its terms. Ministerial means staff check fixed written rules and have no power to say no for other reasons.

• "The proposed subdivision will result in 10 or fewer parcels and the housing development project on the lot proposed to be subdivided will contain 10 or fewer residential units."
• The lot is zoned for multifamily use and "is no larger than five acres," or it is "A vacant lot zoned for single-family residential development" that "is no larger than one and one-half acres." Either kind must be "substantially surrounded by qualified urban uses."
• New parcels "are no smaller than 600 square feet," or 1,200 square feet where the parcels are zoned for single-family use.
• The average home "does not exceed 1,750 net habitable square feet."
• The City must act "within 60 days from the date the local agency receives a completed application," or the application "shall be deemed approved."

In West Covina this kind of map suits MF and mixed-use sites, where apartments are allowed, and vacant R-1 or R-A lots. The statute has four versions after a 2026 amendment, and a new one takes effect for applications received on or after January 1, 2027, so read the current text before you file.

Where to Go Next

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)