Will Calabasas update its entire General Plan?

Calabasas has to prepare its next Housing Element, but City Hall is deciding how much more planning work to undertake at the same time. The choice is between a focused update tied to housing requirements and a comprehensive update of the city’s entire General Plan.

That decision could set the scope of public planning work through early 2029. It does not, by itself, decide where housing would go, whether any parcel would be rezoned, or what would happen to a property’s value or taxes.

This is general information and not legal advice.

What is Calabasas deciding?

Calabasas is deciding whether to update its full General Plan or limit the project to the Housing Element and related changes needed for compliance and internal consistency.

The City Council received those two options in an October 28, 2026, agenda report. Under the first option, the city would coordinate a comprehensive General Plan update with the seventh cycle Regional Housing Needs Assessment process. Under the second, it would complete a focused Housing Element update and only the associated amendments needed to keep city plans consistent.

The report puts the policy question plainly: the issue is not whether Calabasas has to update its Housing Element. It does. The question is whether the city should also update the entire General Plan.

Staff recommended the focused approach because it provides what the report calls the clearest path to meeting the state deadline. The October 28 City Council agenda and report provide the city’s account of the choice, estimates, and projected schedule. The item also received local coverage from The Acorn.

Why is another Housing Element required?

Another Housing Element is required because Calabasas must prepare one for the October 2029 through October 2037 planning period.

The current Housing Element covers October 2021 through October 2029. The California Department of Housing and Community Development, commonly shortened to HCD, certified it on April 25, 2022. That certification date is specific to Calabasas’s current plan.

Calabasas adopted its 2030 General Plan in 2008 after a two-year comprehensive planning process. Its most recent updates were completed in 2022 and 2023 and covered the sixth cycle Housing Element along with the Land Use, Safety, and Circulation Elements.

Now the seventh cycle is beginning. The Southern California Association of Governments, commonly shortened to SCAG, anticipates a final regional allocation plan in April 2028. The agenda report identifies April 2030 as the Housing Element deadline for jurisdictions in Los Angeles County.

A full update could extend the General Plan’s horizon beyond 2030, potentially to 2050. A focused update would keep the project centered on housing requirements and the amendments connected to them.

How does RHNA affect this work?

RHNA affects Calabasas by assigning the housing capacity the city must plan for, but it is not a quota requiring that number of homes to be built.

HCD sets housing production goals every eight years. SCAG then distributes sub-allocations of the Regional Housing Needs Assessment to its member counties and cities. An SCAG slide attached to the city report describes RHNA as a state-mandated planning process used to determine existing and projected housing need in California.

During the last cycle, SCAG initially assigned Calabasas 354 dwelling units. The allocation included 132 very low income units, 71 low income units, 70 moderate income units, and 81 above moderate income units. After approval of the Craftsman’s Corner annexation, the total increased to 363 units.

Seventh cycle rules will use six income categories instead of four. Calabasas’s individual allocation is not yet known, so no reliable number can be attached to the coming update.

What would each option cost and how long could it take?

A focused update is estimated at approximately $1,000,000 and 18 to 24 months, while a comprehensive update may approach $3,000,000 and take closer to three years.

Those figures are planning-level estimates. Neither amount was included in the city’s fiscal year 2026-27 adopted budget.

The report also identifies two existing funding sources. Calabasas received approximately $450,000 in state grant funding during the sixth cycle. The city also charges a General Plan Maintenance Fee on relevant planning and building and safety permits. Money from that fee is designated solely for updating and implementing the General Plan, and approximately $146,000 has been collected to date. The report does not state the fee charged for an individual permit.

Staff suggested that part of the savings from choosing the focused option could support a Specific Plan for Craftsman’s Corner. That suggestion is not the same as an adopted funding decision or an approved Specific Plan.

What schedule is the city considering?

The projected schedule would begin with consultant selection and could lead to hearings and adoption from late 2028 to early 2029.

SCAG’s schedule has HCD consultation beginning in August 2026, and the regional housing needs determination was expected in October 2026. A draft allocation plan is expected in March 2027. The anticipated appeal period falls in late 2027 and early 2028, followed by SCAG’s expected adoption of the final allocation plan in April 2028.

At the city level, staff plans to bring a professional services agreement to the Council in February 2027. The report projects Council approval in February or March, followed by community workshops and Planning Commission and Council study sessions from mid 2027 through late 2027.

A draft environmental impact report is projected for early to mid 2028. Public hearings and adoption would follow from late 2028 to early 2029, after which the Housing Element would go to HCD for certification. Under the staff recommendation, the Planning Commission would serve as the steering committee, as it did for the three previous Housing Element updates.

How does Craftsman’s Corner fit into the decision?

Craftsman’s Corner matters because its annexation creates a need to integrate the newly incorporated area into Calabasas’s long-range land-use and infrastructure framework.

The annexation already affected the sixth cycle RHNA total, raising it from 354 to 363 units. For the coming work, staff identified a possible Specific Plan for the area as a use for part of the savings from a focused Housing Element update.

That does not establish what the Specific Plan would contain. The report also does not identify parcels for rezoning, select areas for new housing, or describe any effect on individual properties.

Other property-specific rules may still matter independently of this planning choice. A sale involving a protected tree issue, for instance, raises a different set of questions covered in the guide to the Calabasas oak tree permit and home sale process.

What should buyers and sellers watch?

Buyers and sellers should watch the Council’s recorded direction, the consultant agreement, public workshops, draft environmental review, and later hearings.

As of November 4, 2026, the City Council took up the item at its October 28 meeting. The direction it gave was not in the documents checked; the City’s agenda portal will show the minutes once posted.

For transaction questions separate from the General Plan process, the California seller disclosure guide explains the disclosure framework, while the guide to Natural Hazard Disclosure reports covers that document’s role.

We spoke with a Calabasas owner who heard that the General Plan was being updated and assumed every land-use rule in the city would be rewritten. His concern was whether the zoning of a nearby property would change. We distinguished the broader planning process from a parcel-specific zoning change and checked which General Plan components the city was actually considering.

The short version

Calabasas must update its Housing Element, but the city had not documented whether it would also pursue a comprehensive General Plan update in the sources checked.

Staff recommended the focused option, estimated at approximately $1,000,000 and 18 to 24 months. A full update may approach $3,000,000 and take closer to three years. Both are planning-level estimates, not adopted budget amounts.

The city’s seventh cycle RHNA allocation remains unknown. The current discussion does not establish rezoning, housing locations, tax changes, or value changes for any property. Check the city’s agenda portal for the October 28 minutes and follow later workshops, environmental review, and public hearings for verified developments.

For a separate look at your property’s estimated value, use the home value tool.