Santa Monica Mountains North Area Plan
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Adopted – Land Use Policy Map (1" = 2,000' , 21.5" x 57.5") - Download Map
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The Santa Monica Mountains North Area Plan (North Area Plan is a synonym used in this document) is a component of the Los Angeles County General Plan. The North Area Plan replaces in its entirety the Malibu/Santa Monica Mountains Interim Area Plan, which previously served as the basic planning tool for the unincorporated area. The North Area Plan's primary role is to provide more focused policy for the regulation of development within the unincorporated area of the Santa Monica Mountains west of the City of Los Angeles and north of the Coastal Zone boundary--the planning area--as part of the overall General Plan area of Los Angeles County. The North Area Plan refines the policies of the county-wide General Plan as it applies to this planning area.
This plan is an outgrowth of a unique cooperative planning effort for the Ventura Freeway corridor (see Map 1 - 'Ventura Freeway Corridor Planning Area' at the end of this chapter). The County participated with the cities of Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, the Las Virgenes Unified School District, the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District and the National Park Service in drafting a long-range plan for the region--a term used throughout this document to identify the entire unincorporated area and adjacent cities mentioned above. That effort produced the Ventura Freeway Corridor Areawide Plan ('Corridor Plan').
The Corridor Plan identified the concerns and issues that were shared by all of the plan participants and includes much pertinent background information on the region. The Corridor Plan provided valuable guidance and was the model for the goals and policies in this North Area Plan. The many references to the "region" throughout this North Area Plan--which has jurisdiction only over the unincorporated County--is testimony to the need to consider surrounding and off-site impacts in this environmentally sensitive area and to the value of cooperative multi-jurisdiction planning. Certainly such regional factors as traffic, trails, and views are appropriate subjects for consideration by the Regional Planning Commission--the first regional planning agency created in the United States, in 1922.
The North Area Plan serves to:
- Identify the community's environmental, social, and economic goals.
- Provide a forum for area residents to mold a vision for the future of the area and to resolve local land use and planning conflicts.
- State the County's policies on existing and future development needed to achieve community goals.
- Establish within local government the ability to respond to problems and opportunities concerning community development in a way consist with local, regional and state goals and policies.
- Inform citizens about their community and allow for opportunities to participate in the planning and decision-making process of local government.
- Identify the need for and methods of improving the coordination of community development activities among all local units of government.
- Create a basis for subsequent planning efforts, such as the preparation of specific plans and special studies.
