Pasadena Planning Commission to Weigh Recommending Repeal of Eaton Fire SB 9 Building Limits

The Pasadena Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing June 24 on whether to recommend that the City Council repeal two interim ordinances that have temporarily prohibited Senate Bill 9 housing applications in high fire-risk areas within the boundary of the Eaton Fire.

The commission will consider advising the City Council to adopt an uncodified ordinance rescinding Interim Urgency Ordinance Nos. 7455 and 7457 — measures the council adopted in fall 2025 to keep denser SB 9 development out of single-family neighborhoods rebuilding from the January firestorm. The Planning Commission has no independent authority to repeal the ordinances; its vote would be a recommendation only, and the City Council would retain final authority over whether the restrictions are lifted.

For homeowners in the Upper Hastings Ranch, Victory-Rose, Dundee Heights and NATHA neighborhoods — where most of the 185 structures the Eaton Fire destroyed across Pasadena stood, the overwhelming majority single-family homes and accessory buildings — the outcome would help determine whether property owners can again pursue SB 9 lot splits and two-unit developments as they rebuild.

Senate Bill 9 requires public agencies to ministerially approve two-unit developments and urban lot splits in single-family zones, allowing up to four units on a single parcel. After the fires, concerns surfaced that widespread SB 9 development could strain evacuation routes in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones. In response, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-32-25 on July 30, 2025, suspending SB 9 in those zones within the Palisades and Eaton Fire boundaries for seven days and giving local agencies discretion to extend the suspension.

The City Council adopted Ordinance No. 7455 in September 2025 as a 45-day urgency measure, then adopted Ordinance No. 7457 in October 2025 to extend the prohibition for an additional 22 months and 15 days, for a total of 24 months.

The proposed repeal stems from litigation. On Dec. 10, 2025, petitioners filed Yes In My Back Yard, et al. v. Gavin Newsom, et al. in Los Angeles County Superior Court, naming Governor Newsom, Los Angeles County and the cities of Los Angeles, Malibu and Pasadena. The petitioners allege that Executive Order N-32-25 and the local ordinances built on it violate constitutional and statutory law, including the California Emergency Services Act, and they ask the court to order the agencies to process SB 9 applications in the Palisades and Eaton Fire areas and to declare the order and the ordinances unlawful. To avoid the costs and uncertainties of the lawsuit, the city and the petitioners reached a conditional settlement that would take effect if Pasadena repeals the two ordinances by Sept. 30, or a later date the parties agree to.

If the City Council ultimately adopts the repeal, the suspensions imposed by the two ordinances would be lifted, and SB 9 applications would again be processed in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones within the Eaton Fire boundary. Staff has also asked the commission to recommend that the council find the repeal exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act, citing the governor’s executive order.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24, in City Hall, Council Chambers, Room S249, in Pasadena. For more information call (626) 744-7311 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/agendas/.