Here's a Quick Guide to Finding Out Which Zone You Are In and Which Whittier You Are In
- Chris La Farge
- Jul 14, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 15, 2019
Municipal land use planning controls how real property is used and designed. In California, this starts with the general plan. All cities and counties in the Golden State are required by law to adopt a general plan (GP). What's a general plan? It's a jurisdiction's constitution for land use planning. It lays out broad policies and goals. But a general plan is general. In the real world, specifics and details are necessary. So in order to implement their plans, municipalities adopt zoning codes.
Zoning Code
In any jurisdiction, the zoning code is part of the municipal code. Amongst other things, it includes definitions of common terms, identifies the various zones, and spells out the approval processes for various ministerial and discretionary approvals. But at the core of land use planning is zoning which does two primary things: 1) it controls for uses and 2) it provides development standards.
Uses are purposes for or ways in which a piece of real estate is allowed to be utilized. Common general uses are agricultural, residential, commercial, and industrial. Specific uses are crops, a duplex, restaurant, and warehouse.
For each zone, a code will identify all uses permitted. For example, an agricultural zone (ex. A-1) could allow for 1) crops, 2) a barn, 3) horses, or 4) a single family residence. Also, that same zone could allow all four uses at the same time on a single parcel. It just depends on how the code is written.
Development standards control the design and size of new projects in a zone. Common standards include setbacks, maximum building height, required on-site parking, landscaping, and maximum floor area ratio (FAR).
For example, a hypothetical C-3 (major commercial) zone may require new projects to have a front setback of ten feet, maximum building height of 50 feet, one parking space per 250 square feet of floor area (1/250), five percent (of lot area) landscaped, and a maximum FAR of 1.0.
Given these standards, an architect can design a new shopping center on a 50,000 square feet lot that conforms to these specifications that can be approved by the planning department.
Which Whittier Are You In? There are Three
Whittier is divided into three adjacent jurisdictions: The incorporated City of Whittier, the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, and the incorporated City of Santa Fe Springs. Incorporated means the area is under the jurisdiction of a city. When an area is not in any city's jurisdiction, it's under the jurisdiction of the local county (or parish if in the state of Louisiana) and is designated as unincorporated. For example, unincorporated Whittier.
Knowing which jurisdiction you're in is important when trying to get approvals and permits for a new project. If you're in unincorporated Whittier, you will apply with LA County's planning and building & safety offices. If you're in incorporated Whittier, you will apply with the City of Whittier's planning and building & safety. If you're in the part of Whittier that's actually in Santa Fe Springs, you apply with the City of Santa Fe Springs.
Which agency provides the following municipal services depends on whose jurisdiction you are in.
Law Enforcement (Police or Sheriff)
Public Works (streets, street lights, sidewalks, sewer lines, trees, etc.)
Parks & Recreation
Libraries
Business Licenses
Code Enforcement (Planning & Building)
Planning
Building & Safety
To find out which jurisdiction you are in, click on this link or type it into your browser: http://planning.lacounty.gov/gisnet
This will open the webpage of the LA County Department of Regional Planning's Geographical Information System (GIS) known as GIS-NET, which is a web-based software. Scroll midway down the page and click on the orange button that reads, "Accept Terms & Launch Application."
Once you click on the orange button, it will load GIS-NET and you will see this screen and message box.
Press the "I Agree" button to proceed. The message box will go away and you will see the following web page. Enter your property address or assessor's parcel number (without dashes) in the search bar at the top right. Then hit the "enter" key inside the search bar or click on the magnifying glass to begin the search. Let's enter 10255 Colima Road Whittier 90603.
If the address is found, the search result will look like this.
In GIS-NET, the jurisdictions are color coded: yellow for unincorporated LA County, pink for the City of Whittier, and green for the City of Santa Fe Springs.
The example property is yellow indicating it belongs to the County in unincorporated South Whittier. Since GIS-NET is the County's software, it tells us what this property's zoning is: C-2-DP-BE which is the commercial zone, C-2, with a couple of attached zoning suffices (DP for development project and BE for billboard exclusion). For this example, GIS-NET tells us both the jurisdiction and the zoning.
The City of Whittier
Next, let's try an example for a City of Whittier parcel: 10530 Whittier Blvd, Whittier, CA, 90606. We type the address in the search bar and hit "enter."
Next, we see this search result.
This time, the property's colored pink meaning that it's in the City of Whittier. No zoning information is indicated because the County's GIS only has that data for the yellow parcels (unincorporated LA County.) In order to get the zoning for this parcel, we need to visit the City of Whittier's website.
Click on this link or copy and paste the web address into your browser:
It opens ups Whittier's Planning Services webpage. Scroll to bottom and click on the "Zoning Map" bullet point.
This opens up the City of Whittier's GIS. Now enter the address in the search bar in the top center and hit the "enter" button or click on the magnifying glass to start the search.
The search result comes up. To see the zoning, use your mouse to click on the property.
There you have it. The jurisdiction is the City of Whittier and the zoning is C-3, commercial manufacturing.
The City of Santa Fe Springs
Let's try one more for 11808 Washington Boulevard. Start with the County's GIS. Enter the address in the search bar and hit the "enter" button.
This property is green for Santa Fe Springs. Once again, the County's GIS does not have the zoning for this property because it belongs to an incorporated city. Therefore, we must refer to the City of Santa Fe Springs zoning map.
Before we get out of the County's GIS, let's zoom out to identify the intersection.
It's at the southeast corner of Washington Boulevard and Sorensen Avenue. Now, we can go to Santa Fe Springs' zoning map.
Click on or copy and paste the following web address to get to the map.
We have to pan around, look around, and zoom in to see the street names in order to find the parcel on the corner of Washington and Sorensen.
The property is color coded lavender. Next, we refer to the legend on the map to get the zoning.
Lavender corresponds to the M-1, Light Manufacturing zone. Now, we know how to find the right jurisdiction and zoning for all properties in the three Whittiers.
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