Brief

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez introduced a motion to amend the General Plan and rezone the property at 16300 Foothill Boulevard to facilitate the relocation of Fire Station Number 31. The Planning and Land Use Management Committee approved the item on May 12, 2026, and the City Clerk scheduled it for full Council consideration on May 22, 2026. The motion is currently pending Council adoption.

Full summary

The property at 16300 Foothill Boulevard in Sylmar was originally dedicated to the city for fire station purposes, but a series of covenants, conditions, and restrictions imposed by various city departments over the past three decades have left the roughly 35,000-square-foot vacant lot encumbered and unusable without a formal land-use fix. Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, joined by Councilmember John S. Lee, introduced a motion on April 21, 2026, directing the city to initiate a General Plan Amendment and accompanying Zone Change to clear those encumbrances and reclassify the property as Public Facilities (PF) zone — the designation under which fire stations are permitted by right under Municipal Code Ordinance No. 166,972. The practical goal is to deliver a new Fire Station Number 31 serving Sylmar and the broader Northeast San Fernando Valley. According to the motion, the Los Angeles Fire Department, working through the Bureau of Engineering, has already begun construction preparations. Once operational, the station is projected to cut emergency response times from the current eight to nine minutes down to three to four minutes for fire and medical calls throughout the service area — a significant improvement for a community that currently lacks nearby fire coverage. The motion directed the Department of City Planning to process the General Plan Amendment and Zone Change. It was referred to the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, which considered it at its May 12, 2026 meeting. The committee voted unanimously in favor — Blumenfield, Hutt, Nazarian, Lee, and Raman all voting yes — and forwarded the item to the full Council. The City Clerk scheduled the matter for Council floor consideration on May 22, 2026. The file remains open and awaits formal Council adoption, which would authorize the Planning Department to formally process the zoning changes. No fiscal analysis had been completed as of the committee stage, and no community impact statements were submitted. The file carries an expiration date of May 2028.

Activity (4)

• 2026-05-19 City Clerk scheduled item for Council on May 22, 2026.
• 2026-05-12 Planning and Land Use Management Committee approved item(s) .
• 2026-05-08 Planning and Land Use Management Committee scheduled item for committee meeting on May 12, 2026.
• 2026-04-21 Motion referred to Planning and Land Use Management Committee.

Documents (4)

• 2026-05-12 Report from Planning and Land Use Management Committee · report
• 2026-05-12 Speaker Card(s) · speaker_card
• 2026-04-22 Communication(s) from Public · communication
• 2026-04-21 Motion · motion