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How Tall Can You Build on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks?
A commercial or mixed-use building on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks can rise 30 feet on most blocks, but one specific pocket near the San Diego Freeway is entitled to 75 feet, and the difference comes down to which side of a named intersection a parcel sits on. The limits come from the Ventura/Cahuenga Boulevard Corridor Specific Plan, Ordinance No. 174,052, not from the citywide height district a buyer would expect to find on a standard zoning map.
What the Ventura/Cahuenga Boulevard Corridor Specific Plan Actually Covers
The Specific Plan runs the length of Ventura Boulevard from the Cahuenga Pass through Woodland Hills, crossing five community areas including Sherman Oaks, and it layers extra rules for height, parking, signs, and traffic review on top of whatever the underlying zone already allows. It was first adopted as Ordinance No. 166,560, effective February 16, 1991, amended by Ordinance No. 171,240 in 1996, and reset by Ordinance No. 174,052, effective August 18, 2001, which is the version that still controls the plan designation maps and height limits in the corridor today. A parcel inside the plan boundary answers to two sets of rules at once: the base zoning on the city's zoning map, and this overlay.
How Tall Can You Build on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks?
The Specific Plan sets height limits by street segment, not by zone. In the Sherman Oaks section, the limits are:
| Segment | Streets | Height limit |
|---|---|---|
| Fulton Ave to Tyrone Ave / Beverly Glen Blvd | Ventura Blvd, both sides | 30 ft |
| Moorpark Ave to the Ventura Fwy overpass | Van Nuys Blvd, both sides | 30 ft |
| Tyrone/Beverly Glen to Columbus Ave | Ventura Blvd, north side to 135 ft west of Columbus | 30 ft |
| Tyrone/Beverly Glen to Columbus Ave | Ventura Blvd, south side | 30 ft |
| Bounded by Dickens St, the San Diego Fwy, the plan boundary, and Sepulveda Blvd to Moorpark St | interior pocket | 75 ft |
| Dickens St to Greenleaf St | between the San Diego Fwy and the plan boundary | 30 ft |
Three provisions can push a building above these numbers. In the Community Commercial and Neighborhood and General Commercial designations, a building on a major or secondary highway can exceed 30 feet if it sets its roof back 10 feet for every 15-foot increment above 25 feet. In the Regional Commercial designation, the same step-back logic allows height above 45 feet, 10 feet of setback for every additional 10 feet of height. And in the Regional Commercial designation east of the San Diego Freeway, a Mixed-Use project can seek a Project Permit Adjustment up to 82 feet if at least 25 percent of its floor area is non-hotel residential, subject to findings on neighborhood scale and on impact to homes within 600 feet. None of the three provisions applies to the flat 30-foot and 75-foot numbers in the table without a project going through that specific approval.
Why Does One Pocket Near the 405 Allow 75 Feet?
The 75-foot area is a specifically bounded block, not a general rule for the freeway-adjacent side of the corridor: Dickens Street on the south, the San Diego Freeway and the plan boundary on the west, the plan boundary on the north, then east along Sepulveda Boulevard to Moorpark Street, along Moorpark Street to a point 135 feet west of Columbus Avenue, south to Ventura Boulevard, and east to the Columbus Avenue lot line. It is the tallest flat height limit anywhere in the Sherman Oaks section, ahead of the step-back and Mixed-Use provisions above, which is why the corridor's office towers cluster there rather than spreading evenly along Ventura Boulevard. An owner sitting on a parcel inside that boundary is holding a materially different entitlement than a neighbor one block away at 30 feet, which is worth confirming with a home valuation before pricing a sale.
How Many Parking Spaces Does a Sherman Oaks Commercial Building Need?
The plan sets its own parking ratios, which override the citywide minimums in LAMC Section 12.21 A 4(c):
| Use | Parking required |
|---|---|
| Commercial, other than office | 1 space per 250 sq ft |
| General office | 1 space per 300 sq ft |
| Real estate and insurance offices | 1 space per 200 sq ft |
| Restaurants, take-out, banquet rooms | 1 space per 100 sq ft |
| Hotels and motels | 1 per guest room, plus 1 per 10 rooms for staff |
| Hospitals | 2.5 spaces per bed |
| Theaters, churches, assembly halls | 1 per 2 fixed seats, or 1 per 21 sq ft with none |
| Schools and child care | 1 space per 300 sq ft |
Why Real Estate and Insurance Offices Need More Parking Than Other Offices
The plan's list of Tier II pedestrian-serving uses names accountants, architects, doctors, dentists, and lawyers without any parking flag attached, then singles out insurance companies and real estate offices as needing additional parking. That shows up directly in the ratio table above: a general office needs one space per 300 square feet, but a real estate or insurance office on the same block needs one space per 200 square feet, close to 50 percent more. That heavier ratio is tied to Section 5 C 1(a)(1) of the plan, which covers real estate and insurance uses approved as ground-floor Tier II pedestrian-serving uses during a qualifying storefront-vacancy window, so a specific unit's requirement should be confirmed with Planning rather than assumed from the category alone. Anyone buying or leasing storefront space on Ventura Boulevard to run a brokerage should check that ratio against the unit's actual parking count before assuming a standard office lease will pencil out. The full sign and parking application requirements are on file with the city's Planning Department.
What Is the Pedestrian Development District, and What Can't Go There?
The Pedestrian Development District covers both sides of Ventura Boulevard between Beverly Glen Boulevard/Tyrone Avenue and Fulton Avenue. Inside it, Drive-Through Establishments and Auto-Related Uses are prohibited outright, for any tenant, and a separate Restricted Use Area on Van Nuys Boulevard, between the Ventura Freeway and Moorpark Street, carries the same two prohibitions. Sign rules apply across the whole corridor, inside and outside the district: total wall sign area on a site equals lot frontage in feet multiplied by two, while monument, pole, and projecting signs each carry their own separate size limit rather than drawing from that total. Portable and sandwich signs are prohibited except small valet signs, and new off-site billboards are barred outright, with existing legal ones limited to a same-size or smaller replacement.
Which Projects Trigger Mandatory Traffic Review?
Three triggers require a Department of Transportation review before any building, demolition, excavation, foundation, grading, or sign permit is issued: a project of 10,000 square feet or more, any convenience market, fast food restaurant, or gas station regardless of size, and any retail or service use with a drive-through or an exterior ATM. Single-family home projects are exempt outright, and interior remodeling inside an existing shopping center is exempt as long as it does not add a drive-through or ATM. Review fees run from $200 for a small project with no traffic assessment up to $2,100 plus $50 per 1,000 square feet for a full traffic study, capped at $25,000.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does this Specific Plan apply to a house on a residential street behind Ventura Boulevard? The height, parking, and sign rules described here apply to parcels inside the plan's Regional Commercial, Community Commercial, and Neighborhood and General Commercial designations, which follow the commercial frontage on Ventura and Van Nuys Boulevards. A single-family home on an R1 side street is typically outside those designations, and the plan's transportation review section exempts single-family projects by name. Confirm your specific parcel on ZIMAS rather than assuming from the street address alone.
Q: How do I find out which height limit applies to a specific address? Look the parcel up on ZIMAS, the city's own parcel-level zoning map, then match the cross streets against the segment descriptions above, since the plan draws its lines at named intersections rather than at zoning boundaries. The Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council Land Use Committee also reviews projects filed under this plan and keeps its own project list.
Q: Is a 30-foot or 75-foot height limit the same as a number of stories? No. The Specific Plan caps height in feet, and a project still has to fit within whatever floor area and unit-density rules the underlying zone sets. A taller height limit is not, by itself, the same as more buildable square footage.
This is general information, not legal or zoning advice. LA City Planning periodically updates this plan's administrative provisions and maps, and fee schedules change over time, so confirm current numbers for a specific parcel with the department before making an offer. Call Alla at (818) 699-5367 or use the enquiry form.
Buying or selling commercial or mixed-use property on Ventura Boulevard? See the Sherman Oaks area guide for more on the neighborhood, or start with a home valuation if you already own there. Sellers weighing the market more broadly can also see what it takes to list.