Planning Commission opens discussion on driveway gates; schedules public hearing, debates safety and design standards

The Woodland Hills Planning Commission on April 16, 2025 opened a discussion and scheduled a public hearing on a draft ordinance that would allow driveway gates under specified standards.

Planning Commission chair Wade Franzen said the city currently has no specific ordinance allowing or prohibiting driveway gates and that prior practice relied on an unobstructed-driveway provision as a basis for denying gates. Franzen said the commission needed to decide whether to allow gates and, if so, what standards would apply.

Commissioners and staff discussed several standards and practical concerns: whether gates must be electric or could be manual; a draft provision that would require gates to open in response to a "Yelp" siren (a sound used by emergency vehicles) and how homeowners could test that function; battery backup or secondary-power requirements so gates open during power outages; setback and queuing space so vehicles waiting for a gate do not block the public right-of-way (staff suggested two car lengths or reference to typical 19-foot parking dimensions); and how a gate up to 6 feet tall would tie into an existing 42-inch fence-height limit.

Participants raised enforcement and testing questions. A commissioner said the draft's language that could allow fines for nonfunctioning gates might be too strong; another noted that property owners and gate maintenance firms can test gate response by playing the "Yelp" sound on a phone. Commissioners discussed requiring dual power sources or battery backup for electric gates and that gates should not cause vehicles to queue into the street.

The commission agreed to hold the public hearing on the gate ordinance and to refine code language to address setbacks, power-backup requirements for electric gates, the interface between gate height and adjacent fence height, and reasonable testing and notice rules before the item goes to city council.