Agoura Hills planning commission backs code updates to allow newer home equipment, tighten review for riding academies

The Agoura Hills Planning Commission voted 4-0 on March 5 to recommend that the City Council adopt amendments to Article 9 of the Agoura Hills Municipal Code clarifying rules for ground- and wall-mounted accessory equipment in residential zones and changing which uses are subject to director review.

Associate Planner Eric Wong told the commission the changes respond to council direction from 2025 goal-setting and aim to remove uncertainty that has treated some newer technologies—such as tankless water heaters, heat pumps and emergency battery energy storage systems—as technically disallowed because they are not explicitly listed in the current code. "For wall mounted equipment, some are now explicitly allowed," Wong said, and the draft creates a staff-level path for "non-captured" types so they can be allowed in rear yards when they would not create a public nuisance.

The draft preserves baseline protections such as screening requirements and notes that certain ground-mounted equipment may be located in front yards if it is screened from public view and placed outside required front-yard setbacks. Staff said the director may waive screening requirements in some circumstances, for example on very large lots where adjacent impacts are minimal. Wong also cited that equipment will still be required to meet other safety rules such as the fire and building codes.

Commissioners pressed staff on practical issues. Commissioner Stein raised noise concerns about residential generators, saying, "They're very noisy ... I may have neighbors who have generators. They come on. They go very loud." Staff replied that operating generators must comply with the city's existing noise ordinance and that enforcement would typically be complaint-driven; screening remains a baseline requirement but the director can grant waivers in specified scenarios.

The amendment also would move commercial riding academies and stables in the RV residential district from director review to planning-commission review because of circulation and evacuation considerations on private streets. Staff told the commission that existing riding academies would remain as legal nonconforming uses and could continue operating; future approvals would be subject to the higher level of review.

On procedural questions, staff confirmed fixed residential generators typically require a building permit and are treated similarly to HVAC units for pads and setbacks. The draft keeps the longstanding carve-out for window-mounted air-conditioning units intact and adds clarifying language (including a provision describing insulated or solid-block fences intended to reduce noise) to improve consistency between related code sections.

Wong said staff recommends the commission determine the amendment is exempt from additional environmental review under the CEQA "common-sense" exemption in state Guidelines section 15061(b)(3), adding that any future individual projects that rely on the code change would still be subject to project-level environmental review if necessary.

After deliberations in which commissioners praised the update as "modernizing" the code, reducing unnecessary barriers and "future-proofing" regulations for new technologies, Vice Chair Sharon moved to approve staff's recommendation and Commissioner Stein seconded. The roll call vote was 4-0 in favor (Commissioners Plattzer, Stein, Vice Chair Sharon and Chair Reinhardt voted Aye). The commission will forward its recommendation to the City Council for final action.

The commission adjourned and scheduled its next regular meeting for 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 19, 2026, in the council chambers at the Civic Center, 30001 Lady Face Court, Agoura Hills.