A large Northridge lot a short walk from CSUN could soon trade its 1950s house for a six-home cluster with built-in accessory housing, putting a small-lot experiment in a part of the Valley where new development has often meant dorms or apartment buildings. The proposal is still early, but it shows how California’s housing laws are pushing townhome-style density into parcels that once held one detached house.
FHD Properties LLC is seeking to subdivide 18220 W. Superior Street for six homes with attached junior accessory dwelling units, according to Urbanize LA. The related case was filed with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, but the available application details do not yet spell out the homes’ sizes, layouts, or architectural design.
Six homes would replace one Northridge house
The proposed subdivision would replace the existing single-family property with a compact collection of townhome-style residences rather than a conventional apartment building. The attached junior ADUs could give each home an additional small living space, although the filing does not say whether they would be intended for rental use, family members, or another purpose.
The application also seeks waivers from several equine-keeping development standards. That request adds a distinctly San Fernando Valley wrinkle to what might otherwise look like a standard infill project, since portions of the northwestern Valley retain land-use rules tied to its long-running horsekeeping tradition.
Equinekeeping rules are part of the approval puzzle
The Los Angeles Municipal Code describes “K” Equinekeeping Districts as areas subject to special controls for maintaining equines, including standards involving animal enclosures and their distance from nearby habitable rooms. In this case, the requested waivers suggest that fitting six homes and attached ADU space onto the property will require the project to navigate an older land-use framework alongside newer housing rules.
SB 1123 could keep the process streamlined
FHD Properties is invoking Senate Bill 1123, a California law designed to streamline qualifying small-lot housing subdivisions. The state bill text allows qualifying projects with up to 10 residential units to receive ministerial consideration, meaning the review is based on objective standards rather than a broad discretionary hearing process.
That does not make construction automatic. The project still has to qualify under the law, satisfy applicable city requirements, and complete the required subdivision and building approvals before the first foundation can be poured.
A different kind of campus-adjacent housing
New housing around CSUN has recently leaned toward student residences and multifamily affordable housing, while this proposal would add a smaller, townhome-style format to the mix. For now, the filing leaves the most consequential questions unanswered, including the homes’ scale, final design, and construction schedule.
If approved, the project would turn a single large residential parcel into six separate homes with additional living space, a modest-looking change on paper that could nonetheless preview how state streamlining laws reshape Northridge’s low-rise neighborhoods one lot at a time.
