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Encino, Los Angeles

Pool removal in EncinoFrom Ventura Boulevard to Encino Hills: a leave-no-trace pool demolition for a neighborhood named after its oaks.

Encino is part of the City of Los Angeles, so the LADBS grading-permit bulletin applies. What changes from yard to yard is the slope of the lot, the width of the gate, and whether the pool’s next life is a garden or something you can build on.

  • City of Los Angeles permits
  • Encino Hills access
  • ADU-ready full removal

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Pool removal in Encino follows the same two City of Los Angeles paths as the rest of the city: a landscaping fill-in where the lot qualifies, or a full removal with tested compacted fill when the ground needs to support footings.[1][2]

A Valley neighborhood with two housing stories

The flats and the hills do not share one kind of backyard.

Encino sits in the central southern San Fernando Valley and on the north slope of the Santa Monica Mountains. Mapping L.A. and Wikipedia place Reseda, Lake Balboa and the Sepulveda Basin to the north, Sherman Oaks to the east, Brentwood to the south and Tarzana to the west.[2][3] The name comes from Rancho Los Encinos — the ranch of the holm oaks — and from the Spanish word related to those trees.[2]

The neighborhood’s two primary ZIP codes tell different housing stories. Taken together (91316 and 91436), the ACS 2024 5-year estimates count about 19,993 housing units. About 75 percent were built before 1980, and about 45 percent were built in the 1950s or 1960s.[4][5][6] About 54 percent of those units are single-family detached homes.[4]

ZIP 91436, which covers more of the hillside and larger-lot Encino, looks even more like estate country: about 82 percent of its housing units are single-family detached.[6] Those are the yards where a pool is often original to the house, the side gate may be the width of a car rather than a loader, and “leave no trace” means protecting a landscape that cost more than the demolition.

Tall trees and a lawn at Los Encinos State Historic Park in Encino
Los Encinos State Historic Park in Encino, the preserved rancho at the heart of the name. Photo: Clotee Pridgen Alloc… via Wikimedia Commons / Panoramio, CC BY-SA 3.0.
A tree-covered hillside roadway in Encino
Hillside grade along an Encino roadway — the kind of slope that can decide whether a shell-in-place fill-in is even allowed. Photo: Clotee Pridgen Alloc… via Wikimedia Commons / Panoramio, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Ventura Boulevard, White Oak, the hills

Local landmarks are useful for more than color.

Ventura Boulevard is Encino’s frontage: Encino Commons, shops and the long commercial strip people use as a landmark when they describe which side of the neighborhood they live on.[2] A few blocks away, Los Encinos State Historic Park preserves buildings from Rancho Los Encinos, including the de la Ossa adobe.[2][7]

The neighborhood’s namesake tree is gone. A California live oak long known as the Encino Oak died in 1998; a monument stands near Ventura Boulevard and Louise Avenue.[2] The oaks that remain, along with the park, are a reminder that Encino yards are often about trees as much as they are about turf — another reason a demolition route has to be planned instead of improvised.

Hill streets climbing off Ventura toward Mulholland raise the bulletin’s slope rule and, when a site is mapped in the Hillside Grading Area, the extra grading pre-inspection.[1] On the Valley floor, toward Balboa and the Sepulveda Basin, access is often easier, but the same permit and compaction rules still apply.

Encino’s hill streets climbing off Ventura toward Mulholland are where the bulletin’s slope rule shows up most clearly. On the Valley floor, toward Balboa and the Sepulveda Basin, access is often easier, but the same permit and compaction rules still apply.

If you plan to build — an ADU, a casita, a larger outdoor structure with footings — Encino follows the citywide rule: the shell comes out, fill is compacted and tested to at least 90 percent relative compaction, and no foundation goes in until the compaction report is approved.[1][8]

What an Encino leave-no-trace job is protecting

Gates, oaks, and a finished motor court.

01

The approach

Long drives and decorative paving should not become the sacrificial path for a loader. Mats, a marked route and same-day haul-off are the difference between a careful job and a second repair project.

02

Trees and irrigation

Encino’s identity is tied to oaks.[2] Root zones, drip lines and irrigation mains along the pool need a plan before the shell is broken.

03

Neighbors and streets

Quieter residential streets still have to host trucks. Staging should be deliberate, not improvised against someone else’s hedge.

04

The finish grade

On a large lot it is tempting to leave a low spot “for later.” A leave-no-trace grade matches the surrounding lawn or planter so the old deep end does not collect the first storm.

The citywide permit paths live on the permits and process guide. The homepage slider and backyard picker are there if you want to picture what the space becomes next.

Applying the city bulletin on an Encino lot

91436 and the Valley floor are both Encino, and they are not the same demolition.

On a Valley-floor lot toward Balboa or the Sepulveda Basin, access is often the ordinary side-yard problem, and a landscaping fill-in may fit if the ground is eligible and no one plans to build.[1][2]

In ZIP 91436, where about 82 percent of housing units are single-family detached, the pool is more often paired with a longer drive, a tighter gate and a landscape that should still look finished when the trucks leave.[6] If that lot also climbs, the 10 percent slope rule and any hillside grading extras decide the method before anyone talks about finish grade.[1]

Encino’s oak story is not decoration here. A demolition route that ignores trees around the pool is not a leave-no-trace route.[2] Say in the form whether you are in the hills or the flats, and what around the pool must stay.

Have an Encino pool you are ready to erase?

Request a consultation. Mention Encino Hills or the flats, and what you want the space to become.

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FAQ

Encino pool removal questions

Sherman Oaks pool removal · Permits and process · Los Angeles homepage

Is Encino in the City of Los Angeles for pool removal permits?

Yes. Encino is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.[2] LADBS Information Bulletin P/BC 2023-111 is the city document that requires a grading permit for either backfill method.[1] The Encino Neighborhood Council advises the city; it does not issue the permit.[9]

What is different about Encino Hills?

Encino sits on the north slope of the Santa Monica Mountains as well as on the Valley floor.[2] Hill streets raise the same 10 percent slope question and the same hillside grading extras the bulletin describes.[1] Estate lots can also mean longer drives, tighter gates and more landscape that has to be protected.

Does the method matter if I later sell an Encino house?

It can. California’s Transfer Disclosure Statement asks sellers about fill on the property, unpermitted alterations, soil or settling problems, and drainage or grading problems.[10][11][12] The City of Los Angeles treats a landscaping fill-in and a structural compacted-fill removal as different paths, and only the structural path is described as suitable for supporting footings.[1] Larger lots and harder access, which show up more often in ZIP 91436, are reasons a visit matters. This is not legal advice about a particular sale.

Can the old pool become an ADU pad in Encino?

Yes as a land-use idea, with the city’s structural compacted-fill path and a separate ADU process.[1][8] The consultation you request here is for removing the pool and preparing the ground.

Sources

  1. Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, Information Bulletin P/BC 2023-111: Backfill of Swimming Pools (effective January 1, 2023; previously issued as P/BC 2020-111)
  2. Wikipedia: Encino, Los Angeles
  3. Los Angeles Times Mapping L.A.: Encino
  4. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020–2024), tables B25001 (Housing Units), B25024 (Units in Structure) and B25034 (Year Structure Built), via Census Reporter
  5. Census Reporter profile: ZCTA 91316
  6. Census Reporter profile: ZCTA 91436
  7. California State Parks: Los Encinos State Historic Park
  8. Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety: Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU)
  9. Encino Neighborhood Council (EmpowerLA)
  10. California Civil Code § 1102: disclosures required upon transfer of residential real property
  11. California Civil Code § 1102.6: the Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement form required on most residential sales
  12. California Department of Real Estate, booklet RE 6: Disclosures in Real Property Transactions, reprinting the Transfer Disclosure Statement, including whether the seller is aware of fill (compacted or otherwise) on the property, alterations or repairs made without necessary permits, settling or other soil problems, and flooding, drainage or grading problems
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