While city of Santa Clarita leaders have been complaining about their loss of local control in housing approvals because of state law, a man living just outside city limits says the opposite is true in his case: He claims the county is being too heavy-handed with the rules on his Escondido Cany on Road property.   James Maksimuk’s home is considered to be in an agricultural zone per the L.A. County Department of Regional Planning, but he’s been living and working there, just east of Vasquez Rocks, for decades, he said in a recent phone interview.  So he can’t see any legal reason why he shouldn’t be able to use it as a “nest egg” for his “golden years.”  He said he is suing Los Angeles County’s Department of Regional Planning over its denial of his request to subdivide his property, which he claims he should have the right to do, under Senate Bill 9.  He’s filed a lawsuit that was assigned last week to a courtroom in the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Downtown Los Angeles.   “The human toll on what they did to me is extremely depressing,” Maksimuk said of his failed, two-year permit-application process with the county. “You know, when a person works their whole life — I’m 71 — and you know this is supposed to aid me in my retirement, and now I can’t even retire, and that’s very depressing.”  The sweeping legislation, which was signed into law in 2021 and took effect the following year, is meant to streamline more home construction by subdividing existing property lines and reducing the amount of rules a local government can impose on these lot splits.  Maksimuk said Friday that the county’s denial of his “urban lot split application” for his 3-acre property in the 10100 block of Escondido Canyon Road is a violation of his rights under state housing laws that are intended to encourage more homes and less local control.  A representative for L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger did not respond to a request for comment on this story.   Maksimuk said the courts notified him Friday afternoon that the county counsel’s office was expected to file a legal response Monday, but that filing was not available as of this story’s publication.   However, an “SB 9 fact sheet” notes that, “Parcels located in multifamily residential, commercial, agricultural, mixed-use zones, etc., are not subject to SB 9 mandates even if they allow single-family residential uses as a permitted use.”   In a letter from Los Angeles County planners, which is cited in his lawsuit, their reasoning for the denial is rooted in the county’s objective zoning standards, one of the things that can be enforced. The letter states Maksimuk’s property is zoned A-1 for light agricultural.  “This property is not eligible for the SB 9 lot split process as it must be located in zones R-1 or R-A. The property is zoned A-1-2,” according to the county correspondence.  “Additionally, (accessory dwelling units) are not allowed on a property without an existing primary residential use. The application has been voided,” according to the letter included in Maksimuk’s lawsuit.   However, Maksimuk has said the county’s determination is simply incorrect on its face: There is clearly a primary residence, he said — it’s the three-bedroom, two-bath home listed in the county Assessor’s Office records for where he lives.  Maksimuk says that, barring permission to split his lot, he’s pursuing the potential lost revenue from the county through the courts.   The post Man sues over county’s lot-split denial appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal. ...read more read less