Thursday, July 16, 2026

School Board to Vote on Declaring City Zoning Laws Inapplicable to 10 PUSD School Properties

Resolution 2896 would invoke a state law the district says allows a school board, by a two-thirds vote, to render city zoning ordinances inapplicable to district property

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education votes tonight on a resolution declaring the City of Pasadena’s zoning ordinances inapplicable to 10 school properties where the district is removing trees and contaminated soil after the Eaton Fire.

Resolution 2896 on Thursday’s agenda would invoke Government Code section 53094, a state law which the resolution says permits a school board, by a two-thirds vote of its membership, to render a city or county zoning ordinance inapplicable to a proposed use of district property.

The statute is best understood, legal observers say, as a limited allocation of authority between statewide educational interests and local land-use control. It does not necessarily confer blanket immunity from local law.

A core legal issue may be whether Government Code section 53094 applies to a tree protection ordinance. The key issue is not the ordinance’s title, but whether the particular tree-protection provisions function legally as zoning—for example, by regulating land use, development, site plans, setbacks, or permit approvals—or instead operate as a separate police-power, environmental, or public-tree regulation.

If approved, the resolution would take effect immediately upon adoption and directs the Superintendent, or a designee, to notify the City within 10 days, as the statute requires.

The vote comes two weeks after the City’s Planning Department posted a stop-work order at John Muir High School on July 1 alleging that crews working for the district lacked the proper permits needed to remove trees on the campus and must stop.

City Chief Communications Officer Lisa Derderian has said the City notified PUSD that it is subject to Pasadena’s Tree Protection Ordinance, which requires a permit before protected trees are removed.

The resolution’s operative language is not limited to the tree removals and hazardous soil cleanup.

A recital states the board’s desire to render inapplicable all of the City’s zoning ordinances in Title 17 of the Municipal Code, “and elsewhere,” as to those properties.

The properties

A resolution exhibit specifically names the following properties as being covered:

Blair High School, Cleveland Elementary School, Field Elementary School, Jefferson Elementary School, John Muir High School, Longfellow Elementary School, Octavia E. Butler Magnet DL STEAM Middle School, the PUSD Education Center at 351 S. Hudson Ave., San Rafael Elementary School and Washington Elementary STEM Magnet School.

Every address on the list is within Pasadena city limits.

District campuses in Altadena, which are also part of the post-fire cleanup, sit in unincorporated county territory and are outside the City’s zoning jurisdiction.

The resolution defines the properties as proposed to undergo “various public works projects, including, but not limited to,” the contaminated soil remediation and site restoration project to alleviate what it calls serious health risks following the Eaton Fire.

District officials originally said 193 trees across 11 campuses must be removed to clean up soil contaminated by the fire, at an estimated cost of about $6.6 million, and that the goal is to finish before students return from summer vacation.

Under section 53094, a city whose zoning has been rendered inapplicable may sue in superior court seeking review of the board’s action. The statute provides no automatic pause on the work while such a case proceeds.

A related provision, Government Code section 53091, generally requires local agencies to comply with city zoning. Section 53094 is an exception written for school districts.