Calabasas
An affluent city in the hills west of the San Fernando Valley, Calabasas sits among the Santa Monica Mountains and is known for gated communities, the Calabasas Commons, and a small historic Old Town.
- Population 23,241
- Size band small
- Area 13.2 sq mi
- Government Council–Manager (general law)
- Council at-large
- Incorporated 1991
- Meetings YouTube channel ↗
Coverage: 8 meetings · 68 substantive items · 2026-03-11 → 2026-06-24 · agenda source: PrimeGov
Calabasas's council activity from March through June 2026 was dominated by a compressed fiscal year-end cycle. The arc ran from a mid-year financial review in March through full FY2026-27 budget adoption on June 24, with the appropriations limit, fee schedule, salary schedule, and a new CDBG agreement for 2027-2029 all enacted in the same June session. A significant revenue development ran parallel: voters approved Measure K, a transactions-and-use tax, at a May 5 special election, and the council formally adopted the implementing ordinance and filed required CDTFA documents at its May 27 meeting — representing a newly authorized local revenue stream entering the budget picture for the coming year.
Infrastructure investment is a consistent and broadening thread. The council approved a citywide traffic signal safety contract in March, a West Calabasas Road roundabout in April, on-call traffic markings and signage contracts in April, a Senate Bill 1 road project list in June, and citywide guardrail improvements and a digital freeway signage project in the June 24 session. An energy savings performance contract amendment also appeared in June. Land use and environmental planning have been active in parallel: objective design standards for multi-family and mixed-use projects moved from a first-reading discussion in April to formal adoption in May, while a proposed ordinance to protect open space under the General Plan and an updated Community Wildfire Protection Plan were both heard in June. Watershed stewardship produced multiple contract actions — on-call watershed support services, a coordinated monitoring program for the Upper LA River Watershed, and Calabasas Lake maintenance — all advanced in May.
Governance and compliance matters surfaced steadily across the period: ethics training per AB 1234 (March), a conflict of interest code review and SB 707 Brown Act compliance resolution (June), commission appointments, and recurring closed sessions covering labor negotiations and both existing and potential litigation. The labor negotiation sessions have appeared at every meeting where closed sessions were held, suggesting active collective bargaining is ongoing. Sheriff crime reports (February, March, and April data) provided recurring public safety context, and a November 2026 General Municipal Election was formally placed on track in May.
What to watch AI-generated
Key items (8)
- [18] Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance No. 2026-422 Relating to a Transaction and Use Tax Measure (Measure K) Approved by Voters at the May 5, 2026 Special Municipal Election — Calabasas, 2026-05-27 · Formal adoption of Measure K transaction-and-use tax, the council's most consequential revenue action of the period — voter-approved May 5, enacted May 27.
- [17] Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget — Calabasas, 2026-06-24 · Full FY2026-27 budget adoption, the culmination of a multi-month fiscal cycle running from the March mid-year review through June.
- [5] Quarterly Investment Report for Quarter Ending March 31, 2026 — Calabasas, 2026-05-27 · Community Wildfire Protection Plan — reflects Calabasas's sustained focus on fire risk in the context of its hillside geography.
- [6] Adoption of Ordinance No. 2026-424 - Objective Design Standards (ODS) for Multi-Family and Mixed-Use Projects — Calabasas, 2026-05-27 · Adoption of Objective Design Standards for multi-family and mixed-use projects, a housing policy commitment that took multiple meetings to finalize.
- [7] A Proposed Ordinance To Protect Open Space Under the City of Calabasas General Plan — Calabasas, 2026-06-10 · Proposed open space protection ordinance under the General Plan — a land-use guardrail pairing with the housing standards to define where and how growth is directed.
- [13] Construction Contract for the Citywide Guardrail Improvements Project, Specification No. PW2025-09 — Calabasas, 2026-06-24 · Citywide guardrail improvements construction contract, illustrative of the sustained capital infrastructure investment thread running through every recent meeting.
- [6] Senate Bill 1 (RMRA) Project List Adoption for FY26-27 — Calabasas, 2026-06-10 · SB1 road project list adoption — commits state road-repair funds to specific Calabasas projects for FY26-27.
- [13] Memorandum of Agreement for the Administration and Cost Sharing for Implementing the Coordinated Integrated Monitoring Program and Watershed Management Plan for the Upper Los Angeles River Watershed Management Area — Calabasas, 2026-05-27 · Upper LA River Watershed Management Agreement — regional environmental compliance with cost-sharing, showing multi-agency coordination on stormwater and water quality.
Scorecard vs 6 cohort peers
Each topic is shown as this city's share of council attention (% of its substantive items) next to the median share of its peer cohort — so size doesn't distort the comparison. Dollars are shown per resident (a causal denominator) and suppressed where too few peers have extracted amounts.
| Topic | Attention share | Peer median | vs peers | $ / resident | Peer median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget & Finance | 34% | 35% | ▼ -1pp | — | $499.67 |
| Governance & Administration | 32% | 22% | ▲ +10pp | — | $9.89 |
| Streets & Infrastructure | 12% | 14% | ▼ -2pp | — | $265.08 |
| Climate & Environment | 9% | 4% | ▲ +5pp | — | $133.94 |
| Permitting & Land Use | 6% | 8% | ▼ -3pp | — | n/a |
| Public Safety | 5% | 5% | ▲ +1pp | — | $24.81 |
| Housing | 2% | 4% | ▼ -2pp | — | n/a |
| Economic Development | 0% | 4% | ▼ -4pp | — | $6.38 |
| Homelessness | 0% | 1% | ▼ -1pp | — | $14.80 |
| Other | 0% | 1% | ▼ -1pp | — | n/a |
pp = percentage points of attention share. Peers: Claremont, Sierra Madre, Culver City, Signal Hill, Redondo Beach, Pomona.
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Peer cohort comparable cities
Cities most comparable to Calabasas by population, size, governance, and sub-region — the basis for fair comparison. Budget attributes are not loaded yet; cohort uses size, governance, and sub-region. With a small sample this is a soft grouping — the framework scales as cities are added.
Learning from peer cities
Matches found from similar agenda wording across cities — useful starting points to investigate, not proof that one city copied another.
Where Calabasas and peers overlap
Matters Calabasas worked on that peer cities also took up.
Ideas from peer cities (not found here yet)
Matters peer cities acted on that we haven't found a comparable item for in Calabasas.