1404 Royal Oaks
Eleven for-sale townhomes on Royal Oaks Drive, the smallest project on this board to need a General Plan Amendment and rezoning to get built — approved after a Mitigated Negative Declaration to protect two mature Coast Live Oaks on site.
Units
11
Height
31 ft 7 in maximum
Site area
0.84 acres
Details
- Address
- 1404 Royal Oaks Drive, Duarte, CA 91010
- Case number
- TTM 084375
- Developer
- Shuorung Properties, LLC (Arcadia-based; unconfirmed by primary source)
- APNs
- 8530-004-059 and 8530-004-060
- Tenure
- For-sale condominiums
- Unit mix
- All three-bedroom, 1,341–1,594 sq ft
- Buildings
- Five buildings, 11 attached townhomes, 2 stories
- Parking
- 22 enclosed garage spaces plus 6 surface spaces, one accessible
- Trees
- Two of three mature Coast Live Oaks protected in place
- Entitlements
- General Plan Amendment, Zone Change to R-3, Tentative Tract Map, Site Plan and Design Review
- CEQA
- Mitigated Negative Declaration, SCH 2025090685
Eleven homes, four separate approvals
Duarte approved 11 attached townhomes at 1404 Royal Oaks Drive, near Junipero Drive. Every unit is a three-bedroom, for sale rather than rent, with no affordable units and no density bonus. Getting eleven homes onto this 0.84-acre lot took a General Plan Amendment and a zone change — the site was not zoned for this, and Duarte changed the zoning rather than shrink the project.
What's proposed
- Five buildings, two stories, 31 ft 7 in maximum height
- All eleven units three-bedroom, 1,341–1,594 sq ft
- 22 enclosed garage spaces plus 6 surface spaces — two per home plus visitor overflow
- Each unit gets an attached two-car garage and a private patio yard
The oaks on site
Three mature Coast Live Oaks stand on the site; two are protected in place, the third is not. Coast Live Oak is a protected species in most SGV foothill cities, and a project that touches one attracts an arborist report and mitigation conditions — a fair part of why this project ran through a Mitigated Negative Declaration rather than a categorical exemption. The IS/MND circulated for public review from September 17 to October 16, 2025.
The entitlement stack is the story here more than the design. A General Plan Amendment changed the site's land use designation to Medium Density Residential, and a zone change then moved the parcels to R-3, the multifamily zone — both legislative acts a planning commission cannot take alone. Duarte was willing to amend its General Plan and rezone to R-3 for eleven units on under an acre, which is a small project to move a land use designation for.
What is still unconfirmed
Which body approved the project has not been confirmed — the Notice of Determination names the approving agency only as "City of Duarte," and because the General Plan amendment and zone change are legislative acts, the City Council almost certainly acted, but the minutes have not been pulled. No construction timeline appears in the NOD or the IS/MND.
Timeline
- Under review
IS/MND circulated for public review
Duarte circulated an Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration for public review through October 16, 2025, finding potentially significant impacts — chiefly to the site's protected oak trees — that mitigation measures could reduce.
Source - Approved
City of Duarte approves the project
The city approved 11 attached townhomes under Tentative Tract Map 084375, a General Plan Amendment, a zone change to R-3, and Site Plan and Design Review. The approving body is not named beyond "City of Duarte" in the Notice of Determination.
Source - Approved
Notice of Determination filed
NOD posted for the approval, starting the 30-day CEQA challenge window. No challenge was recorded in the CEQA filing before the window closed in February 2026.
Source
Team
Source (ceqa-notice-of-determination): https://ceqanet.lci.ca.gov/2025090685/2 · retrieved 2026-08-13 · last verified 2026-08-13