Last week, members of the City Council’s Planning & Land Use (PLUM) Committee voted on the proposed changes to the BHO/BMO ordinances, unanimously agreeing to forward the draft changes approved by the City Planning Commission to the City Attorney’s Office and City Planning so that those departments will prepare a final ordinance. But there was confusion on what exactly the committee members wanted CAO/City Planning to change.
Three council office planning deputy’s spoke to the committee at the end of the hours-long hearing, making a variety of requested changes. The PLUM committee voted to forward the draft ordinance ‘with the changes requested by the council district offices’ without listing or discussing them and then the meeting ended.
There was a lot of confusion about what changes the PLUM committee members had asked City Planning and the City Attorney’s Office to make. However, City Planning has just issued an email this afternoon with the official update. According to City Planning, PLUM committee members told city bureaucrats to use the CPC-approved draft ordinance with the following changes:
The final proposed ordinance is not ready to be voted on or enacted.
Moving forward, it is still highly likely that the changes to the BHO/BMO won’t take effect until sometime between late February and mid-March 2017. That’s because there are public notification requirements for all but emergency ordinances which automatically add at least a 6-week lag time between final City Council vote and effective date. In addition, it typically takes the City Attorney’s Office anywhere from a few weeks to several months to develop a final ordinance. Those two facts alone push the effective date to late February, at the earliest.
Here’s the link to the City Council agenda Wednesday:
http://ens.lacity.org/clk/councilagendas/clkcouncilagendas3108029_12072016.html
And here’s a link to the CPC approved version:
http://preservation.lacity.org/sites/default/files/BMO-BHO%20Letter%20of%20Determination.pdf
Three council office planning deputy’s spoke to the committee at the end of the hours-long hearing, making a variety of requested changes. The PLUM committee voted to forward the draft ordinance ‘with the changes requested by the council district offices’ without listing or discussing them and then the meeting ended.
There was a lot of confusion about what changes the PLUM committee members had asked City Planning and the City Attorney’s Office to make. However, City Planning has just issued an email this afternoon with the official update. According to City Planning, PLUM committee members told city bureaucrats to use the CPC-approved draft ordinance with the following changes:
- Reduce Hillside Area guaranteed minimum Residential Floor Area from 1,000 to 800 square feet.
- Reduce R1 Zone, Hillside Area by-right maximum grading from 2,000 to 1,000 cubic yards.
- Change starting height of R1 encroachment plane from 20 to 22 feet.
- Remove front articulation requirement in the R1 Zone.
- Restore 0.5 Floor Area Ratio for R1 lots smaller than 7,500 square feet.
- Restore full 400 square foot exemption for garages, regardless of location.
- Clarify that conditionally permitted uses are subject to the provisions of the BMO and BHO.
- Add a provision exempting projects currently in the process of seeking zoning entitlements from following the ordinance.
- Other technical edits and clarifications.
The final proposed ordinance is not ready to be voted on or enacted.
Moving forward, it is still highly likely that the changes to the BHO/BMO won’t take effect until sometime between late February and mid-March 2017. That’s because there are public notification requirements for all but emergency ordinances which automatically add at least a 6-week lag time between final City Council vote and effective date. In addition, it typically takes the City Attorney’s Office anywhere from a few weeks to several months to develop a final ordinance. Those two facts alone push the effective date to late February, at the earliest.
Here’s the link to the City Council agenda Wednesday:
http://ens.lacity.org/clk/councilagendas/clkcouncilagendas3108029_12072016.html
And here’s a link to the CPC approved version:
http://preservation.lacity.org/sites/default/files/BMO-BHO%20Letter%20of%20Determination.pdf
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