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:

• 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 issue will be before the City Council on Wednesday (Dec. 7). However, this is just a technical vote to instruct the City Attorney’s Office and City Planning to do what PLUM instructed.

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

The city was wrong for requiring a Saudi prince to submit his proposed housing compound to a tract map review since he has no plans to subdivide the estate, according to an Appeals Court ruling obtained by LandUseLA.com that will free up other large-property developments from the extra level of scrutiny.

The prince's proposed estate drew international attention because his well-to-do neighbors, led by the wife of a billionaire investor, filed suit to stop the mega-mansion. They argued that allowing the various structures on 3 contingent parcels on Tower Lane was akin to building a Wal-Mart in Coldwater Canyon.

The neighborhood is a who's who of Hollywood and Los Angeles elite and the battle drew international headlines, including a notable feature in Vanity Fair:

The Appeals Court ruling, which was issued Friday, will make headlines again because of the names involved. But few people know that the lawsuit has actually impacted scores of other property owners, including many other Hollywood celebrities, well-to-do Angelenos and other developers of large lots in LA..

That's because since early 2012, the city's Planning and Building & Safety departments have required all developments on lots greater than 60,000 square feet to file an extra entitlement case to prove that their project wouldn't result in a de facto subdivision.

That requirement - known as a Waiver of Tentative Map or WTM - has added a couple months and several thousand dollars to scores of projects in the 2+ years since the city started the WTM process..

Now, with the Appeals Court ruling, those projects will not need the WTM review.

The city was wrong for requiring a Saudi prince to submit his proposed housing compound for a tract map review since he has no plans to subdivide the estate, according to an Appeals Court ruling that will free up other large-property developments from the extra level of scrutiny.

The prince's proposed estate drew international attention because his well-to-do neighbors, led by the wife of a billionaire investor, filed suit to stop the mega-mansion. They argued that allowing the various structures on 3 contingent parcels on Tower Lane was akin to building a Wal-Mart in Benedict Canyon.

The neighborhood is a who's who of Hollywood and Los Angeles elite and the battle drew international headlines, including a notable feature in Vanity Fair.

"The neighbors have hired top L.A. lawyers to challenge every detail and step of the process," wrote Michael Shnayerson in the October 2011 Vanity Fair piece. "The prince has hired top L.A. lawyers of his own. There hasn’t been a real-estate standoff like this in the canyon since the early 1990s."

The unanimous 3-judge Appeals Court ruling, which was issued Friday, will make headlines again because of the names involved. In addition to well-known community activist Martha Karch (wife of investor Bruce Karch), other residents near the subject site include TV host Jay Leno, Dreamworks SKG founder David Geffen, former Disney president Mike Ovitz, and David Beckham, the international soccer star.

But few people know that the lawsuit has actually impacted scores of other property owners, including many other Hollywood celebrities, well-to-do Angelenos and other developers of large lots in LA. That's because since early 2012, the city's Planning and Building & Safety departments have required all developments on lots greater than 60,000 square feet to file an extra entitlement case to prove that their project wouldn't result in a de facto subdivision.

That requirement - known as a Waiver of Tentative Map or WTM - has added a couple months and several thousand dollars to scores of projects in the 2+ years since the city started the WTM process. In fact, a LandUseLA.com review of online Planning Department records has found 82 WTM cases since January 2012. The projects that got caught in this extra level of bureaucracy included proposed additions to single-family homes, a new production building at 20th Century Fox Studios on Pico Boulevard, and a new training facility at the Los Angeles Police Department Academy.

Now, with the Appeals Court ruling, those projects will not need the WTM review and many will be by-right developments. Although there has not been an official bulletin released yet by either Planning or LADBS, sources in both departments told LandUseLA.com that Building & Safety will remove the WTM requirement from projects currently submitted at plan-check meetings and will stop adding the WTM requirement to future projects.

Appeals Court ruling: http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B244092.PDF

Vanity Fair: There Goes the Neighborhood:
http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/10/benedict-canyon-201110

New Training Facility at LA Police Academy: http://planning.lacity.org/cts_internet/index.cfm?urlCaseId=194300&caseNumber=AA-2013-3726-WTM&fuseaction=case.summary

New production building at 20th Century Fox Studios: http://planning.lacity.org/cts_internet/index.cfm?urlCaseId=186692&caseNumber=AA-2012-889-WTM&fuseaction=case.summary

City officials hope to have most construction projects in Hollywood back on track in about a month although the largest and most high profile projects will probably have to wait longer or modify their proposal,  according to officials who spoke with LandUseLA.com

As previously reported by LandUseLA.com and Curbed LA, projects in the Hollywood Community Plan area were temporarily frozen earlier this month when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge issued a ruling that said the update of that community plan was "fundamentally flawed" and no more permits could be issued that relied upon the community plan for its justification. After several days in which all Hollywood-area projects were stopped, the Planning Department issued a new policy that provided a pathway for most construction projects to move forward.

Still, at least 30 projects remained in limbo because their entitlements relied upon the community plan, according to a review of online records by LandUseLA.com.

Last week, the City Council instructed the Planning Department to return within a month with a timeline and expected cost for fixing the Hollywood Community Plan Update. The council also expects the department to return with an ordinance that will revive the old Hollywood Community Plan while the update is being repaired.

If the City Council revives the old community plan, many of the 30-plus entitlement cases currently in limbo could restart. However, any projects that rely upon the updated community plan would have to either redesign the project  to meet the old community plan, recast the legal justifications based upon the old community plan, or wait for the update to be repaired and enacted and then determine whether the project still meshes with the community plan.

ALSO: LandUseLA.com on the radio
LandUseLA.com publisher Chris Parker was on WhichWayLA? yesterday, discussing the Hollywood injunction. You can listen to the interview here: WhichWayLA?

Scores and scores of projects in the Hollywood Community Plan area will require an extra level of review and more than two dozen Hollywood projects are on hold indefinitely thanks to a policy enacted this morning by the Los Angeles Planning Department.

The department's new policy - dubbed the Hollywood Community Plan Update Injunction Clearance - is in response to a Feb. 11 ruling issued by the Los Angeles County Superior Court. The court determined that the department's Hollywood Community Plan Update was "fundamentally flawed" when it was approved in June 2012. Because the Hollywood growth plan is void, the city is prohibited from granting any "authority, permits or entitlements which derive from the HCPU or its EIR (Environmental Impact Report)," the court said.

A temporary - and unannounced - hold was placed last week on all projects in the Hollywood area by the Planning and Building & Safety departments until the Planning Department could issue a response to the court ruling. The response was issued this morning as Zoning Information File No. 2433, a 4-page memo with instructions on what projects could still move forward and which type of projects would be put on hold indefinitely.

The good news for property owners in Hollywood is that many projects will be able to move forward, albeit with an extra level of review.

But according to ZI-2433, any project that has an entitlement request which rely on the HCPU or its EIR are now on hold until the City Council passes legislation that addresses the court's concerns. The council voted Tuesday to instruct the Planning Department to return within 30 days with a timeline and cost.

In the meantime, dozens of projects that were filed with the Planning Department are on hold. That's because those projects include entitlement requests such as Zone Changes, Zone Variances or other deviations from the Zone Code that can no longer be decided by the department because the community plan for the Hollywood area is void.

A LandUseLA.com review of the department's online records has found 28 cases that are now on hold which were filed with the Planning Department's Office of Zoning Administration between Aug. 11, 2013 and Feb. 8, 2014. The projects include everything from minor entitlement requests such as yard deviations to major projects such as hotels and mixed-use projects. It is safe to assume there are additional projects filed prior to August 2013 that didn't receive entitlement relief by Tuesday and are now on hold. 

One of the more interesting entitlement cases that is now ensnared in this injunction hold is a request from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to add 7 new mausoleums and/or wall crypt structures. In October, the cemetery submitted a request for a Zone Variance and Zoning Administrator's Adjustment, among other entitlements, to be able to build the new mausoleums.

As mentioned previously, the majority of projects in Hollywood will be able to move forward once they receive approval from city planners assigned to the HCPU Injunction Clearance process. According to ZI-2433, building permit requests in the Hollywood area will be reviewed and approved if they: don't require a Planning entitlement (i.e. - "by right"); only need ministerial clearances tied to previously issued building permits; or require discretionary approvals under one of the special districts in the Hollywood area as long as those approvals don't require an amendment and/or exception.

All of this stems from appeals filed by Hollywood-area homeowners groups against the city's June 2012 approval of the Hollywood Community Plan Update. The groups objected to the plan, saying it was based upon false growth assumptions and didn't adequately address infrastructure issues for the population growth that the community plan allowed.

A tentative ruling was issued in December but it wasn't until last week that the written Superior Court determination was issued, requiring the city to stop issuing permits based upon the updated Hollywood plan.

How long will this injunction last? It's unknown. But the City Council instructed the Planning Department to return in a month with a plan and cost for fixing the Hollywood Community Plan, not to return with the actual fix itself. Once the department gets council approval on the timeline and cost, it would presumably take several months of department work and then public hearings until the City Council can vote on the updated Hollywood Community Plan Update.

In the meantime, dozens of projects currently in the pipeline plus countless more that will be filed this year, will be on hold.

ZI No. 2433: Hollywood Community Plan Update Injunction Clearance Instructions
http://zimas.lacity.org/documents/zoneinfo/ZI2433.pdf

Curbed LA: NIMBYs Put Indefinite Stop to All Building Permits in Hollywood
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/02/nimbys_put_indefinite_stop_to_all_building_permits_in_hollywood.php

City Council motion: Instructions to Planning Department re Hollywood Community Plan Update
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2012/12-0303-S3_CA_02-18-14.pdf

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Request for 7 New Mausoleums:
http://planning.lacity.org/cts_internet/index.cfm?urlCaseId=193758&caseNumber=CPC-2013-3262-PUB-ZV-ZAA-SPR&fuseaction=case.summary

LA Times: Judge Deals Major Blow to Hollywood Growth Plan
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-judge-hollywood-growth-plan-20131211,0,7703380.story#axzz2tnkOGC7X

The Planning Department released an updated draft of the Little Tokyo Community Design Overlay District today that redraws the CDO's proposed boundary and will vet the changes at another public meeting in February.

The Little Tokyo CDO process started in 2006 with the goal of promoting pedestrian-friendly developments while also preserving the historical and cultural identity of Little Tokyo, one of the oldest ethnic enclaves in the city.

The proposed CDO includes extensive design and function guidelines, from entrance orientation to exterior materials and colors. Nearly every exterior change to a Little Tokyo building will be required to submit an application to the CDO staff for review.

The city already has 19 CDOs; the Little Tokyo would be the 20th and is the only draft CDO currently under development.

The proposed CDO has already gone through several rounds of public meetings and approvals, including an endorsement from the City Planning Commission in August. But since the CPC approval, the Planning Department has modified the boundaries of the CDO to reflect public input.

Comments received on the Little Tokyo CDO guidelines at a Planning Department public hearing last February were "almost exclusively in support" of the changes, according to the staff report.  It was at that hearing where many supporters of the CDO asked that the boundaries be expanded to include significant Japanese historic and cultural institutions such as the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, Zenshuji Soto Mission, and St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.

The modified map adds most of the block east of Alameda Street between Temple and 1st streets. It also proposes to remove most of the parcels on the south side of 3rd Street between Los Angeles and Alameda streets.

The proposed CDO still needs support from the City Council and Mayor's office before it can be enacted.

Limited Public Hearing notice: Feb. 4

Draft Little Tokyo Community Design Overlay District

City Planning Commission report

The Los Angeles Planning Department will continue to review and approve projects in the Hollywood area despite a recent Superior Court judge's tentative ruling to strike down the Hollywood Community Plan because the legal process could take a year or more, the department's chief said in a memo released during the holiday break.

Planning Department chief Michael J. LoGrande said his department "remains committed to the important principles of the Hollywood Community Plan," in his memo, dated Dec. 20, 2013, and posted late last week on the department's website.

Earlier this month,  Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Allan J. Goodman struck down the Hollywood Community Plan, saying that the city did not comply with state environmental laws when it approved the updated plan in June.

Goodman said the city's approval was based upon inflated population figures that were not substantiated by government data. Several neighborhood groups have opposed the revised community plan, and three groups filed suit to stop it. Opponents of the Hollywood Community Plan say that it wrongly encouraged higher levels of density than the area's infrastructure could handle and said the increased density was unnecessary.

LoGrande said in his memo that the department was still committed to the approved Hollywood Community Plan because it was "developed through an inclusive community-based process involving numerous meetings with Hollywood stakeholders over many years." He said the plan is beneficial because it directs growth around transit hubs, establishes lower height limits around historic districts and protects hillside areas from "over-development."

LoGrande also said that since Goodman's decision was tentative and the jurist's final decision could be appealed, it could be a year or more before Goodman's decision could impact the Planning Department or projects proposed for the Hollywood area.


Michael LoGrande Memo re Hollywood Community Plan


LA Times: Judge deals major blow to Hollywood growth plan

A 100-year-old Westlake theater that had its last live performance over 50 years ago may soon be Los Angeles' newest live-music theater.

A veteran New York-based independent concert promoter submitted plans with the Planning Department to revert what was once the Playhouse Theater at 1234 West 7th  St. back into an entertainment mecca for central city residents. Bowerly Left LLC will present their project at tonight's Westlake South Neighborhood Council Board Meeting.

Bowery Left LLC's backers know the live music venue business.  The applicant - through its parent company, Bowery Presents - owns and operates several venues in New York City, most notably the Bowery Ballroom (a 550 capacity venue voted the "Best Venue in America" by Rolling Stone Magazine on several occasions, according to the applicant). The company owns theaters in other East Coast states; the Playhouse Theater site would be its first site outside the Eastern time zone.

The developer's Conditional Use Permit request is to rehabilitate the 9,453 square foot theater and restaurant so it can accommodate a total of 440 seats or 708 patrons, allow alcohol sales from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, and allow live entertainment and incidental patron dancing. The developer also is requesting a Project Permit Compliance to allow the change of use from print shop back to theater and restaurant and to allow a new marquee on its facade. The project is located within the Central City West Specific Plan area.

The Playhouse Theater operated from its opening in the early 1910s to 1960. It was a print shop for about 50 years and is currently a violin repair store.

The applicant's representative said that the print shop conversion didn't hurt the integrity of the theater. The marquee is gone, but the existing domed ceiling, the original lobby area, and the stage are intact, which the rep says will make the conversion back to a live music venue easier and less impactful on the 100-year-old building.

The applicants submitted a petition with several signatures of support with their packet to the Westlake South Neighborhood Council. Tonight's WSNC meeting at the Royal Palms Recovery Center (360 S. Westlake Ave.) starts at 6 p.m.

The project's draft Mitigating Negative Declaration was published last month and the Zoning Administrator's hearing for the Conditional Use requests was held earlier this month. A decision letter has not been issued yet, however.

Westlake South Neighborhood Council agenda:
http://ens.lacity.org/ensnc/southwestlakenc/ensncsouthwestlakenc321885172_11252013.pdf

Planning Department case:
http://planning.lacity.org/cts_internet/index.cfm?urlCaseId=193294&caseNumber=ZA-2013-2868-CUB-CUX-SPP&fuseaction=case.summary

Bowery Presents Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bowery_Presents

Murals will be allowed on single-family dwellings in east and central Los Angeles under a draft ordinance to be considered Tuesday by the City Council's Planning and Land Use Committee.

The City Council approved a citywide Mural Ordinance just a few months  ago after years of discussion and debate. The Mural Ordinance specifically prohibited murals on houses, an issue which divided the city's neighborhoods. Many of the suburban and affluent neighborhood councils opposed the original Mural Ordinance until its backers agreed to include language that specifically prohibited murals on single-family dwellings.

But even as the Mural Ordinance was being revised and approved, the council instructed the Planning Department - with assistance from the City Attorney's Office and Office of Cultural Affairs - to prepare an amendment that would allow murals on single-family lots in council districts 1 and 14. Councilman Curren D. Price recently asked that his 9th district be included too.

The three districts represent the eastern-most portions of Los Angeles and central L.A. along the Harbor Freeway corridor.

The PLUM committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in City Hall, Room 350. The draft ordinance also needs approval from the full City Council.


PLUM Agenda:
http://ens.lacity.org/clk/committeeagend/clkcommitteeagend2685047_11192013.pdf

City Council Case file:
http://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=11-0923-S2

The City Council unanimously approved Friday a six-month extension for the head of the Department of Building & Safety, endorsing Mayor Eric Garcett's requesti.

Raymond Chan will remain as interim boss despite vocal opposition to his re-appointment during Friday's meeting. Chan's critics say he had financial ties to a Hollywood developer, a charge which he denied. The City Ethic Commission investigated the allegations and found no wrong-doing.

LA Times: LA's Top Building Official to Sta on Six Months

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-garcetti-building-department-chan-ethics-20131108,0,970139.story?track=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=649324

LandUseLA: Mayor Wants LADBS Interim Chief for 6 More Months

http://www.landusela.com/blog.html