Editor’s Note: Dick Platkin, a former LA city planner, writes regularly about planning issues with an insider’s insight and a resident’s concern. He is now a planning consultant and board member of the Beverly Wilshire Homes Association, and can be reached at rhplatkin@yahoo.com.
By Dick Platkin
After
18 years of work, LA’s Department of City Planning has finally unveiled a draft
update for the 1988 Hollywood Community Plan, including 105 pages of detailed
amendments to increase permitted building densities in Hollywood, as well as a Draft
Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). If
or when this update is eventually adopted, it will then become a template for similar
updates of LA’s 34 other community plans.
In theory, it also could become a model for Specific Plan amendments to
permitting greater densities.
Because
of the Hollywood plan’s importance to potentially alter private land use
patterns all throughout Los Angeles, many analysts have carefully scrutinized
the draft, especially its DEIR, and submitted their analyses to the Department
of City Planning. Among these many submissions,
one theme stands out; the Draft Environmental Impact Report does not present a credible
planning rationale for the proposed Community Plan update.
The
following six points summarize much of this DEIR testimony:
1. Infrastructure and Services: First, LA’s public infrastructure, which has
not been monitored in over 11 years, and in some categories, not planned in
over 40 years, cannot handle the needs of the city’s existing and projected population
and commuters. In the case of the DEIR,
there is no analysis to demonstrate that local services and infrastructure in
Hollywood are capable of meeting the demands of the larger population which
could result from the update’s extensive up-planning and up-zoning. Without demonstrated unused infrastructure
capacity in the DEIR, there should be no increases in permitted densities in
Hollywood according to the General Plan’s Framework Element.
Furthermore,
there is no proposal in the DEIR or the draft Community Plan itself to monitor
local infrastructure conditions, including changing demographics and user
demand, as well as the effectiveness of the updated Plan’s infrastructure-related
policies and programs. The proposed plan
also fails to identify any threatened infrastructure systems in Hollywood and
offers no mitigation process to address these likely infrastructure breakdowns.
To
put it bluntly, this is a plan that will dramatically reduce the quality of
life in Hollywood. For that matter, the
hope that increases in allowed densities will spur increased investment in real
estate is unfounded. Who will want to
live, work, visit, or invest in a Hollywood which has inadequate, deteriorating,
unplanned, and unmonitored infrastructure and public services?
2. Conflicts with the General Plan: The city’s outdated but still official and
legally required General Plan is “growth neutral.” According to the 1996 General Plan Framework
Element, Los Angeles has enormous untapped potential for population and housing
expansion based on adopted plan designations and zones. In fact, the Framework notes that Los Angeles
could double its population without any need to change its underlying zoning or
plan designations.
To
exceed local densities in Hollywood, City Hall must therefore present a clear
rationale based on documented increases in population growth and housing demand
which have outstripped locally permitted densities but still retain sufficient
public services and infrastructure capacity.
Yet, in the case of the proposed update of the Hollywood Community Plan
there is no analysis of the remaining buildout potential for the privately
zoned parcels in Hollywood or the area’s remaining infrastructure capacity
based on projected deterioration and increases in user demand. Likewise, there is no evidence that if these
parcels were fully built out, they still could not meet the housing and
employment needs of Hollywood’s current or future residents.
3. Census Data: The update of the Hollywood Community Plan is
based on outdated census data.
California State planning laws and guidelines require each city’s General
Plan, including its Land Use element, such as the Hollywood Community Plan, to
be current and internally consistent among its required and optional elements. In this case the General Plan Framework Element
is based on 1990 census data which was extended to the Plan’s 2010 horizon
year. The update of the Hollywood
Community Plan, which is supposed to apply the General Plan Framework Element
to a local community, is, however, based on year 2000 census data, augmented by
2005 estimates, and then extrapolated to the year 2030.
The
two plans are not only inconsistent with each other, but neither is current
because the new 2010 census data is now available and should be used for monitoring,
reviewing, and updating all components of a city’s General Plan.
4. Population Decline: Fourth, if the new 2010 census data had been used for the Hollywood Community Plan’s DEIR, it would demonstrate that Hollywood had a serious population decline from 2000 to 2010 of about 15,000 people, on top of a totally static population for the 1990-2000 decade. This means that the DEIR’s population projections, obtained from the Department of City Planning and from the Southern California Association of Governments, are highly inflated, inaccurate, and therefore not acceptable for the DEIR. Therefore, the update’s planning rationale for substantially ramping up zoning densities in Hollywood is bogus.
5. Framework Turned on its Head: The Hollywood Community Plan’s implementation program of up-zoning and up-planning is being proposing to encourage growth to promote secondary Framework planning goals, such as transit use. This is an approach which turn LA’s growth neutral General Plan Framework Element on its head. It also conflicts with Los Angeles City Charter Sections 556 and 558, which require consistency with the intent and purposes of the General Plan. The role of transit is to serve the public’s growing need for mobility, while the update’s call to increase density in Hollywood as a planning tool to boost transit use absolutely conflicts with the intent and purposes of the General Plan.
6. The General Plan should be up dated prior to Community Plans: Sixth, to properly plan Los Angeles, the General Plan Framework Element should be totally revised based on new demographic and infrastructure data. Once this process is completed, only then should the 35 local community plans, including Hollywood, be updated. But, at this point, to implement an outdated General Plan at the local level, much less with different base and horizon years, defies both common sense and State of California planning codes and guidelines.
Could you or Ron please provide a list of all 34 community plans?
Many of us, especially in the West Valley, think we’re already overcrowed especially at certain times of the day on certain streets where traffic makes it seem like you can’t get “there” from here, because they’re more like unending parking lots than free-flowing routes.
Here is the problem with planners who just don’t get it. If you use the Framework as a source to substantiate some of your conclusions such as increasing density to encourage transit, then you must also abide with it’s legally required Infrastructure & Growth annual report. You can’t pick and choose which portions of the Framework will be used and which discarded. As such, either the Framework is bogus or the Hollywood Community Plan is. Which one is it?
Urban planning series….Path to Paradise: Older Neighborhoods
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZvNj7m7xfQ&feature=relmfu
Compare and contrast the history of urban planning for San Diego vs. Los Angeles….I wonder if LA has a similar current presentation…I doubt it…Anyways the series is very informative and helps to understand the urban planning process…at least for San Diego…
Freedom is not constituted primarily of privileges but of responsibilities – Albert Camus
@ 4:41 pm
LA’s urban planning series will be remembered as..
Path to Ruin: Planning without Consent
4:41, LA has nothing to learn from the racist city of San Diego. That is a city devoid of any charm or humanity. LA will grown on its own, far better with community support who understand planning and are willing to fight our dumb Mayor & Council, all fat from developer monies.
The title of the article should have been “The Prince & Duchess of Windsor or Cambridge or whatever think that the Hollywood Community Plan sucks”. You’d get more eyes & comments.
The full list of Community Plans can be found at
http://cityplanning.lacity.org/
This is the home page of City Planning. Click on General Plan information, and then Community Plans. You will get a map of all 35 Community Plans. If you click on any community, you then get the map, the text, and all related ordinances.
The comment on traffic underscores the need for the City of Los Angeles to fully monitor infrastructure demand, capacity, quality, maintenance schedules, and projected investments. By sweeping these essentials under the table, it is not possible to plan Los Angeles.
The full list of Community Plans can be found at
http://cityplanning.lacity.org/
This is the home page of City Planning. Click on General Plan information, and then Community Plans. You will get a map of all 35 Community Plans. If you click on any community, you then get the map, the text, and all related ordinances.
The comment on traffic underscores the need for the City of Los Angeles to fully monitor infrastructure demand, capacity, quality, maintenance schedules, and projected investments. By sweeping these essentials under the table, it is not possible to plan Los Angeles.
I wonder if the community has read Michael Logrande’s interview in the Downtown News. It is chilling. The lie of having 40% less staff perpetuated by Gail Goldberg continues. The Code is being gutted under the pretext of being too old to make it easier for developers to ram down projects. It will be rewritten to include signage in all buildings regardless of their location. The emphasis is on developing “major” projects. Missing is anything about developing communities. The department has been taken over by developers & con artists. Where is the outrage? When will the community wake up & nip this outrageous transformation for the worse of our city.
Can’t keep fighting the city project by project. Demand that the Mayor cease & desist by putting an immediate stop to this nonsense and that the communities are planned by the people who live here rather than fly-by-night developers and profiteers.
“Today Mayor Villaraigosa debuted the city’s Development Services Case Management Office, which helps developers get their permits faster. The office is made up of staff from Planning, Building and Safety, Engineering, Transportation, and Water and Power, and assigns case managers to hold hands with developers through big projects.” -Curbed LA.
Notice that the community is missing from this program. They are on their own.
“Today Mayor Villaraigosa debuted the city’s Development Services Case Management Office, which helps developers get their permits faster. The office is made up of staff from Planning, Building and Safety, Engineering, Transportation, and Water and Power, and assigns case managers to hold hands with developers through big projects.” -Curbed LA.
Notice that the community is missing from this program. They are on their own.
“External stakeholders such as developers, land use attorneys, architects, engineers, community foundations and neighborhood councils helped shape the strategic plan through public meetings and discussion. Business and community perspectives such as PlanCheckNC and the Development Industry Advisory Committee (DIAC) will continue to play an important role throughout the rollout of the strategic plan” – from the Mayor’s memo re: the above mentioned.
Can someone put an end to Plan Check NC and the community members in charge of it who are so dumb that they should not be representing any community. In their names,on issues they don’t understand, the Mayor is claiming support of Neighborhood Councils in decimating the very neighborhoods they claim to represent.
Just wondering if anyone had the opportunity to attend the CPC meeting today on Parking regulations. The same cast of characters was there. Downtown CCA and other developer interests who just loved the reduced parking standards regardless of the communities they screw. There were maybe three or four community members who tried to talk sense to the Commission to no avail. I must applaud these members: Lucille Saunders, Barbara Broide and Jack of Pacific Palisades. My question is that if there are at least 95 Neighborhood Councils collecting tax payer monies to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods, why are they absent from such meetings that affect those qualities. Why should they be funded if they can’t understand the simple ABCs of rules & regulations that affect them.
My last puzzle is about the Hillside Federation. When did intelligent life desert this acclaimed organization? If they don’t understand what is going on, at least don’t show up in support of regulations they haven’t a clue about.
The city should remove parking requirements near mass transit so smaller projects can be built (or 2nd and 3rd stories of apartments added on to older buildings) without having to accommodate underground structures, garages or superfluous space for lots.
As it is now, it seems like only huge developments or dirt cheap projects get built in a lot of LA neighborhoods, and the parking requirements are just driving the rent up for tenants who might choose to live car-lite or even car-free if they’re close to the red line and a decent amount of amenities.
In a city of millions, gridlock is inevitable… and driving is just a very inefficient means of transportation for dense communities, requiring massive amounts of storage and road space that could be better allocated to pedestrians, cyclists, buses, parks and civic space. The more our neighborhoods start to accommodate walking and human-scaled urban design, the less people will feel compelled to get in their car to run every little errand.
Unfortunately, a lot of Angelenos don’t have options because most transit adjacent housing is either run down, super expensive or surrounded by a sea of parking lots and industrial infrastructure to accommodate car capacity.
This is all about MONEY and BIG DEVELOPERS..getting their projects done is right..Go to L.A. Ethics Commission Website..There you will find MIllennium Partners (Hollywood Millennium, building controversial 55, 49 story towers on Capitol Records Bldg. site) funded Villaraigosa , Garcetti and tons of City Council Members..INCLUDING ED REYES..CITY PLUM COMMITTEE!!)…SHAME ON ALL OF THEM!!! and Argent Ventures (partnering with MIllennium).. and best of all Shepperd Mullin law firm funding many of them FOR YEARS!!..they rep. MIllennium! ). Developers are lining pockets of these corrupt politicos here.. This is all about changing land use, zoning height restrictions.. so developers can go ahead unfettered, and build whatever the hell they want to build..and we who live here have no city council people to rep or protect us against this overdevelopment..ruining our communities. Because they area all being paid off by these developers! Millennium promises to continue buying up property here and we will be living in skyscraper city ..they built the tallest tower west on the Mississsppi in San Francisco, have been accused of paying off the Mayor of Boston and getting a project done there with no other bids.. Ruining THEIR Skyline! They will take over Hollywood and once this Hollywood Plan goes through NO one will stop them. Mary Richardson is a nasty defensive piece of work, doing the ‘city’s bidding’.. her answer to the traffic issues..since THE PLAN has no solutions or ideas in that about how that all will be addressed or taken care of!!!., are “The developers will pay for all of those issues when they build.. build..”traffic issues poof gone..just like that.. is she kidding ,me.?? we are being raped by Villaraigosa, Michael LeGrande, and the rest of them..Isn’t anyone out there able to STOP THEM??!!Oh here is the best ..Ther Hollywood Plan report admits there will be needed more police protection fire protection with all the increase in population thay are ‘ENCOURAGING’. NOT ‘ACCOMMODATING’ AS THEY LIKE TO SAY..BUT ‘ENCOURGING’. And THE PLAN says to increase the force ad fire dept. as admittedly will be needed.. they will get federal and state funds..What century are they living in?? ? Who the hell has money to fork over to them to increase police to accommodate our safety issues here with this proposed increase of population and density? ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR MINDS??!!.I think it is high time for an investigation about all the money being handed out to the corrupt stinking bunch of them ..ANd high time for some dept. to come in and intervene/do an intervention.. and stop them.. Because they dont know what they are doing!! They have so many streets in the PLAN designated incorrectly… local streets called minor highways..one lane streets designated as two lane ..it is the sloppiest most inaccurate thing I have ever read… ANd ofcourse the stats regarding the population growth are INCORRECT!! no solutions to any of the problems they will be creating.. it is like allowing patients in an asylum re create a whole city.. SOMEONE HAS TO STOP THEM!!O? RECALL Villaraigosa, Garcetti and the rest of them NOW !!