Dear Angelenos:

One of City Planning’s responsibilities is keeping the Community Plans for LA’s neighborhoods up to date. Each Community Plan establishes specific goals and strategies, playing an important role in bolstering housing and job opportunities, in addition to balancing different neighborhoods’ needs.

Among the Community Plans we’re currently updating are the Southwest and Southeast Valley’s. Recently, the teams working on these plan updates have been holding online office hours to share their progress with community members, answer questions, and discuss their vision for the future of the Valley. In particular, planners have been looking for input about their suggested improvements to the Ventura-Cahuenga Boulevard Corridor, the more than 17-mile-long commercial thoroughfare linking the Hollywood Hills to Woodland Hills.

Both the Southeast and Southwest Valley teams have put together informative StoryMaps summarizing the new land use designations they are proposing and the intended results of those policies, affordable housing foremost among them. I encourage members of these communities to engage with the process and provide feedback, and I invite all readers to learn more about the great work underway in our South Valley neighborhoods. Together, we are Planning4LA.

On July 25, the Valley Development Services Center (DSC) in Van Nuys reopened to offer limited on-site services to the public by appointment only, scheduled through the City’s online portal, BuildLA. Proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test within the previous 72 hours will still be required to enter public buildings, along with well-fitted indoor masking.

The services now offered by appointment at the Valley DSC include:

As City Planning transitions toward an increased in-office presence, it will continue to offer applicants the option to submit project applications virtually using the Online Application System (OAS). The secure drop-off boxes at the Metro and Van Nuys DSCs will also remain available to applicants who wish to submit hard copies of plans and applications during normal business hours without waiting for an initial filing appointment.

City Planning and the Department of Transportation (LADOT) are pleased to announce the release of revised drafts for the proposed Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Program update for public review and comment. A virtual Open House and Public Hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, August 2, from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The proposed TDM Program update is an important step in implementing the City's Mobility Plan 2035. The update aims to reduce the need for drive-alone vehicle trips by increasing transportation options and accessibility throughout the City, providing benefits to the environment and public health. It would require new development projects over a certain size to implement strategies such as supporting transit, telecommuting, walking, carshare, and other sustainable travel options that reduce vehicle trips. The revised drafts of the TDM Ordinance and TDM Program Guidelines incorporate feedback gathered over the last several years, including through public workshops and office hours held in 2021.

The virtual Open House and Public Hearing is open to everyone. It is an opportunity for City Planning to collect comments from stakeholders before presenting the proposed TDM Program update to the City Planning Commission, followed by the City Council. Please visit City Planning’s Mobility page for more information. The "TDM Update" menu contains instructions for joining the Public Hearing and submitting written comments, a new fact sheet, and the sign-up form for project updates.

On July 1, the City’s Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Budget took effect. The budget continues all existing planning work programs and includes a net increase of 50 positions for the Department, increasing our total workforce from 496 positions to 546.

The new budget allocates additional resources to addressing equity, sustainability, and housing, ranging from expansion of the Wildlife Pilot Program to the implementation of new affordable housing programs. New positions will augment the Major Projects Unit’s capability for processing project-related EIRs and enlarge the Office of Racial Justice, Equity, and Transformative Planning.

Now that the budget is in effect, City Planning will move forward to fill these new positions, along with our existing vacancies. These improvements will assist the City in delivering the services and work programs requested and needed by stakeholders and elected officials.

The Office of Racial Justice, Equity, and Transformative Planning is nearing completion of a major milestone in delivering its findings from a listening tour initiated in 2021, during which time the Office examined internal and historical trends on equity. These findings will guide the Department in hiring, promotion, and retention, as well as enhance City Planning’s diversity.

Recently, the Department announced that the Office will be welcoming new full-time staff in July to finalize portions of the internal equity analysis and prioritize the development of a comprehensive external outreach strategy, in addition to beginning work on a transformative strategic framework to address inequities in land use planning practices in Los Angeles.

The Department’s commitment to drafting a strategic framework for a transformative plan that addresses past inequities comes at a time when the country is in the midst of a robust conversation on social justice and equity. Contact rjeap@lacity.org with questions.

City Planning recently completed an assessment of the Mills Act Historical Property Contract program, Los Angeles’s primary financial incentive program for historic preservation. The assessment was initiated to identify operational and administrative improvements to make the program more effective and sustainable, with a focus on how to encourage a more equitable distribution of the program’s benefits.

The assessment report findings and recommendations were initially presented by the Department to the Cultural Heritage Commission on July 21. Staff will host an online public workshop on August 8 at 6 p.m. to provide an overview of the report and answer questions. Existing contract holders and interested parties are invited to provide comments on the report by filling out this form. Feedback will help shape staff’s recommendations for policy changes and ordinance amendments to be transmitted to the City Council for its consideration in 2023.

Applications filed rose by 14% between May and June. Over the same period, City Planning completed 823 applications, representing a 9.3% increase. Estimates for June housing trends also indicate growth in the number of housing units proposed and approved for the City’s development pipeline. City Planning received 44% more applications for affordable housing development in June than in May. Proposals for market-rate housing also increased by nearly 10%, month-over-month.

Looking for a way to cool down this summer? Take a plunge in one of the City’s historic public swimming pools! During the mid-1920s, the municipal bath house and swimming pool, or “plunge,” as it was popularly known at that time, became standard features in larger parks.

They were designed with aspirations toward a democratic vision in which opportunities for free public recreation were available to residents of all ages. An intact early example is the North Hollywood Pool from 1929, located at 5301 Tujunga Avenue, featuring a Spanish Colonial Revival-style bath house. These early bath houses, sited parallel to the pool, were typically long, rectangular buildings articulated in Period Revival styles, with a central entrance flanked by men’s and women’s changing rooms. This layout continued into the postwar era, when the second wave of pools appeared in the rapidly developing suburbs. The Westchester Pool at 9100 Lincoln Boulevard is an excellent example of a Mid-Century Modern style bath house designed by local architect Arthur Wolfe in 1961.

To learn more about other public pools and recreation centers in Los Angeles, explore SurveyLA’s historic context statement about Municipal Parks, Recreation, and Leisure. Also, the Aquatics Division of the Recreation and Parks Department maintains a list of open public pools here.

August 11, 25

Central: August 9, 23

South Los Angeles: August 16

South Valley: August 11, 25

West: August 17

East: August 10, 24

Harbor: August 16

North Valley: August 4, 18

August 4, 18

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