Earlier this month, the Planning and Land Use Management Committee of the City Council voted to adopt the proposed permanent Al Fresco Ordinance with amendments. This legislation would establish a simple process for restaurants to keep outdoor dining areas that were created under emergency authorization during lockdown and make it easier for other restaurants to set up new outdoor dining areas on private property.

Along with the Restaurant Beverage Program, the Al Fresco Ordinance is part of a package of relief measures aimed at helping local restaurants recover from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Restaurant Beverage Program established an administrative review process for sit-down restaurants that apply to serve alcohol, considerably reducing the time and expense associated with seeking an alcoholic beverage permit for qualifying restaurants in those Council Districts that have opted in.

As the Al Fresco Ordinance continues to advance through the legislative process and additional Council Districts consider adopting the Restaurant Beverage Program, please join us in supporting local restaurants and restaurateurs. Together, we are #Planning4LA.

On July 1, an annual update to the City’s Planning and Land Use Fees and the Affordable Housing Linkage Fee will take effect.

In accordance with Ordinance No. 187,237, Section 19.00 E. of the Los Angeles Municipal Code provides an automatic annual inflation adjustment that begins on July 1, 2023. The calculated inflation adjusted fees have increased by 4.9%, based on an average for the 12-month period ending in December 2022 using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Los Angeles area.

The revised fee schedule for the Affordable Housing Linkage Fee, which has provided a permanent source of local funding for affordable housing, will also incorporate the latest change to the CPI-U to reflect the annual inflation adjustment. The updated fee schedule outlines the Linkage Fee amount that applies to different market areas across Los Angeles. Applicants should refer to ZIMAS or the maps included in the fee schedule to identify the associated per-square-foot cost for qualifying projects based on their geographic location.

On June 13, the City Council designated the Morris Kight McCadden Place Residence as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 1288. The single-family house served as the home of gay liberation leader and activist Morris Kight from 1974 to 1992. Kight’s activism and political savvy made him a rare bridge between the gay and lesbian grassroots movement and elected officials at local, state, and federal levels. At his McCadden Place residence, he hosted many politicians and other influential figures including former Los Angeles City Mayor Tom Bradley, New York author and founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives Joan Nestle, as well as an array of congresspersons and senators. community.

One of the most significant groups headquartered at the house was the Stonewall Democratic Club (SDC), a political organization founded by Kight and Howard Fox that worked to elect Democrats through federal, state, and local elections who would champion civil rights policies that supported the LGBT community. The SDC would become one of the largest and most influential gay political organizations in the country, and today has 38 chapters. More about Kight and his McCadden Place Residence is online here and more about the historic places in LA related to the LGBT community can be found in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Historic Context Statement.

It’s Pride month! Explore the department’s LGBT Context Statement to gain a broad historical overview of the growth of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender identities, communities, and politics in Los Angeles. The Office of Historic Resources (OHR) uses this document to identify and evaluate historic resources associated with the LGBT community. This is one of several ethnic-cultural contexts prepared by the OHR, all available online here.

On June 8, the Los Angeles section of the American Planning Association (APA) held its 2023 awards ceremony. This year City Planning and the Los Angeles Housing Department received an award of merit for their joint work on the City’s 2021-2029 Housing Element, also called “The Plan to House L.A.” The ambitious plan shows how the City will meet its State-mandated housing obligations during the coming years. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to the finished product!

Early in June, City Planning hosted three webinars on the subject of the proposed Citywide Adaptive Reuse Ordinance. The ordinance, which would expand the program for converting disused commercial space into housing from Downtown, Hollywood, and other historic neighborhoods to the City limits, is a core strategy of the Citywide Housing Incentive Program for meeting Los Angeles’s State-mandated housing obligations.

Currently, only buildings constructed before July 1, 1974, are eligible for adaptive reuse. The updated ordinance would establish a faster approval process for the conversion of existing buildings and structures that are at least 15 years old to housing, while also expanding the adaptive reuse incentive area to encompass the entire City. Buildings between five and 15 years old and projects requesting additional relief from development standards would need to obtain a Zoning Administrator’s approval through a Conditional Use Permit.

For the first time in over three years, the Department was able to come together safely in person for a group photo at the spring All-Staff Meeting. It is a pleasure to serve 4 million Angelenos throughout our 35 diverse communities.

On June 24, City Planning staff met with community members at the San Fernando Valley Pride event at the Van Nuys Civic Center. Hosted by CA Sen. Caroline Menjivar and Mayor Karen Bass, City Planning teams from various Valley work programs like the Southwest Valley Community Plan Update (CPU), Southeast Valley CPU, East San Fernando Valley Transit Neighborhood Plan (TNP), Orange (G) Line TNP, the Valley Overlay Amendment Unit were on-hand to help share updates, answer questions, and engage with community members at the resources fair. The teams shared updates about active Community and Transit Neighborhood plans as well as the Warner Center Cultural Amenities Master Plan, and the Ventura/Cahuenga Boulevard Corridor Specific Plan.

Once a holiday primarily celebrated by Black communities in the South, Juneteenth became an official federal holiday in 2021, and on June 9, 2023, the Los Angeles City Council voted to make it a permanent paid holiday for Los Angeles City employees. Known as Black Independence Day, June 19th, 1865 marks the date that union soldiers entered Galveston, Texas to announce the end of slavery, a full two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

While Juneteenth celebrates the resilient and vibrant spirit of the Black community, it also exemplifies that true healing and rebuilding can only take place after the most underserved and impacted members of society have had their harms addressed. It is no coincidence that Juneteenth captured the attention of a national audience in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers in June 2020, and following widespread calls to address historical injustices and institutional racism.

While acknowledging the tremendous progress and achievements of the Black community, the Office of Racial Justice, Equity, and Transformative Planning (ORJETP) also recognizes the ways in which communities of color, and Black communities in particular, consistently experience worse outcomes in terms of jobs, housing, and urban amenities. The ORJETP recognizes that addressing anti-Black racism in all these areas is key to moving all of society forward, and it will continue striving to shed light on histories and historical injustices that have been overlooked yet continue to drive inequitable outcomes around the City.

The Merced Theater has always had a history of love and acceptance. Commissioned by businessman William Abbot, the theater was built in 1870. Abbot named the theater after his wife Maria Merced Garcia. It holds the honor of being the first building fully built for the purpose of the theater arts in the City. As more theaters were built in the City, and due to an outbreak of smallpox, the theater closed its doors in 1877. No longer serving as a theater anymore, it continued to host parties and other events on its second floor and house different retail stores on its first floor. At the turn of the 20th century, it became a safe place for the LGBTQ+ community to gather. Masked balls were often held, and guests could dress up in either men or women’s clothing and be with others of the same sex without fear of being persecuted. During this same period, the building was used as a lodging house for gay men. In 1935, the Merced Theater was designated California Landmark No. 171. In 1970, it was designated a part of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 64, and in 1972, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District. To learn more about the LGBTQ+ community in Los Angeles, explore the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Historic Context Statement.

July 13, 27

Central: July 11, 25

South Los Angeles: July 18

South Valley: July 13, 27

West: July 5, 19

East: July 12, 26

Harbor: July 18

North Valley: July 6, 20

July 20

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