Dear Angelenos:

With our students returning to school, we’re seeing an influx of cars on the roads and are reminded (once again) of the importance of fostering sustainable mobility options to facilitate getting from place to place, while still working to meet our global climate targets. 

Earlier this month, in collaboration with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, our Department took the City’s updated Transit Demand Management (TDM) Ordinance to the City Planning Commission for consideration. The ordinance helps us achieve the goals and objectives of the Mobility Plan 2035, which prioritizes safety, sustainability, and access for all. 

Updating the TDM Ordinance is, in many ways, part of a larger state-mandated effort to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It seeks to integrate sustainable transportation options into the design and operation of new projects, which would contribute to increased mobility choices for residents, employees, and visitors in the form of investments that support our transportation network, with the goal of reducing the amount of drive-alone trips.

As with all of our efforts, the Department strives to implement sustainability programs through an equitable lens, which is why we are committed to having more projects participate in improving our transportation network across more neighborhoods, recognizing the limitations many Angelenos face in accessing quality transit from their homes to their place of work—especially in historically underinvested neighborhoods and communities of color. 

Together, we are Planning4LA.

Sincerely,

Vince Bertoni,

Director of Planning

DTLA 2040 Moves Forward

to Adoption

On September 27, City Planning transmitted the City Planning Commission (CPC's) recommended Downtown Community Plan to the Mayor and City Council for adoption. The Downtown Community Plan seeks to accommodate approximately 100,000 new housing units, and 85,000 new jobs through 2040. 

The Downtown Community Plan, the first plan to use the City's new Zoning Code, employs a number of strategies to streamline housing and other investments at the heart of the region's growing transportation network, and is accommodating roughly 20% of the City's anticipated growth within 1% of the City's total land area. 

The Department has outlined, in a memo also transmitted to the Council, a number of possible changes that may be made to the CPC's recommended Community Plan, as requested by relevant Council Districts, including a inclusionary housing provision that the Council may incorporate to require new housing developments to provide affordable housing units onsite.

New Zoning Code

Draft DTLA Community Plan Update

Community Benefits Program

Oil Ordinance Update

On September 22, the City Planning Commission (CPC) recommended approval of an ordinance that would prohibit new oil and gas extraction, as well as phase out all existing extraction operations. While some oil wells in Los Angeles have been situated in heavy industrial areas, many have been located within residential neighborhoods, nearby community parks, and schools. 

Consistent with the City’s policies on climate change, the Department has advanced a new ordinance at the direction of the Mayor and City Council that will improve the City’s livability, while addressing past injustices to frontline communities and communities of color who have been disproportionately affected by the health impacts associated with living near drill sites. 

Following CPC’s recommendation, the ordinance will now advance to the City Council for their consideration. Upon adoption, it would add to the list of other community protections that the City has instituted to improve land use compatibility at the neighborhood level while addressing Los Angeles’s goals around sustainability and resiliency.

Revised Draft Ordinance

Staff Recommendation Report

Fact Sheet (English) | Hoja Informativa

South Los Angeles Community Plan Implementation Overlay Amendment

On September 21, City Planning held a virtual public hearing on proposed amendments to the South Los Angeles Community Plan Implementation Overlay (CPIO), which seeks to establish new tenant protections and unit replacement requirements, among other requirements.

The South Los Angeles CPIO was first established in 2018 to limit uses that were harmful to residents’ health and implement policies that encourage the growth of mixed-income and affordable housing. In order to preserve the integrity of its neighborhoods, the Department has begun exploring amendments that would minimize displacement and protect affordable housing. 

To that end, the Department is recommending, as part of the amendment to the CPIO, that more neighborhoods be subject to the CPIO. This expansion will ensure that future housing opportunities occur primarily along transit corridors, as opposed to at the expense of legacy single- and multi-family neighborhoods located within the South Los Angeles community.

Key Provisions

As City Planning strives to infuse principles of equity into the fabric of the Department, the Office of Racial Justice, Equity, and Transformative Planning (ORJETP) is committed to acknowledge language as a powerful tool that can draw people closer together or further apart.

The ORJETP is taking an inventory of planning-related terms that reference outdated practices and connote harmful associations based on race, age, physical and mental ability, gender expression, ethnic identity, socioeconomic status, and other personal characteristics. The end goal is to develop a memo that references language deemed insensitive or offensive and to replace it with alternative terms that are more inclusive.

Central and East Community Liaison Jamie Hwang represented City Planning at the annual Los Angeles Congress of Neighborhoods on September 24. The Congress of Neighborhoods is the largest annual gathering of Neighborhood Councils that brings together representatives from throughout the entire city. The free event included workshops, keynote speeches, and virtual networking opportunities. Jamie participated virtually, where she was available to answer questions and share resource information to community stakeholders throughout the event.

Metro Transportation Communication Network Office Hours for Digital Billboards

During September, City Planning held virtual office hours to receive feedback on a proposed code amendment that would permit the installation of digital signage for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority’s (Metro) Transportation Communication Network (TCN) Program. 

The Metro TCN program proposes to erect freestanding signs with digital displays at up to 56 locations throughout the City which would help manage traffic, provide real-time transit information, display Metro service alerts and public emergency messaging, and permit

off-site digital advertising for revenue generation to support local transportation projects in the City.

City Planning will hold additional virtual office hours in the fall and attend Plan Check Neighborhood Council (NC), prior to releasing the draft amendments. Concurrently Metro, as the lead agency in charge of preparing the environmental review, will hold a webinar on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). Following the release of both the code amendments and DEIR, the Department will host a webinar and public hearing.

Metro TCN website

Memorandum of Agreement with Metro

Draft Environmental Impact Report

Between July and August 2022, the number of applications filed and completed rose by 17% and 8%, respectively. However, City Planning saw fewer applications for both market rate and affordable housing last month, as the total number of housing units proposed declined by 17% to 2,604 units. City Planning approved nearly 600 units of new housing, continuing progress on providing much needed housing to the City’s development pipeline.

• Comment period for Draft EIR has been extended to end on October 11, 2022 at 5 p.m.
• City Planning published the Draft EIR on July 28, along with an updated Draft Community Plan text, zoning regulations, Draft Land Use Map, and Draft Community Plan Implementation Overlay (CPIO)
• Released a four-part video series in 2021 providing an overview of the Boyle Heights Community Plan Update process and policies

• Letter of Determination, Final EIR (FEIR), and CPC's recommended Community Plan transmitted to Mayor and City Council for adoption on September 27, 2022.
• Plan and new Zoning recommended for approval by the City Planning Commission in September 2022
• Released revised materials in advance of City Planning Commission hearing, including Zoning, Plan Text, Land Use Map, and Community Benefits Program, in June 2021

• Planning for Habor LA Plans Virtual Outreach for Late Fall 2022
• Preparing Draft Zoning and Draft EIR for the Harbor LA Community Plans Update
• Released the Preliminary Draft Plans (updated policy documents) for Harbor Gateway and Wilmington-Harbor City in May 2022
• Released Harbor LA StoryMap with new zoning information in December 2021

• Awaiting consideration of the Draft Community Plan and Zoning by the Planning and Land Use Management Committee of the Los Angeles City Council 

• Conducting outreach for Ventura-Cahuenga corridor in summer/fall 2022
• Working toward releasing General Plan Land Use Map in summer 2023 and initiating EIR in fall 2023

• Preparing draft Zoning and EIR for the Southwest Valley Community Plans Update 
• Virtual Office Hours held in June 2022
• Updated Proposed General Plan Land Use Designations video series and StoryMap released in May 2022

• Preparing revised General Plan land Use (GPLU) StoryMap, Plan Policy Text, and New Zones
• Received and reviewed over 100 applications from the public to join the Westside Community Plan Advisory Group (WCPAG) in June and July 2022
• Rolled out Westside Community Plan Advisory Group (WCPAG) application in May 2022
• Conducted outdoor field site visits in Palms-Mar Vista-Del Rey, Venice, West LA, and Westchester-Playa del Rey in March and April 2022

The two-story commercial building located at 5605 N. Figueroa Street is the former home of the Centro De Arte Público, which was located on the second floor from 1977 to 1978. The Centro De Arte Público is one of three organizations, including the Mechicano Art Center and Corazon Productions, that made up the Chicano Arts Collective in the community of Highland Park. 

Stemming from the rise of the Chicano Movement and a drive for self-expression across Los Angeles during the late 1960s, the Chicano Arts Collective played a key role in the empowerment of local Chicano/a artists. Each organization in the Collective had its own agenda and initiatives, from communism to community involvement, but they had a common goal to assert and place the Chicano experience in Los Angeles’s existing art scene. 

The Collective sought to empower and recognize Chicano artists that were otherwise ignored by mainstream art venues. The property is Historic-Cultural Monument #1233 and is also within the Highland Park - Garvanza Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ). More information on the Chicano Arts Collective and other places that reflect Los Angeles’s Latino heritage can be found within the Latino Los Angeles Historic Context Statement.

October City Planning

Commission Meetings



October 13, 27

October Area Planning

Commission Meetings

Central: October 11, 25

South Los Angeles: October 18

South Valley: October 13, 27

West: October 19

East: October 12, 26

Harbor: October 18

North Valley: October 6, 20

October Cultural Heritage

Commission Meetings

October 6, 20