Los Angeles Conservancy Action Alert
 
 

Update on Yesterday's City Planning Commission Meeting

mansionization

Photo by Adrian Scott Fine/L.A. Conservancy.

Thank you to everyone who attended yesterday's City Planning Commission meeting!

We have good progress to report! At yesterday's City Planning Commission meeting, we made great progress in our work to strengthen the amended Baseline Mansionization and Hillside Ordinances (BMO/BHO).

Read more about yesterday's meeting in the Los Angeles Times >>

Planning Commissioners voted in support of a measure that reduces the impact of attached, front-loaded garages on older neighborhoods. Instead of fully exempting garages from the allowable square footage count, now a portion of the attached garage will be counted. This is welcome news given that many new houses with an attached, front-loaded garage contribute to the loss of community character, with large bulky masses that break the patterns of older, established neighborhoods. The amendment is not perfect but gets us closer to where we need to be.

The Conservancy and many neighborhood advocates pressed hard on this issue, asking for a simple and straightforward fix to the amended BMO/BHO. More than fifty people spoke in favor of the current amendments, while citing the front garage exemption as an outstanding problem that still needed to be resolved. A diversity of L.A. neighborhoods were well represented, with residents in attendance from Beverly Grove, Beverlywood, Brentwood, Carthay Square, Crestwood Hills, Hancock Park, La Brea, Laurel Canyon, Leimert Park, Marquez Knolls, Pico Union, Rancho Park, Studio City, West Adams, Westwood, and more.

People spoke passionately on this issue, asking for policy amendments that help to better manage growth so that new homes are "built to scale." One resident stated, "Character counts, it defines us, and matters in a neighborhood." Others asked, "Why should developers have the right to run over entire neighborhoods?" and another said, "Mansionization is a property right gone wrong."

The amended BMO/BHO will next head to the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee. We will keep you posted once a date is set. Thank you to all who came out and sent emails in support!

Please Email Your Councilmember

If you live in the City of L.A. and you have not yet written to your Councilmember, please take the time to do so now. Let them know how important your neighborhood’s character is to your quality of life, and ask them to support the City Planning Commission's amended ordinance.

Please email your City Councilmember and the Office of City Clerk. To ensure that it's a part of the official record, please include "CF 14-0656, BMO/BHO Amendments" in the subject line.

You can find your City Councilmember here, along with individual email address.

Please also email:

Niall Huffman, Planning Assistant, NeighborhoodConservation@lacity.org

Sharon Gin, Office of City Clerk, Sharon.Gin@lacity.org

Please cc the Conservancy at afine@laconservancy.org so that we may track progress.

Thank you for your support!

Learn more about Mansionization and Teardowns »

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