Hollywood may be getting some taller buildings in places you might not expect.
The L.A. City Council approved a long-delayed revamp of the Hollywood Community Plan on Wednesday, years after efforts to update the plan first began. It is designed to “reasonably accommodate” 35,000 new housing units in Hollywood and will grant more freedom to developers building on major streets in the city.
“This plan is a huge step forward in our city, it really helps us provide housing for all Angelenos,” Vince Bertoni, Director of Planning said at Wednesday’s meeting. “It’s a significant part of us achieving the goals in our Housing Element.”
This would be the first major update to the plan since its adoption in 1988. The city did approve a plan update in 2012, but the findings of the plan’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) were challenged, and a decision by the Los Angeles Superior Court prompted Hollywood to rescind that update and revert to the 1988 plan.
With the approval of the new Hollywood Community Plan, developers will be allowed to build significantly taller buildings along major streets like Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards given a certain percentage of those units are affordable. There will be several measures to ensure existing affordable housing units are not lost and resident displacement is minimized.
The plan also extends the required lifespan of affordable housing covenants — land use permits that obligate an owner to designate a specified number and type of dwelling units for occupancy by extremely low, very low, low, or moderate-income households — from the normal 55 years in most parts of Los Angeles to 99 years.
Another focus of the plan is the preservation of the integrity of the hillside. There is no upzoning in the hillside and the plan includes a program to establish a Hillside Construction Regulation District (HCD) to help manage future developments on the hillside in a sustainable manner.
Many of the council members noted that this plan has been years in the making, and were thankful that their work had finally come to fruition.
Katy Yaroslavsky was among the speakers, noting she had constituents in her Fifth District that were involved in this process, and emphasized the importance of adopting the plan at that meeting.
Thirteenth District Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez — whose district includes the central and south Hollywood areas that this plan is focused on — spoke briefly in support of the plan at Wednesday’s meeting, saying he was “thrilled” to get this done.
“This is just the beginning…for parts of CD13, the best is yet to come,” Soto-Martinez said.
Several council members — including Soto-Martinez — also released statements after the meeting expressing their satisfaction with the adoption of the Hollywood Community Plan. Nihiya Rama — whose Fourth District directly borders Central Hollywood to the North — also released a statement acknowledging the significance of the plan’s adoption.
“Waiting 35 years to update the Hollywood Community Plan — last adopted in 1988 — has hurt current tenants and prevents the thoughtful management of development in our neighborhoods,” Raman wrote. “With today’s historic vote, we are moving forward with a new plan to preserve affordability and accommodate growth in the greater Hollywood area for the years ahead.”
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