Proposals that will impact growth of Hollywood and DTLA head to LA City Council

Following almost four hours of discussion and public comment, a powerful Los Angeles City Council committee has voted unanimously to update long-range plans for two of the city’s most iconic neighborhoods — Hollywood and downtown L.A.

While the Hollywood Community Plan and the Downtown Community Plan address neighborhood issues, they also highlight broader, citywide matters such as increasing affordable housing, supporting businesses, providing tenant protections, and creating open and green spaces.

Following Monday’s separate approvals of the two community plans by the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, the two plans will next be considered by the full City Council.

“With 80% of the plan’s housing capacity within half a mile of major transit stops, the DTLA Community Plan Update leverages L.A.’s transit-rich center to connect more Angelenos and visitors to housing, employment, health care, education and cultural events,” Planning Director Vince Bertoni said in a statement.

“The Hollywood Community Plan Update also encourages housing growth along transportation corridors, reinforces Hollywood’s media and entertainment jobs center, provides more mobility options and puts forward more sustainable solutions,” he added.

Priya Mehendale, a senior city planner, said the Hollywood plan was “35 years in the making.” Bertoni cited budgetary issues and litigation that voided a 2012 plan adopted by the City Council to explain why it took so long.

“This is very unusual. It’s by far the oldest community plan by many years,” he said.

The Hollywood Community Plan would accommodate about 58,000 more residents, 35,000 housing units and 29,000 jobs in the next 20 years. It would also direct the growth near transit, bolster the neighborhood’s creative employment identity, provide more transportation choices and ensure hillside area development is protective of resources.

Mehendale said the proposed Hollywood plan would also establish a review process for the rehabilitation of eligible historic sites.

But Fran Offenhauser, a founder of Hollywood Heritage, said many people are upset that the city would bring forward a plan that creates a conflict between the “most important historic buildings” and affordable housing.

“By taking the geographic area of central Hollywood, where all of these historic buildings and neighborhoods are clustered, and then deciding that was the place to put their incentive program to effectively tear things down and build new apartments, low income apartments, is unnecessary,” Offenhauser said. “It was an outright mistake.”

Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky said the plan would reinvigorate the Hollywood community, including areas in her district that comprise multi-family and single-family communities, as well as commercial corridors in the Melrose arts district.

She encouraged her PLUM Committee colleagues to support the plan several amendments that she and Councilmembers Nithya Raman and Hugo Soto-Martínez, who also represent parts of the Hollywood area, are seeking that involve tenant protections and expanded affordable housing elements.

The three councilmembers are seeking relocation assistance for renters who are forced out of their homes and a provision guaranteeing no net loss of affordable housing units to make way for new developments. They also want affordable housing covenants — agreements between property owners and the city to provide affordable housing units — to be extended from 55 years to 99 years, and additional affordability requirements in some areas to promote equity.

“I believe there doesn’t need to be a tension between housing density and housing affordability,” Soto-Martínez said. “If we adopt the plan that mandates the correct percentages of included affordable housing and all-for-profit projects, we can benefit in the production of high-density projects that work for everyone.”

The downtown community plan, known as DTLA 2040, was presented by Brittany Arceneaux, senior city planner. She said the plan is expected to create 100,000 new housing units, bring 100,000 new job opportunities and encourage 175,000 more residents in DTLA through 2040.

“Downtown is envisioned to be the first area in the city to make use of the long-anticipated new zoning code,” city planning officials said in a statement. “The suggested plan also provides clear, standardized tools necessary to address the housing crisis equitably, and strive to support and sustain downtown’s ongoing transformation, with 20% of the city’s population growth projected to take place in just 1% of its land.”

The plan’s community benefits program would allow the city to establish “base” development rights and affordable housing obligations downtown, as well as “bonus” incentives for projects that provide specific public benefits such as increased affordable housing, public open spaces or community facilities within projects.

Craig Weber, principal city planner, said a majority of the DTLA 2040 plan would allow for a broad range of developments such as industrial mixed-use, commercial mixed-use, or residential districts. Some argued that skid row, the epicenter of the homeless population, should have 100% affordable housing going forward. But the PLUM Committee decided to require 80% affordable housing.

Incentives will be available for projects that dedicate space for garment manufacturing in the Fashion District.

Members of Protect LA’s Garment Jobs Coalition and Unite Here Local 11 filled the Council Chambers to call for more affordable housing and for protection of the Fashion District’s future.

“Garment and hospitality workers are united in ensuring that the Downtown Community Plan protects our communities from too much luxury residential and commercial development, like hotels,” the coalition said in a statement. “Garment and hospitality workers need affordable housing, not more development that could threaten where we live or work.”

Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez, whose district encompasses areas of DTLA, said her office supported the land use recommendations to preserve the Fashion District while calling for a long-term program to prevent the displacement of district workers and local businesses.

Councilman Kevin de León, whose district also encompasses areas of DTLA, issued a statement following the PLUM Committee’s actions.

“[The] unanimous committee approval for the DTLA 2040 plan puts it on its way for final approval,” de León said. “We have taken an enormous leap forward in the city to provide affordable housing for all income levels, but particularly for working Angelenos, like housekeepers, janitors, and others that work throughout Downtown L.A. and citywide.”

SCNG writer Linh Tat contributed to this report.