Mansionization: Burbank Makes LA Look Small

PLANNING WATCH-Recently the LA Times reported on measures under active consideration to stop mansionization in Burbank.  The story shows what a local city can do if it actually wants to stop mansionization, and it invites comparison to Los Angeles, where efforts to stop mansionization have been stalled, deflected, or sabotaged for over a decade.   

Here’s the comparison in a capsule: 

 

Burbank	Los Angeles
Mansionization initially brought to City Council’s attention two years ago.	Mansionization initially brought to City Council’s attention more than ten years ago.  The City Planning Commission adopted “neutralizing mansionization” as a core principle eight years ago.  The City Council passed the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance (BMO) seven years ago, and it has failed completely.
Considering design standards.  Timeline “as long as” two years.	Considering a comprehensive zoning code revision.  Timeline five years.
Before the standards are completed, planning staff recommends addressing “loopholes” related to size and scale.  Councilwoman Emily Gabel-Luddy called such recommendations “low-hanging fruit,” suggested that they be enacted with an urgency clause, and commented further, “I don’t think we can get this soon enough.”   City Council could consider the recommendations this week.	Before the code revision is completed, CM Paul Koretz proposed removing the BMO’s mansionization “loopholes” related to size and scale. Nine months have passed since CM Koretz submitted his motion. Citing a lack of resources, Planning has refused to begin work on it.  Instead, Planning prepared a raft of temporary ordinances that leave most single-family neighborhoods still exposed to mansionization.  The temporary ordinances are several months behind schedule, and the City Council’s Planning & Land Use Management (PLUM) committee declined to vote on them last month.
Meanwhile, the mayor called for a moratorium.	City officials refuse to consider a moratorium on McMansions.  The mayor has taken no position on mansionization measures.

 

At this point the only LA neighborhoods protected from mansionization are Historical Preservation Overlay Zones (HPOZs) and Residential Floor Area Districts (RFAs).  

Paul Koretz’s May 2014 motion to clean up the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance offered a simple, straightforward, and permanent solution to mansionization in Los Angeles.  Planning responded with a program of Interim Control Ordinances (ICOs) for 20 neighborhoods.  These short-term ordinances will leave the vast majority of single-family neighborhoods still exposed to continued, rampant mansionization. 

The ICOs were supposed to go into effect last December, but when Planning finally got the proposed ordinances to the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee (PLUM) in late February, the matter was “continued” without discussion or explanation.  Presumably, the ICO will be reheard at the next PLUM meeting, on March 17, if the Committee’s Chair, Councilmember Jose Huizar, deigns to put it back on the agenda. 

In the meantime, the real estate/contractor axis is heavily lobbying Council Office to water down the ICOs. 

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As for the actual amendments to the BMO, LA city planners have given two recent press interviews touting the promised benefits of re-CODE LA, a complex five-year program to completely rewrite LA’s zoning code.   Meanwhile, they insist they have no resources to implement the original Koretz motion, even though the same staff has spent months plugging away on temporary ordinances that still leave most of the city hanging out to dry.  

Is Councilmember Koretz’s motion on the Planning Department’s radar?  Have our other elected officials made it a priority?  No evidence of that yet.  Which brings us back to Burbank. They operate on a far smaller scale, but the political will and accountability of Burbank’s officials sure make Los Angeles look bush-league by comparison. 

(Shelley Wagers and Dick Platkin have been working on mansionization issues in Los Angeles for the past 10 years.  Please send any questions or comments to [email protected].) 

-cw

 

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 22

Pub: Mar 13, 2015