Los Angeles Citywide Design Guidelines: a roundtable discussion

Los Angeles Citywide Design Guidelines: a roundtable discussion

Recently, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning released an updated draft of their newly proposed Citywide Design Guidelines. Between now and May 24th, they are asking for comments and mark-ups, as well as, photographs and images that will better convey examples of design excellence.

Our roundtable discussion on May 14th will serve as a forum to discuss the draft design guidelines and collect insight and comments from participants. We will assemble and collate the recommendations we hear to share with the Department of City Planning on behalf of AIA Los Angeles prior to the May 24th deadline.

You are also encouraged to review the guidelines and provide ‘mark-ups’ directly to their draft document via their online outreach portal.

https://planning.lacity.org/urbandesign/citywide_design_guidelines/

More info about the Citywide Design Guidelines
The new proposed Citywide Design Guidelines aim to elevate the City’s design expectations for new development. The new Guidelines represent a comprehensive update and consolidation into a single, user friendly document of three existing Citywide Design Guidelines, which separately address residential, commercial, and industrial development. The update will enhance the development review process by organizing the Guidelines around three distinct design approaches that reflect key City policy priorities: Pedestrian-First Design, 360 Degree Design and Climate-Adapted Design.

BACKGROUND
On June 23, 2011 the City Planning Commission adopted the Citywide Design Guidelines, which serve to support the 10 Urban Design Principles, a part of the City of Los Angeles’ General Plan Framework Element. These principles are a statement of the City’s vision for the future of Los Angeles, addressing the value of walkability, neighborhood character, open space, sustainability, equity and connectivity. The Citywide Design Guidelines were established to carry out the common design objectives that maintain neighborhood form and character while promoting design excellence and innovative development solutions. The Guidelines were organized in three separate documents (residential, commercial and industrial) and covered a range of topics such as site planning and building orientation, entrances and relationship to adjacent buildings, building design and articulation, open space and landscaping, and parking and utilities. Many of the guidelines were almost identically restated in each of the three documents.

Recognizing the value of consolidating the existing Guidelines and streamlining the design review process, the Department’s Urban Design Studio presented to the City Planning Commission in July 2018 an overview of its intentions to update the existing Guidelines. Since then, the Studio conducted numerous internal and external outreach meetings with multiple City Departments, planning and design professionals, and community members to elicit input on key topics for inclusion in the Guidelines and recommendations on best practices. The draft update to the Guidelines is available at: https://planning.lacity.org/urbandesign/.

The public comment period will be open through May 24, 2019.