AIA LA Supports the extension of Executive Directive #1 — Council File: 23-0623

Today (June 27) Los Angeles City Council voted on a motion from Council President Paul Krekorian and Councilmembers Nithya Raman, Katy Yaroslavsky, and Bob Blumenfield.  Endorsed by AIA LA’s Executive Committee earlier this month, AIA LA is on the public record with our support.

The motion instructs the Director of City Planning and the Office of the City Attorney to prepare a draft ordinance to codify the provisions of Executive Directive #1 (ED 1) to the fullest legal extent possible, and to make these expediting procedures permanent.

ED 1, which was signed by Mayor Karen Bass on December 16, 2022, is an emergency declaration to expedite the permits and departmental clearances for temporary shelters and 100% affordable housing projects.  It also exempts 100% affordable housing projects from discretionary review and Site Plan Review “as long as such plans do not require any zoning change, variance, or General Plan amendment.”  According to the Los Angeles Business Council, “in the few months it has been in place, ED 1 has dramatically expedited the production of affordable housing, with nearly 1,600 units approved in an average of just 37 days, with another 2,600 new units in the pipeline.”

The motion also directs LACP, LAHD, LADBS, LAFD, and LADWP to report on “the effectiveness and impact of ED 1,” and to include recommendations on how to overcome any existing ‘programmatic gaps’ and staffing needs that will help advance the goals of the Housing Element and RHNA Rezoning Program.

In addition, the motion directs the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) to request input from AIA Los Angeles, as well as, SCANPH, Los Angeles Business Council, and the Supportive Housing Alliance “on additional policy changes that can further enhance the City’s ability to expedite the development of affordable and supportive housing.”

If we hear directly from the CLA, we’ll let you know. (I’m curious if anyone will pro-actively reach out, or if we need to ‘knock on their door’ with a friendly reminder.)

In the meantime, if you’d like to join our working group to provide recommendations on how best to expedite and streamline the development of housing, please reach out to me at will@aialosangeles.org.

One key recommendation will be to expand the scope of ED #1’s provisions to also include all mixed-income housing, as well.  We need housing for all and all types of housing are essential to addressing the severity and impact of this regional crisis.

CONCERNS About The Wildlife Ordinance – Council File: 14-0518

On June 20th, LA City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee approved as amended the draft Wildlife Ordinance and will next be heard by the full City Council later this summer.

Although we are extremely late to the ‘decision-making’ table, I’ve heard an extensive amount of concern for the unintentional and negative impacts that this draft ordinance will have on the architecture profession and its efforts to deliver creative and environmentally effective design solutions in our area hillsides and wildlife corridors.  Of course, we support strategies that protect and nourish wildlife, promote bio-diversity, and sustain healthy ecologies.  However, sometimes even well-intended measures have substantial flaws and by more effectively engaging the architecture & design community those flaws can be ameliorated.

We are currently drafting a set of recommendations to share with LA City Council on how to improve the draft ordinance and we welcome your input and ideas. Please share your specific recommendations to will@aialosangeles.org by July 14th so that we can make sure to integrate your concerns into our memo to LACP and City Council.

Primarily, we are asking LACP and City Council to more effectively utilize the resources of AIA Los Angeles to help facilitate case studies to test the feasibility of the ordinance. The concerns I’ve heard from AIA members is that the ordinance is being inadvertently ‘weaponized’ to severely limit the development of housing in our beloved hillside areas by making many projects no longer feasible.  The ordinance may also severely divert the personnel resources of LACP (and other city departments) towards an onerous, complex, and time-consuming entitlement process that drains resources away from implementing and executing policies that help deliver affordable housing more quickly. Furthermore, I’ve heard substantial concern from AIA members, that as currently written, the ordinance exposes the City to substantial litigious risk, which we as a city can absolutely not afford.

I think anyone concerned about our city budget will want to more closely examine ordinances and policies that may end up costing the city untold millions of dollars in legal entanglements.