From the desk of Will Wright, Hon. AIA|LA
Director of Government & Public Affairs

The CPC largely failed to integrate any of the public comments into their adopted draft of the ordinance and while the CPC’s adopted draft of the ordinance may not fully reflect all of the public comments, it’s important to acknowledge the complexities involved in balancing various interests and priorities. We appreciate the efforts of the CPC and staff in addressing concerns and striving for a fair and equitable outcome.

We believe that greater community collaboration and engagement can further enhance this ordinance’s effectiveness. By strengthening the public input process and considering the valuable insights of stakeholders, we can work together to create a more livable and sustainable city for all.

Primarily, we applaud and celebrate the staff at Los Angeles City Planning for their outstanding effort to hear from the architecture & design community and the development community working to ensure that CHIP results in feasible, accessible, and affordable housing development.

More about CPC’s missed opportunity to take a stronger leadership position:

Editorial: A test for Mayor Bass’ Planning Commission — support affordable housing or preserve single-family zoning?

Los Angeles has to rezone the entire city. Why are officials protecting single-family-home neighborhoods?

LA city planners hear from a chorus of Angelenos wanting more housing in single-family neighborhoods

Talking Points that we shared:  (Credit = A Big Thank You to Michael Shilstone at the Central City Association of Los Angeles)

• We submitted a letter with 7 other organizations with our recommendations for the CHIP.
• Los Angeles is in the midst of a severe housing crisis. Among large cities in the United States, Los Angeles consistently has the highest levels of homelessness, rent-burdened tenants, overcrowding, and the lowest rates of homeownership.
• Our coalition is focused on ensuring that CHIP maximizes the potential for creating new housing in LA at all income levels.
• Central to accomplishing this goal is streamlining and depoliticizing housing approvals and tailoring the CHIP to best support project financial feasibility.
• We want to thank the Planning staff for their collaboration and hard work under a tight deadline.
• We appreciate that many of our prior recommendations were incorporated into the version before you and we believe the CHIP is better because of those changes.
• Specific Policy Asks
  • We ask that you preserve amended provisions, including: not counting above-ground parking count as floor area; affordable set asides in alignment with existing TOC requirements; more inclusive and simplified administrative review procedures; and minimizing politicized discretionary review
  • We also agree with the staff’s findings that a 2-to-1 replacement requirement under RPO would not be economically feasible and would be a considerable barrier to the creation of the new housing at all income levels.
  • Additionally, our coalition has further recommendations to make the CHIP a robust tool for new housing.
    • Depolitcize Development
      The CHIP must maximize ministerial approvals to depoliticize development in our city and deliver housing units faster and with greater certainty, To do so, any project under the Density Bonus or MIIP program should be able to use up to 3 waivers and be eligible for Expanded Administrative Review. Additionally, any project under the Density Bonus, MIIP or AHIP should be able to use up to five Additional Incentives or one incentive not on the menu of Additional Incentives. As currently written, any Density Bonus project asking for even one waiver and any MIIP project asking for two waivers, will be subject to a discretionary process with the City Planning Commissioner as the decisionmaker. Almost all of these projects will require the City Planning Commission to approve the waivers and a ministerial process is more appropriate.
    • Financial Feasibility
      Ensuring the financial feasibility of the CHIP should be paramount, or else we will never realize the vision of this program and we will miss a tremendous opportunity to address our housing crisis. Affordability requirements are a core consideration for project economics. To support feasibility, the Transit Oriented Incentive and Opportunity Corridor programs should be revised to a single-tier system by eliminating the increased affordability requirements for the High Medium, and High Market Tiers.
      FAR incentives should be increased to support the economic viability of projects. The on-menu FAR for Density Bonus should be increased to at least 4.5 for both C and multi-family R zones, and without a requirement for proximity to a Major Transit Stop. For TOIAs, the FARs in Tiers 1 through 3 should be increased further. The FAR in C and R zones should be increased to at least 4.5 in Tier 1, 5.0 in Tier 2 and 5.5 in Tier 3. In the Opportunity Corridor program, the FAR in the C and R zones should be increased to at least 4.5 in OC-1 and to at least 5.5 in OC-2 and OC-3.
    • Options + Flexibility
      The Density Bonus should be given the same level of benefits as the MIIP and AHIP Programs, meaning up to 3 waivers and up to five Additional Incentives or one off-menu incentive, same on-menu FAR incentive, and the same 7 Public Benefit Options as the other CHIP programs. This will make use of all the tools in the toolkit and give needed options and flexibility to builders.
      Given the severity of our housing crisis, we need an “all of the above” approach that presents as many options as possible for developing mixed-income housing. To do so, the MIIP should be useable in updated Community Plan areas.

UPDATES FROM AIA CALIFORNIA

Housing Streamlining for California Workshop
Date: October 17, 2024
Time: 10-11am PT
Register in advance here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUlcuCvqD4vGdAHZgQiLDVt3xAyArK11p…

We look forward to connecting with those who are interested in tackling these critical issues, and how architects and design professionals can work towards overcoming housing barriers in California.

Office to Housing Adaptive Reuse Survey.

AIA|LA & LACP DESIGN REVIEW SESSIONS

In 2024, we will coordinate thirty-six virtual design review sessions, which will serve as opportunities for architects and designers to help the Los Angeles City Planning’s Urban Design Studio critically review upcoming projects throughout the City.

Upcoming sessions include:

Oct 1, 2024 (10:00 AM)
Oct 8, 2024 (10:00 AM)
Oct 15, 2024 (10:00 AM)

Join us here w/ RSVP to gain zoom access.

Reach out and get more involved!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Will Wright, Hon. AIA|LA
Director, Government & Public Affairs
t: 213.639.0764
e: will@aialosangeles.org
www.aialosangeles.org