Editor’s note: With “Hollywood Community Plan Envisages the Future,” I began a brief review of that plan. This is the second post in a series.
In a far-reaching bid to prevent revitalization efforts in Hollywood from overrunning the community, the Los Angeles City Council gave final approval Tuesday to a plan that sharply restricts commercial and residential development over the next 20 years. ["Council Sharply Curbs Growth in Hollywood - Approves New Plan to Restrict Commercial and Residential Development Over 23 Square Miles," by Dean Murphy, Los Angeles Times, December 14, 1988.]
That was 1988. Twenty-two years later, a new Hollywood Community Plan is heading toward completion. It can be expected to shape development through 2030.
The 2010 version of the Hollywood Community Plan (July 2010 draft – PDF) does not seek to “sharply restrict … development,” but to guide it. The intent of the new plan is to promote commercial and residential development, to accommodate anticipated – and desired – growth, while maintaining a balance of community assets and stakeholder interests.
The Hollywood Community Plan is one of thirty-five community plans in the City of Los Angeles, each of which work within the city’s General Plan Framework. “California State Law,” according to the plan, “requires that cities prepare and adopt a comprehensive, integrated, long-term general plan to direct future growth and development.” Such plans establish a framework within which physical and economic resources are channeled.
Each of the 35 communities must create a plan for development within the constraints established; in Hollywood that means development does not overrun established neighborhoods, while current residents do not squelch anticipated growth.
The guiding principles of the General Plan:
- Grow strategically – promoting ‘smart growth’ to make walking and transit viable alternatives to cars;
- Conserve existing residential neighborhoods – encouraging development along commercial corridors;
- Balance the distribution of land uses – since both economic diversity and housing for residents are essential for long term sustainability;
- Enhance neighborhood character through better development standards – preserving what exists and ensuring high quality planning for future development;
- Create more small parks, pedestrian districts and public plazas – adding ‘pocket’ parks and public plazas to make new developments more pedestrian friendly;
- Improve mobility and access – including walking, biking, public transit, as well as driving; and
- Identify a hierarchy of commercial Districts and Centers – clarifying the roles and functions of commercial areas.
In addition to the General Plan, the Hollywood Community Plan must be integrated with the plans of a number of agencies and organizations, including the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA, which is overseeing two Hollywood projects), a project that provides for earthquake disaster relief, state enterprise zones to encourage development, several specific plans, four historic preservation overlay zones, and a supplemental use district.
The planning process within this complex structure began with small group meetings of community stakeholders. Based on this information gathering, the City Planning Department drafted proposals for land use policy. These proposals were presented at a number of community meetings, followed by two workshops, an open house, and a series of public hearings.
Ten neighborhood councils and five business improvement districts have offered feedback on the proposals. This process is still underway. The Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council and other groups are still refining their responses.
I will follow up in a future post on this public feedback.
(Photograph of a mixed-use project at the northwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue.)
