Neighborhoods are in jeopardy once again
IF APPROVED, the amended bill would override city laws and allow for more high rise apartment buildings near transit stops, such as at Windsor and Beverly boulevards.
The community was still fresh from celebrating new safeguards passed to protect single-family neighborhoods when a state bill surfaced last month that could change everything.
If approved, Senate Bill 79 “would open up most single-family neighborhoods throughout the state to more density and height with no public input,” said Cindy Chvatal-Keane, president of the Hancock Park Homeowners Association (HPHOA).
The HPHOA had worked with neighborhood groups and elected and city officials over the past three years to change zoning laws to meet the Los Angeles Housing Element, the state mandate to build an additional 255,000 homes in the city in the next eight years.
But now with SB 79 on the horizon, the Hancock Park Homeowners Association and United Neighbors — a statewide coalition of residential groups — are back at the drawing board, meeting with city planning staff, City councilmembers and the mayor. They are mobilizing cities across the state and have embarked on an email letter-writing campaign notifying residents of the issue, and they are also calling for a city study on the impacts of the proposed bill on neighborhoods throughout the city. “We need to get [SB 79] amended so it does not include single-family, HPOZ [Historic Preservation Overlay Zone] or historic districts. Otherwise we will never have homes for working / middle class families, because within 10 years these neighborhoods will be apartments only,” said Chvatal-Keane.
“Nobody is against density. We need more density. It’s where you put it,” she added.
The amended state bill, which, if passed, would override city laws, would allow for more density within a 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile radius from a transit stop. “These 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile radiuses will seriously impact hundreds of neighborhoods throughout L.A. and pretty much destroy the Valley. Our Greater Wilshire neighborhoods will be heavily impacted,” said Chvatal-Keane.
According to the proposed bill, introduced in January and amended in the Senate March 5, “Building more homes near transit access reduces housing and transportation costs for California families and promotes environmental sustainability, economic growth and reduced traffic congestion.”
The bill is supported by California YIMBY, Bay Area Council and Streets for All, among others.
“SB 79 will make it legal to build multifamily housing near transit, including in areas currently zoned only for single-family homes, by requiring upzoning near rail stations and bus lines… while also bolstering transit use — and the funding stability of public transportation systems,” according to the California YIMBY website.
Two housing advocacy groups, YIMBY Law and Californians for Homeownership, sued the city in February. (The lawsuit is funded by California Association of Realtors, according to United Neighbors.)
The plaintiffs claim that the city cannot reach its state housing mandate through the new Housing Element because it did not change the underlying zoning of neighborhoods but rather uses incentives for developers (in the CHIP program) to get more housing built.
In December, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the Citywide Housing Incentive Program (CHIP), which provides developers incentives to build 100-percent affordable and mixed-income housing and focus density along commercial corridors, near transit, job centers and public transportation.
Another bill watched closely by housing officials, SB 677, would strip away protections in place to protect homeowners from developers buying up properties. Safeguards in place include requiring a homeowner to live in a unit for at least five years before a lot is split up for duplexes or other combinations.
Category: News
