HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY PLAN.. March 18th Final CPC Hearing...Next Stop City Council
CPC Moves Hollywood Community Plan Draft to City Council
March 23, 2021Elizabeth Fuller
After a second marathon meeting (this one clocking in at seven hours, while a previous discussion ran 6 1/2 hours), the City Planning Commission on March 18 gave its approval to the current draft of the Hollywood Community Plan, with a few suggested revisions, and passed it along to the Los Angeles City Council, where it will receive further deliberation and public hearings.
The CPC first discussed the current draft of the HCP, submitted by the City Planning Department after several years of discussions with neighborhood groups and other stakeholders, on February 18. But after a lengthy Planning Department presentation, and several hours of public comments, the Planning commissioners did not have time to finish their deliberations, and identified several specific issues for further discussion. These included:
Optimal base and maximum Floor Area Ratio (FARs) for development projects in the Regional Center (the busiest and densest area of Hollywood)
Housing stability and tenant protections
Development thresholds for five transit-adjacent Corridor areas identified in the plan
Hotel development
Rules for the Media/Studio District
Street vending
Historic preservation
Parks and open space
R1 residential zones
At last week’s meeting, the Commissioners addressed each of these issues individually, with the Planning Department providing additional background to inform the discussion.
Regional Center Floor Area Ratios
The current draft of the Hollywood Plan identifies a Regional Center area, which covers the part of the Plan area with the most intense land use. The goal in this area is to encourage development of businesses, hotels, and housing – especially affordable housing – while also preserving the resources and character that draw people to the area in the first place.
The plan proposes to do this by setting a minimum (or base) Floor Area Ratio (the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the size of the lot it sits on) for new buildings, with bonuses that can significantly increase the allowed FAR if developers include specific community benefits, such as affordable housing or open space accessible to the community.
At the first Plan hearing in February, there was significant discussion of where to set both the base and maximum allowable FAR for the Regional Center, with the current draft of the plan setting a base FAR at 3.1, and specifying bonuses developers could claim that would move the maximum FAR up to 4.5:1. To read the rest of story:
The 'Regional Center' is below Whitley Heights.. National Historically Designated Hollywood Blvd., or Historic Core of Hollywood..
The final CPC vote (not unanimous), was to increase the FAR and Upzone The Regional Center more than Planning Staff Recommendation for the Historic Core of Hollywood..
The article includes maps, and renderings showing the size of buildings that will be allowed in the area with the increased FAR beyond Planning Staff Recommendations..
Next, The Hollywood Community Plan will go to the City Council hearing, where there will be more opportunity for public input.