Planning Commission Approves Hollywood Community Plan Update Demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that between 2000 and 2010, Hollywood (defined as roughly between La Brea, Melrose, Western and Franklin avenues) lost 6,000 Latino residents, a 2013 LA Weekly story found. Neighboring East Hollywood, home to Thai Town and Little Armenia, lost 5,000 Latinos. In both Hollywoods, the Latino population declined 17% in that 10-year span, while the city’s Latino population overall grew 10%, according to the Weekly. Many residents and tenant advocates who called in to the digital meeting to give public comment held up this information and personal accounts as evidence that a wave of mass displacement out of the area was taking place as development flourished. They advocated for a series of changes to the plan proposed by a group called the Just Hollywood Coalition. The coalition, which includes Alliance for Community Transit-Los Angeles, officially came together early last year, motivated by the coronavirus pandemic, and had a focus on pushing the city to make additions to the Hollywood plan. In addition to advocating for added renter protections, one of their suggestions was to require a conditional use permit for new hotels, which would be an extra hurdle over which to jump on the road to project approval. Commercial property owner David Gadja, who owns properties in Hollywood including the building housing St. Felix on Cahuenga Boulevard and in Hollywood, told the commission he headed up a group four or five years ago that was trying to get hotels to come to Hollywood because “there were zero.” He said he didn’t understand where the anti-hotel sentiment was coming from. “The thing that brings people to Hollywood is Hollywood,” Gadja said. “It’s not only affordable housing, it’s the commercial infrastructure. If we do away with that, nobody’s going to come to Hollywood.” Planning staff had recommended that hotels only be required to get a conditional use permit in the event that they were proposed for a certain area within the plan, if they were going to directly displace existing residential uses. Planners said that hotel uses were already fairly restricted, as they are not permitted in residential areas and need a conditional use permit in other areas in the plan. The planning commission voted in favor of accepting the staff recommendations as they related to hotels. Community plans guide development in neighborhoods across the city, outlining which uses are allowed and where they can go down to the city block level. Hollywood, Boyle Heights and Downtown Los Angeles’ plans are among those being updated now. But the Hollywood Community Plan has unique circumstances. The city approved an update to the plan in 2012, but faced a legal challenge to it after it was adopted. Three groups — Fix the City, the La Mirada Avenue Neighborhood Association and SaveHollywood.org — said that the updated plan relied on outdated demographic data and that the alternatives proposed in the environmental impact report were not adequately looked into. A 2014 Los Angeles County Superior Court decision found in favor of the groups and the plan was ultimately rescinded. The area is currently operating under the guidelines of the 1988 plan. The plan still has to go before the full Los Angeles City Council. CORRECTION, MAR. 19, 10:30 A.M. PST: An earlier version of this story did not correctly identify the plan update as the draft. This story and headline have been updated. https://www.bisnow.com/los-angeles/news/construction-development/hollywood-community-plan-update-108182 Hollywood Community Plan Update – Magnet for Spurious Arguments to Justify Real Estate Speculation DICK PLATKIN 18 MARCH 2021 https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/cw/los-angeles/21394-hollywood-community-plan-update-magnet-for-spurious-arguments-to-justify-real-estate-speculation