The DRRA's Land Use Committee recently sent the following letter to the city of Los Angeles:
To Mayor Karen Bass and the 15 members of the Los Angeles City Council:
This draft ordinance seeks to convert Emergency Directive 1 (as amended through July
1, 2024) into an ordinance, but the draft ordinance offers too many opportunities for
planning decisions to be discretionary, and discretionary decisionmaking opens the door
to graft and corruption.
When “all affordable” projects are proposed, it is essential that there be clear, uniformly
applied guidelines for when a developer will be allowed waivers, exceptions and/or
incentives in exchange for building housing. The Planning Department’s General
Development Standards (updated March 2024) should serve as the general rule for
what can be built, and waivers, exceptions and/or incentives should be provided
infrequently, if at all. We want to maintain the height limits, setback and open space
requirements that make our community a desirable place to live.
Further, the City Planning Commission’s Affordable Housing Incentives Guidelines (VI)
provide that an applicant requesting incentives/concessions must provide “[t]he
rationale and accurate supporting information, sufficient to demonstrate that the specific
request is necessary to make the affordable units feasible.” In other words, will the
project only “pencil out” if the incentives are provided, or could the affordable units be
provided within the limits of existing zoning and development standards? All developers
must be required to make this showing for any project that includes covenanted
affordable units.
The Del Rey community has several “all affordable” projects that were built in
compliance with the Palms Mar Vista Del Rey Community Plan. Therefore, we believeDocusign Envelope ID: D63CF9C4-291C-4E3E-ACD7-6F408C3CF31A
Council File 23-0623-S1
Page 2 of 4
that the City can get the affordable housing it needs without ignoring the planning needs
of the existing community.
Very truly yours,
Elizabeth Campos Layne
President
PARTIAL LIST OF “ALL AFFORDABLE” PROJECTS (does not include Mar Vista
Gardens (601 units run by HACLA), an unknown number of buildings that take Section
8 tenants, two domestic violence shelters and community care facilities with low income
residents):
Del Rey Square, 11976 Culver Blvd., 124 units for seniors, 12 of which are for formerly
homeless;
Redwood Village, 13150 Maxella Avenue, 50 units of Section 8 housing;
Ballona Villa, 5026 S. Slauson, 10 units of supportive housing;
5032 Slauson, 8 units of supportive housing;
4816 Slauson, 8 units of affordable housing;
4216 Centinela Avenue, 14 units of affordable and supportive housing;
Gateway Apartments, 13368 W. Beach Avenue, 21 units of supportive housing for
people who experienced homelessness.
PATH Villas at Del Rey, 11738 Courtleigh Drive, 23 units for individuals with mental
health disabilities who have experienced homelessness.
PROPOSED “ALL AFFORDABLE” PROJECTS:
12120 Wagner Street (“Allies for Every Child”), ADM-2024-2795-DB-SIP-VHCA (14
units);
12606 Culver Blvd. (next to Marina Christian Fellowship, possibly a “faith-based”
project, but being prepared by Community Corporation of Santa Monica);
11304-11310 and 11312-11314 Culver Boulevard. Culver City is the lead agency for
this 143 unit, eight story project, which straddles the boundary between Culver City (89
units) and Los Angeles (54 units) and is next to the 405 freeway. The project is aimed at
the “missing middle,” i.e. a single person making $82,500 per year can qualify, and the
building is nearly all one bedroom units.
CC:
Marian Ensley, West Area Representative for Mayor Karen Bass,
Jeff Khau, Planning Deputy, City Councilmember Traci Park, jeff.khau@lacity.org
Matthew Halden, Del Rey Deputy, City Councilmember Traci Park,
Blair Smith (re Citywide Housing incentive Program), blair.smith@lacity.org
Kiran Rishi (re Community Plan Update), kiran.rishi@lacity.org
Matthew Glesne, Sr. City Planner, Housing Policy, matthew.glesne@lacity.org
Del Rey Neighborhood Council, board@delreync.org
Land Use and Planning Committee, Del Rey Neighborhood Council,
Maryam Zar, Westside Regional Alliance of Councils Land Use & Planning Committee
mpkalban@gmail.com, United Neighbors