In its Neighborhood Conservation Newsletter last week, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning announced that a City Planning Commission hearing on a set of proposed revisions to the city’s Baseline Mansionization Ordinance has been rescheduled from March 10 to May 12, to provide more time for public comment and environmental analysis.
 The BMO was originally enacted to help curb the size of replacement homes in established neighborhoods.  Over time, however, it proved to be both ineffective and often (via several bonus opportunities) actually seemed to encourage development of oversize homes – the exact opposite of its original intent.
A few months ago, the city released a new draft of the BMO, containing several key changes in the way building size and floor area are calculated, and eliminating certain kinds of floor area bonuses that were included in the original ordinance. Â Since then, the Planning Department has held a number of community meetings seeking input on the proposed changes, and has solicited feedback through many other channels as well. Â In a letter sent out to stakeholders this week, Department officials said more than 300 people attended the community meetings, and more than 650 comments have been received so far via e-mail. Â A summary of the comments was included, grouping the received statements into nine categories such as “Exemptions,” “Bonuses,” Â and “Floor Area Ratio.” Â The list is just a reporting tool, however (and, as you might expect, contains many directly contradictory opinions), and there is no evaluation yet of the comments received.
Although the deadline for submitting comments to the Planning Department closed in mid-January, interested stakeholders who would still like to submit comments can now send them to the City Planning Commission prior to the May hearing.
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