Serving Larchmont Village, Hancock Park, and the Greater Wilshire neighborhoods of Los Angeles since 2011.

City Council PLUM Committee to Hear Local ICO Motion and Hardship Exemption Applications Tomorrow

 

La Brea -Hancock
A Spanish style bungalow is dwarfed by its new neighbor in the La Brea – Hancock area, just to the north east of the Miracle Mile.

On Tuesday, October, 6, the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee will hear several items of local interest, including a motion to establish an Interim Control Ordinance in the Brookside, Sycamore Square and Sherman Oaks neighborhoods, to temporarily prevent teardowns of existing single-family homes while the city works on revisions to its Baseline Mansionization Ordinance.  (The BMO regulates the replacement of original neighborhood homes with new homes that are often much larger than the originals and out of scale with existing neighborhoods.)

A number of other local neighborhoods are already covered by ICOs.  The three being discussed tomorrow were intended to be addressed in a motion earlier this year by the termed-out Tom La Bonge before he left his District 4 council seat, but that motion was never made…so new City Council District 4 representative David Ryu introduced the new motion after he took office in July.  The motion would “prohibit the issuance of a building permit for a residential structure in the RA, RE, RS and R1 Zones in the single-family neighborhoods within the jurisdiction of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, the Brookside Neighborhood and the Sycamore Square Neighborhood, unless the proposed structure complies with the regulations set forth in the Studio City Residential Floor Area District.”  (Note: the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council voted to support the motion at its August, 2015 meeting.)

In addition to the ICO motion, the PLUM Committee will also review tomorrow several “hardship exemption” applications, filed by property owners in areas already covered by an ICO, who are asking to tear down or significantly remodel their properties in areas that are ICO-restricted.  These cases include:

Application filed by Chris Wright and Truc-Linh Nguyen, owners and residents at 564 North Arden Boulevard, requesting permission for construction of a 660-square foot kitchen and bath addition to their 1,448 square foot single family residence.

Application filed by Jesse Williams and Aryn Drake-Lee, owners and residents at 545 North Gower Street, requesting permission for construction of an 893-square foot second-story addition to their 1,153 square foot single family residence .

Application filed by Elaine and Josh Brooks, owners and residents at 533 North Plymouth Boulevard, requesting permission to demolish and replace their existing 1,571 square foot residence with  a new 3,365 square foot residence with neighborhood-compatible architecture.  (Note:  the GWNC voted to support this application at its July, 2015 meeting.)

The PLUM Committee meeting is open to the public.  Stakeholders who would like to either support or oppose any of the  motions or applications may attend, and may also voice their opinions by contacting Council Member David Ryu , CD 4 Chief of Land Use Planning Renee Weitzer, and/or CD4 Planning Deputy Julia Duncan.  Communications can also be sent to PLUM Committee Chair Jose Huizar. One neighborhood advocacy group, “No More McMansions Los Angeles,” posted on its Facebook page yesterday that support for the ICO motion would be appreciated, but noted that it would also be valuable for people concerned about the larger mansionization issue to “speak in support [of the ICO], and end with the argument that the best solution is to amend the gosh-darned BMO, and just fix this problem citywide, once and for all.”  So far, according to the PLUM Committee’s agenda page, no public comments or Community Impact Statements have been received on any of the items.

City Council Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) committee meeting
Tuesday, October 6, 2:30 p.m.
City Hall: 200 North Spring St, Room 350


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Elizabeth Fuller
Elizabeth Fuller
Elizabeth Fuller was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN but has lived in LA since 1991 - with deep roots in both the Sycamore Square and West Adams Heights-Sugar Hill neighborhoods. She spent 10 years with the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, volunteers at Wilshire Crest Elementary School, and has been writing for the Buzz since 2015.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Pls add me to your distribution Liz–thx! And thx for the notice about the PLUM mtg–I will get some Brooksiders to attend the mtg.
    jan

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