The city's new Transit-Oriented Communities Incentive is intended to promote more transit-oriented development. We sat down with Andrew Starrels, is a partner with Holland & Knight LLP and a member of the firm's West Coast Land Use and Environment Group, to talk about the new incentive and how it will impact development in the coming year.

GlobeSt.com: What is the Transit Oriented Communities Incentive?

Andrew Starrels: The Transit Oriented Communities Incentive, or TOC Program, is a relatively new set of guidelines adopted by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning as part of the implementation of Measure JJJ, passed by the voters in November 2016. Measure JJJ sought to trigger the construction of more affordable housing by requiring City officials to create incentives for building housing near transit resources. The implementation of the TOC Program represents the City's required response to the voter mandate to promote development of affordable housing near transit—essentially within one-half mile of major transit points (rail or bus stations, or the convergence of two or more major bus lines).
The TOC program establishes “tiers” by increasing the permitted density for projects as the affordable housing within the project increases. To some extent, the Program mirrors the statewide “density bonus” program, in which additional density, expressed as a percentage of the otherwise allowable number of units in a proposed development, is permitted if a developer includes a specified percentage of affordable units set aside for residents meeting certain income qualification requirements. At its basic level, the Program incentives echo the state density bonus, and provide a similar menu of additional incentives (setback relief, reduced yard requirements, additional height or density, etc.) for projects that provide more affordable housing. The TOC Program attempts to go further than the original statewide density bonus and the existing City density bonus program by providing additional incentives for greater density or building allowances if greater percentages or affordable housing are developed and when projects fulfill certain more onerous requirements, including paying “prevailing wage” for project labor. Some of the additional incentives afforded by the TOC Program are pretty significant, and increase the amount of density that will be allowed by a project that includes an affordable housing element located near transit.