Loophole Brings Multifamily Projects to Single-Family Streets in L.A.

A loophole in one of Karen Bass’ first acts as mayor of Los Angeles may allow as many as eight multi-story apartment buildings to rise on the same block as single-family residences.

Shortly after she was sworn in, Bass issued an executive order to fast-track the city’s approval of 100% affordable housing projects and homeless shelters in response to the declaration of a homelessness state of emergency in Los Angeles.

The order, known as Executive Directive 1 (ED1) establishes a fast-track process that exempts developers of these projects from conducting certain environmental impact assessments or running a gauntlet of public hearings.

Six months later, Bass revised ED1, adding a clause which specifies that projects built under ED1 cannot be located on streets with single-family residences.

However, in the six months it took the mayor to revise her order, up to eight projects were filed by developers who plan to build large multifamily developments in single-family neighborhoods, according to a report in the Los Angeles Daily News.

All of the proposed multifamily projects are located in the San Fernando Valley. Two of the projects are in Canoga Park, three are in Reseda, and one each are in Pacoima, Sun Valley and Sherman Oaks. According to the city’s planning department, the proposals range from 78 to 202 units, with heights ranging from 39 to 80 feet.

Uncommon Developers has proposed a seven-story, 200-unit affordable housing project on Ethel Avenue in a single-family residential neighborhood in Sherman Oaks. The company submitted a preliminary application in March and complete paperwork several weeks later-before Bass revised her executive directive.

In July, after Bass revised ED1, the planning department notified the developer that his application no longer qualified for the ED1 track, the Daily News reported.

The developer appealed to the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which upheld the appeal, writing to city officials that the developer has “vesting rights” because the completed application came in before Bass revised her ED1.

Last month, the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee also sided with the developer and forwarded the case to the full City Council for consideration.

A split council voted 8-5 last week to uphold the PLUM committee’s decision to side with the developer.

One of the “no” votes-Bob Blumenfield, a City Council member whose district includes five of the proposed multifamily projects-said at the council meeting that the city should not permit the eight projects to move forward under ED1.

“All of those neighbors, all of those folks who can’t necessarily speak for themselves, who live next door…their property value is going to get cut in half, they’re going to have a big shadow over their place…when that was not the intent of ED1,” Blumenfield said, the Daily News reported.