L.A. Mayor's Order Invoked to Speed Warner Center Project

The first order that Karen Bass issued when she became mayor of Los Angeles is being invoked to speed an affordable housing project, which was the original intention of the order.

Shortly after she was sworn in, Bass issued Executive Directive 1 (ED1) 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.

ED1 establishes a process that exempts developers of these projects from conducting certain environmental impact assessments or running a gauntlet of public hearings. The goal is to streamline approvals for 100% affordable housing and shelters within 60 days.

Meta Housing, a West Los Angeles-based developer, has cited ED 1 in its application to the Los Angeles Department of City planning seeking a quick approval for the construction of an apartment campus at 21300 W. Oxnard Street in an area of Woodland Hills known as Warner Center, according to a report in Urbanize LA.

The company is planning two buildings encompassing a total of 301 units, to be divided into studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, along with parking for 229 vehicles. All of the units will be restricted to 100% affordable housing, with 10% of the units reserved for very-low-income households.

According to the plans, the buildings will be seven and eight stories. The apartments will be built in two phases, including a building containing 173 units, followed by a building with 128 units. Warner Center is a business district that contains office tower, shopping centers and apartments in San Fernando Valley.

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Daily News reported that a loophole in ED 1 may allow as many as eight multi-story apartment buildings to rise on the same block as single-family residences. Six months after issuing ED1, adding a clause which specifies that projects built under ED1 cannot be located on streets with single-family residences.

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.

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 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 to uphold the PLUM committee’s decision to side with the developer.