10/19/07
Oaks ICO Moves Forward
On September 18th, the Planning and Land Use Management Committee (PLUM) of the City of Los Angeles considered, among many other items, The Oaks’ Interim Control Ordinance (ICO). At the hearing, planners Blake Kendrick and Kevin Keller of the Community Planning Bureau presented the basis for the ICO (the Oaks neighborhood’s desire to control out-of-scale development) along with their research into the character and size of all the existing homes in The Oaks and the Ordinance they designed to preserve that character. After a recommendation for the Ordinance by Renee Weitzer of Council District 4 and comments pro and con by neighbors (mostly pro), the PLUM Committee voted to approve the ICO and send it for consideration to the full City Council. The City Council will consider the ICO at some point in the not too vastly distant future. When? No one knows. But if the Council does approve the Ordinance, the provisions of the Ordinance would take effect as of July 12, 2007, the date at which the City Planning Commission approved it. The temporary Ordinance would be effective for one year from the end of the publication period by the City Clerk, which is roughly thirty days after approval by City Council. The Ordinance could also be extended for up to two, six month terms beyond that.
The ICO limits the size of a home that can be built on any lot based on the relationship of home size to lot size, or Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The ICO is intended to control out-ofscale development in the neighborhood for a temporary period while longer-term regulations for The Oaks are formulated by the Department of City Planning working in conjunction with the residents of The Oaks. The Oaks ICO is, in that sense, a pilot project for the City, to determine how more specific regulations might limit the uncontrolled development of oversize homes in built-out neighborhoods like ours.
The text of the proposed Interim Control Ordinance is available on this very website. We’ll also be posting a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the Ordinance on the website. And if neighbors have other questions, they can write to Oaks Homeowners Association boardmember Bob Young at Bob.Young@oakshome.org.
The ICO limits the size of a home that can be built on any lot based on the relationship of home size to lot size, or Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The ICO is intended to control out-ofscale development in the neighborhood for a temporary period while longer-term regulations for The Oaks are formulated by the Department of City Planning working in conjunction with the residents of The Oaks. The Oaks ICO is, in that sense, a pilot project for the City, to determine how more specific regulations might limit the uncontrolled development of oversize homes in built-out neighborhoods like ours.
The text of the proposed Interim Control Ordinance is available on this very website. We’ll also be posting a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the Ordinance on the website. And if neighbors have other questions, they can write to Oaks Homeowners Association boardmember Bob Young at Bob.Young@oakshome.org.
