On Tuesday night, April 10th, representatives of the City’s Planning Department welcomed Oaks residents to a workshop at Immaculate Heart High School Auditorium to discuss the shape and scope of a proposed Interim Control Ordinance (ICO) aimed at reining in the out-of-scale development that’s compromised both the character of our neighborhood and the quality of residents’ lives over the last several years.

Nearly fifty residents of The Oaks, Los Feliz and Hollywoodland attended the workshop at which City planner Blake Kendrick narrated a power point presentation with assistance from fellow city planner Kevin Keller. 

Ms. Kendrick described the recent history of development here in The Oaks, a history of uncharacteristically large structures being built on relatively small plots of land – structures out of scale with the existing neighborhood.  The result has been disruption of the neighborhood’s character, loss of privacy, loss of greenscape accompanied by increased run-off of water, loss of plant and animal habitat, a perceived increase in density, and parking concerns.   The proposed ICO would, for a period of a year, restrict the construction of over-size structures by instituting a maximum Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for homes built or added-to in The Oaks.  (Floor area ratio is simply the interior floor area of a home in square footage divided by the area of the lot in square footage; thus a 2,500 s.f. home on a 10,000 s.f. lot has an FAR of .25.)

The regulations proposed are based on a comprehensive survey of the existing house to lot ratios in The Oaks today, and are designed to ensure that new homes match the scale and character of the neighborhood relative to each individual lot size.  The larger the lot size, the larger the size of the home that can be built on it.  (Restrictions would be placed only on new construction and additions, and would have no impact on existing homes).

Instead of a single FAR applied to all development, the ICO proposed by Kendrick and Keller envisions a variable range of allowable development and takes into account the specific needs of owners of very small lots.  That is, owners of smaller lots would be able to build at a somewhat higher FAR than would owners of larger lots.  For instance, the owner of a 4,000 square foot lot would be able to build a house as large as 1,500 square feet (.37 FAR), whereas the owner of a 10,500 square foot lot would be able to build up to a 3,000 square foot house (.29 FAR). See the chart below:

In calculating the area of a proposed new home or addition, the Plan would exempt up to 500 square feet of garage space (enough for a generous two-car garage).  It would also allow for modest additions of up to 250 square feet for any existing home, even when the home already exceeds the mandated FAR.

The ICO is designed to bridge the next year or two, the time required for the Planning Department to research and formulate permanent regulations for development in The Oaks, and eventually for other hillside areas of Los Angeles.

After Ms. Kendrick’s presentation, residents asked a number of questions about the specifics of the FAR and how it would proceed from proposal to law.  A number of people asked how it was that the Planning Department selected The Oaks for this pilot ICO.  Members of The Oaks Board replied that, in fact, the Planning Department had not selected The Oaks; residents of The Oaks had approached the Planning Department, asking for help in controlling out-of-scale development.    

The next stage in the development process for the ICO is a public hearing sometime in June at which residents of The Oaks can comment on the ordinance.  After that, the Planning Department will issue a Staff Report and Recommendation on the ordinance which will go to the City Planning Commission and then to the Planning and Land Use Management Committee.  Once both those bodies have vetted the ordinance it will go before City Council, probably in August or September, for approval or denial.   Stay tuned.