New Ordinance Limits Mansion Construction in Hollywood Hills

For those who are fortunate enough to cash in on their Hollywood dreams and afford their dream mansion in the hills, a new ordinance may put a damper on those visions.

The recently passed Baseline Hillside Ordinance creates stricter size limitations for new homes built on hillside lots in Los Angeles, including Hollywood.

The ordinance is scheduled to go into effect on May 9.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed the bill on Thursday that limits the height and floor space on single-family homes based on size, zoning and slope of the lot.

Councilman Tom LaBonge, who represents a portion of Hollywood, proposed the ordinance in 2006 as an attempt to address the “mansionization” of hillside lots.

Limits are placed on a ratio of lot size to the size of the building, referred to as “floor area ratio” or FAR. The ordinance also places limits on the grading of land parcels for home construction. The limits range between 1,000 to 3,300 cubic yards of grading, depending on zoning, according to the ordinance.   

In a letter dated Aug. 4, 2010, a geotechnical firm wrote the City Council stating that the proposed grading limits “will result in substantial reduction in single-family construction in hillside areas.”  

“The ordinance is one of the most supported in recent history," said Eric Lopez, City Planner. "There was some minor opposition in some parts of the developer community, but the design community generally supported the provisions."

The changes only apply to new construction and major renovations. Any completed plan accepted by the Department of Building and Safety is considered a vested development plan, provided fees are paid in full.  

“The Baseline Hillside Ordinance will apply to approximately 130,000 lots,” Lopez said.  He did not have specific numbers for the Hollywood area. 

Residents and potential buyers can check their lots on the City of Los Angeles Zoning Information and Map Access System. The restrictions apply only to properties zoned as R1, RS, RE or RA.

According to a city-issued press release, the map was created in 2010 as the second part of “a three-part initiative aimed at preventing out-of-scale single-family development.” The first part of the initiative was a similar measure called the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance, which was passed for non-hillside lots in 2008.

The plan for the ordinance was submitted by the City Planning Commission last June, according to the Los Angeles City Clerk. 

“We worked on the Baseline Hillside Ordinance for two years; in that time we also revised the Hillside Area Map so that it better reflected the City's true hillsides as part of a different project,” Lopez said.