City Planners Face Defiant Neighborhoods

Many of Los Angeles' Neighborhood Councils are expressing skepticism and criticism over a proposal by city planners to limit citizen decision-making power and place it in the hands of individual bureaucrats.

The Chatsworth Neighborhood Council has a 15-member elected land use committee that recommends approval, modification or rejection of developments to the Los Angeles Department of City Planning.

But in an effort to streamline the review process, the planning department has proposed adoption of citywide Urban Design Guidelines to consolidate the common urban design themes and plans and organize them into a single  document to guide developers.

The guidelines, however, can be applied on a case-by-case basis—and that is the issue that has neighborhood councils upset.

Residents are objecting to the discretionary approvals department functionaries can give for projects that deviate from the proposed guidelines. As they see it, there is potential for such "discretion" to take the decision-making power away from local residents, businesses and property owners and their neighborhood council representatives.

Gary Aggas, senior advocate for the Sun Valley Neighborhood Council, says council members are "really, really concerned … that neighborhoods [will] lose control of development. So any major changes like this are of interest. There is concern that one person will be making decisions that really should be done by committee or with input from just more than one individual."

Lisa Sarkin, a Studio City Neighborhood Council member, said "It's all an opinion, even with the guidelines."

Aggas and Sarkin attended a meeting in late August organized by the planning department to inform residents of the proposed guidelines.

Even though empty chairs outnumbered attendees, tension was palpable as the meeting got underway. Many of the attendees complained of the short notice they had been given. City planning officials expressed regret but said they had no explanation as to why residents were not informed earlier.

"We can't control when [meeting announcements] come to the neighborhood councils," said City Planning Associate Michelle Sorkin.

Residents may email comments to Sorkin at michelle.sorkin@lacity.org or by calling 213-978-1199 before the proposal is submitted for review to the city Planning Commission, which will hold a public hearing on the issue at its meeting on Oct. 14. 

Attendees also voiced displeasure at the short amount of time they were given to submit those comments. Planning officials said they'd hoped a month would be enough time, and that, "We're just trying to get work done," said Shana Bonstin of the planning department.

But Sorkin brought the attention back to the guidelines and stressed that the point was really that they "can help shape and inform the project early on. It's not a magic bullet. [But] it's really important that we're all on the same page."

Jose Sandoval of Panorama City's neighborhood council, however, said he was skeptical.

"I personally am against it. It gives developers easier access to build whatever they want," Sandoval said. …  It sets the community back, because we're not going to know what's going on until they build it."