WEST HOLLYWOOD GENERAL PLAN WHITE PAPER

By Steve Martin

West Hollywood Neighborhood Alliance recommendations for the City's General Plan.

The West Hollywood General Plan process has stretched out for nearly four years and the current draft General Plan does not reflect the oft stated concerns of the residents nor does it offer a vision for the future that is consistent with the goal of preserving West Hollywood's "urban village." Our vision must be as unique as our community.

It has become clear that the Staff of the City of West Hollywood has a vision for the City that is at odds with the will of the residents. The current plan exacerbates density, gridlock and urban blight without any enhancements that would make West Hollywood more livable. Indeed the current proposed General Plan does not reflect the stated "core values" of the City and makes a mockery of the reasons we incorporated as a City in 1984.

More importantly, the current proposals do not protect the character of our neighborhoods. It is, in fact, a blue print for the destruction of existing rental housing that will result in the displacement of thousands of long-term residents and render many of our neighborhoods unaffordable.

The General Plan process was represented to be an opportunity for the community to chart its own future. Instead the voice of the residents has been ignored, public participation sabotaged and open debate throttled. We will not enumerate the numerous complaints about the process as those abuses are well documented. It will suffice to say that the current General Plan process has been disappointing and duplicitous and does not reflect positively upon the management and elected officials of West Hollywood.

We, as residents of West Hollywood, having participated in the General Plan process only to see our concerns and hopes for the future ignored, offer the following recommendations in a final attempt to forge a General Plan that balances the need for economic growth with the need to protect our community from thoughtless and short sighted development. We demand a General Plan that includes all current residents in West Hollywood's long-term future and that is consistent with our community's core values.

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Statement of Values: Commercial development in West Hollywood should enhance the pedestrian character of the City and maintain the "urban village" character of our community. Focus should be on low rise, human scale development that provides opportunities for the creation and preservation of unique, neighborhood serving businesses.

1. No expansion of commercial zones into residential areas.

2. Heights along Santa Monica Boulevard should be limited to 35 feet for at least 85% of the Boulevard; additional heights for mixed use buildings where the residential units are entirely affordable may be entitled to additional height.

3. Heights along Melrose should be limited to 25 feet.

4. Mixed Use buildings should not be permitted in areas where residential housing would conflict with existing nighttime entertainment venues such as nightclubs and bars. West Hollywood's economic vibrancy depends upon its nightlife and history has shown that residential development abutting entertainment venues is not good urban planning.

5. Due to the incompatible nature, mixed use is not appropriate and should not be permitted along Sunset Boulevard outside of the Sunset Specific sites.

6. While we support efforts to bring a subway and enhanced public transportation to our City, the "Transit Overlay" bonuses should be eliminated and can be revisited in the event that a subway or light rail system is actually built on Santa Monica Boulevard.

7. The Plan must recognize that the majority of commercial parcels along Santa Monica Boulevard are narrow and cannot support large scale development; those parcels were established when the Red Car existed and when parking was not a major challenge. The City should specifically designate certain intersections where the design of the commercial thoroughfares makes development problematic due to limitations on traffic circulation, such as Crescent Heights south of Santa Monica, Sunset and La Cienega and Sunset and Horn. Zoning needs to be tailored to realistically accommodate traffic. Developments should not be approved unless mitigations such as signalization or added turn-lanes can appreciably lessen the impact of the additional traffic.

8. Bonuses under the Sunset Specific Plan should be limited to the intent of the original document, only to be given when the entire target site is developed. If not specified, heights on Sunset should be limited to 35 feet. The City should make a formal determination whether the Sunset Specific Plan has already reached the entitled capacity in terms of allowable square footage under the Plan before any new project is approved under the SSP.

9. Before additional billboards are approved for the Sunset Strip, an inventory of existing billboards should be taken and recommendations should be made by a community task force to insure that the area is not overwhelmed by visual blight, and that new billboards do not substantially reduce the visibility of existing tall walls and billboards. Development agreements that provide additional revenue to the City in return for allowing billboard construction should be mandatory but should be a standard percent of income based upon the size of the sign face. No development agreement allowing for new billboards should provide for additional heights or densities to the developer.

10. Parking requirements should not be loosened by use of unproven parking strategies such as "shared parking" or "parking unbundling."

11. Solar panels should be required for all new construction over two stories and all new municipal and commercial developments.

12. An enforceable noise ordinance needs to be incorporated into the General Plan that has objective and measureable standards to effectuate enforcement.

13. "Statements overriding consideration" should be stated in specific detail with measureable standards. Simply, statements in general and conclusionary terms shall be deemed insufficient for purposes of responding to any Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

14. "Green Construction" shall be mandatory in commercial and residential developments and all "incentives" for complying with the City's ordinance shall be eliminated.

15. Development Agreements in general should only be entered into when they provide extraordinary benefit to the City. The City should establish standards for development agreements with objective criteria to safeguard the integrity of the General Plan and existing zoning. Development agreements should also be subject to a vote of the residents.

RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT

Statement of Values: Development should be respectful of the nature of our neighborhoods and should enhance the architectural character and enrich the environmental quality of our residential neighborhoods. Protecting and maintaining our stock of existing housing that is affordable to working people should be a major priority of the General Plan. Protection of existing residents should always be a goal. The General Plan should include revisions of existing building codes in order to conform to the goal of protecting and enhancing our residential areas.

1. Any development of over six units must include affordable housing on site; in lieu fees for smaller developments must be reviewed to insure that the fee accurately reflects the costs of building affordable units.

2. Parking standards should not be loosened except for affordable housing. The tandem parking spaces should be eliminated (with possible exceptions for low income developments). Guest parking must reflect the actual parking conditions of each neighborhood. Parking must not be "unbundled."

3. Court yard incentives should be eliminated.

4. "Green Construction" shall be mandatory and all "incentives" for complying with the City's ordinance shall be eliminated.

5. "Exceptional Architecture" incentives should not include additional height, units or decreased parking.

6. Realistic set backs from 15 to 20 feet should be mandated in order to insure that the City's goal of creating an "urban forest" can be reached. The foot print of any residential development, including subterranean parking, shall not exceed eighty percent of the entire lot.

7. Height averaging shall be restored in areas west of Fairfax.

8. Solar panels shall be mandatory for all new projects ten units and over.

9. Development fees, (Quimby Fees), for the creation of public parks shall be increased to reflect the costs of land acquisition in West Hollywood except in cases of development of single family dwellings or affordable housing developments. Annual reports should be made regarding use (or planned use) of Quimby funds.

10. New developments should be required to develop and maintain a landscape plan for the parkways.

11. New developments should include outdoor open space for residents and use of roof top gardens should be encouraged.

12. Low income and disabled tenants displaced by development shall have first priority to affordable housing regardless of whether they have previously applied to be on the affordable housing waiting list.

13. In order to prevent projects that are incompatible with existing neighborhoods, all development bonuses that increase heights or densities or reduce parking requirements should be eliminated from residential developments. Only development bonuses mandated under California law should be applied.