The City Planning Commission voted unanimously last month to approve the draft Wildlife Ordinance, the controversial ordinance which has pitted neighbor vs. neighbor in the city’s Hillside areas where the Wildlife zoning overlay would be enacted if voted into law.
As currently written, the ordinance will impose greater limits on property owners when it comes to lot coverage, building height, grading, and fences, to list a few. PCC provided an initial review of the currently proposed ordinance previously (link here).
The initial Wildlife Ordinance would only impact property owners in the area roughly bordered by Ventura Boulevard to the north, the 405 to the west, Sunset Boulevard to the south, and the 101 through the Cahuenga Pass to the east. However, if approved as currently proposed, the Wildlife overlay could be added to the city’s other Hillside areas in the future.
The Wildlife Ordinance must still be approved by the City Council and Mayor before it becomes law. Based upon the approval process for other significant, citywide ordinances from Planning that have been approved in recent years, the Wildlife Ordinance is still at least 6 months from taking effect and it could be significantly longer (or never at all if the ordinance is rejected by the City Council and/or Mayor).
For example, when the initial Baseline Hillside Ordinance was approved, the CPC approved the draft ordinance on July 14, 2016, but it didn’t take effect until March 17, 2017. The Beekeeper Ordinance was approved by the CPC on May 14, 2015, but didn’t take effect until Dec. 6, 2015 (6+ months). The Home Sharing Ordinance (aka AirBNB) was approved by the CPC on Sept. 13, 2018, but didn’t become effective until July 1, 2019 (nearly 10 months later).
So based upon previous approval timelines for citywide ordinances, the earliest that the Wildlife Ordinance could become law is mid-June (6 months after the CPC hearing on Dec. 8). And sometime in the second half of 2023 is just as likely.
