City News, LADBS
LA City Offices Remain Mostly Closed Nearly 3 Years After Pandemic Start
It’s a new year but Los Angeles city offices remain closed to the public for nearly all services, including project meetings, public counter questions, and public hearings. Offices were closed in March 2020 by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti and have only partially reopened to just a few, select services. Meanwhile, offices in most other cities in […]
City News, LADBS
CPC delays hearing for Wildlife Ordinance 1 month
Last week’s City Planning Commission hearing of the highly controversial draft Wildlife Ordinance lasted about 5 minutes. The CPC voted unanimously to postpone the hearing one month to its regularly scheduled Dec. 8 hearing. The draft ordinance has pitted neighbor vs. neighbor in the city’s Hillside areas where the Wildlife zoning overlay would be enacted […]
City News, LADBS
State also loosens the rules for by-right ADUs
Governor Newsom also signed into law Assembly Bill 2221 and its sister bill, Senate Bill 897, which expands and clarifies some regulations for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Once these laws take effect on Jan. 1, permitting agencies will be required to approve or deny (in writing) an ADU application within 60 days. Also, new detached ADUs can be […]
City News, LADBS
Are you ready for a project in Los Angeles without parking?
In the flurry of bills signed last month by Governor Newson was a potential game-changer for Los Angeles, long known as the Car Capital of the World. AB2097 requires cities to approve projects without imposing a minimum number of parking spaces as long as the project is located within 0.5 miles of “public transit” (as […]
LADBS, PCCLA
Topping Out at Fox Studios’ New York Streets Set
Pacific Crest Consultants was honored to participate in the recent Topping Out ceremony for the renovations of Fox Studios’ New York Street set. PCC was the permit consultant on the project, the latest in a decades-long relations with the West LA studio. The set rose to fame as the backdrop for 1969’s “Hello, Dolly!” starring […]
City News, LADBS, PCCLA
State of LA
Record number of projects, less staff, still mostly inaccessible Los Angeles has seen a record number of permit and entitlement requests even as staffing levels at development-related departments has been reduced and the remaining staff continues to largely be inaccessible, according to an analysis of annual reports and budget requests recently released by city departments. […]
City News, LADBS, PCCLA
AWA+D SB9 Presentation Video
PCC Principal Project Manager Amy Studarus recently presented to the members of the Association for Women in Architecture + Design a highly informative workshop about SB9, the new state law that allows for up to 4 dwelling units on lots zoned for single-family homes. The presentation was one of the most highly attended Zoom seminars […]
City News, LADBS
City Re-Opens Metro DSC … sort-of
The Los Angeles departments of Building & Safety and Planning recently re-opened to the public, but operations and services remain very limited and several other critical departments to development services remain closed to the public. First, the good news. LADBS and City Planning re-opened their doors at the city’s downtown Metro Development Services Center on […]
LADBS
City Updates ADU Rules
Earlier this month, a memo was issued jointly by the departments of Building & Safety and City Planning regarding Accessory Dwelling Units. This memo was an update to a previous memo that established new rules for ADUs beginning Jan. 1, 2017. There are a few significant changes to how Planning/LADBS will handle ADUs now versus […]
LADBS
New “old” way to get Coastal approvals
Los Angeles City Planning has resumed issuing Coastal Exclusions (or CatEx) for some projects within specific tracts in the Pacific Palisades. As background, the CatEx is a type of approval for Coastal projects that allows some projects within the Coastal zone to be approved quickly and administratively without the lengthy public hearings process associated with […]
