Chris Parker / January 6, 2021
In March 2017, the city created a new overlay zone for subareas within the city’s Hillside communities. These overlay zones are known as the Hillside Construction Regulation (HCR) Special Use District (SUD) and they so far only include the communities of Bel-Air, Laurel Canyon and the “Bird Streets” of the Hollywood Hills. The SUDs established required mitigation measures for construction and grading in these hillside communities, limiting for example, total floor area of all structures on a single property and limiting construction hours for any projects that require a building permit.
There are several motions making their way through the City which moved forward in the last few weeks of 2020.
Councilman Gil Cedillo (1st District) proposed that the HCR SUD should be added to all Hillside streets within the Mt. Washington – Glassell Park Specific Plan area. The City Council’s Planning & Land Management (PLUM) Committee had scheduled a hearing on Dec. 8 but it was postponed to Feb. 4.
Former Councilman David Ryu, in one of his last act’s before losing his bid for re-election in November, proposed to add the HCR SUD overlay to areas located in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones within his 4th District that also have limited access “including but not limited to the communities of Bowmont Hazen and Coldwater Canyon.” The full City Council voted in support of instructing City Planning to prepare Ryu’s SUD.
The council has also voted to support the creation of an ordinance that would add an HCR SUD to the Castellammare area of Pacific Palisades. That request was forwarded to City Planning.
If you have any questions about this information and/or would like to discuss a project, please contact Pacific Crest Consultants CEO Chris Parker at chris@pccla.com.
