Chris Parker / April 23, 2018
New rules that will reduce the by-right allowable floor area and grading quantities for single-family homes in the “Bird Streets” and Laurel Canyon areas of the Hollywood Hills will take effect on May 28.
As expected, the City Council approved and Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the proposed City Planning ordinance earlier this month. The ordinance doesn’t have an “urgency clause,” so the new rules won’t kick in until late next month, giving property owners a little more than a month to file new projects that will be grandfathered under the current rules.
The new Hillside Construction Regulations (HCR) are similar to the limitations that were approved by the City Council for the Bel-Air area last year. Once the ordinance becomes law, all single-family dwelling by-right grading will be limited to 6,000 cubic yards on standard Hillside streets (4,500 CY for substandard Hillside streets) and by-right Residential Floor Area (RFA) will max out at 17,500 square feet. Any project proposing more grading and/or more floor area would require a discretionary approval from City Planning, which would entail a case filing and at least one public hearing.
The ordinance also imposes several conditions to all hauling projects (regardless of size) that are usually required only for projects that request more than 1,000 cubic yards of hauling.
The area covered by this ordinance is north of Sunset Boulevard, east of the City of Beverly Hills, west of Nichols Canyon, and south of Mulholland Drive/Woodrow Wilson Drive.
For more information about the new ordinance or for assistance in filing projects prior to the new rules taking effect, please contact Chris Parker (Chris@PCCLA.com or 818-591-9309).
