03 Sep Los Angeles Mayor Launches Development Reform Initiative
By Wolf Baschung, CCIM
Los Angeles developers are all too familiar with the five separate city planning agencies and departments responsible for the schizophrenic maze of planning, zoning, and development regulation. Developers find that tough and often conflicting regulations result in serious delays and cost overruns. During better times the city was able to profit nicely from costs associated with a multitude of regulatory hurdles it placed in the way of development.  The jungle of government regulation seemed to increase in direct proportion to the value of real estate in Los Angeles. In the current economy, however, bureaucratic hazards have contributed to many a ‘broken’ condo and stalled development projects. Developers have ceased building, California has 12% unemployment versus the 9% national average due in large part to construction layoffs, and city employee furloughs abound as the city tries to manage its staggering deficits.
At long last, in the wake of the worst economy since WWII, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa launched the Development Reform Initiative. This is not the first time such reforms have been proposed, but this time around it looks like the city may enact some real, tangible, positive changes to the process in the coming months and years. The overall goal of the plan is to make LA a premiere place to live, work, and visit. Going forward, the Mayor’s Strategic Plan proposes that, “values for land development are to PLAN smart, WORK smart, and DELIVER smart. SMART, the Mayor’s initiative informs us, stands for:
Seamless
Make it happen
Accountable and Transparent
Responsible and Responsive
Teamwork
A recent LA Business Journal review of the proposal concludes that unlike efforts in the past, this initiative does not produce yet another report full of recommendations that are debated but never put to work. Instead, “This time we will see real, tangible, productive changes to the process in the coming months and years.” The article suggests three main reasons for drawing this conclusion. Â First, a panoply of private sector experts from different areas of the development process was sought for consultancy. These experts were brought into the bureaucratic process of forming the initiative, along with a significant turnout from the business community and community stakeholders. Second, department heads from the disparate agencies were also included as stakeholders in the decision making process. Third, the initiative places a strong emphasis on technological improvements at the level of inter department communication and the property entitlement process. Taken together, the LABJ article contends, these factors will result in effective deployment of the development reform initiative.
Below are the three main (downloadable) documents outlining the Mayor’s initiative: