Can Historic Hollywood Survive the 2020’s?
KEY POINTS
Preserving historic buildings and affordable housing can definitely work together in Hollywood.
The State Legislature is demanding large amounts of rezoning for housing, hoping that will bring rents down.. Zoning is what regulates what a private property owner can do with their land and buildings,
Tell our City Council that the proposed Housing Element shouldn’t create conflicts for our historic treasures, as ALL these conflicts are avoidable - It cannot become an excuse to upzone 5X MORE than the State requires.
Historic Hollywood Landmarks are in Jeopardy!
On November 2, 2021, a vote was taken in Los Angeles’ Planning and Land Use Committee (a sub-set of City Council), and previously by the Council’s Housing Committee and the City Planning Commission, to approve a City Planning document called the “Housing Element 2021-2029.”
There will be a full City Council vote on November 24, 2021. It is imperative that you join us in our efforts to tell the City Council that protections for historic Hollywood must remain, and City Planning’s further work must consider and protect historic buildings.
In this post, we help unravel how this Housing Element adversely affects iconic landmarks such as Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Hollywood Heritage will explain: what the Housing Element is; what the larger “Hollywood Community Plan” is; how the Housing Element feeds into it; and what we believe needs to happen to protect historic Hollywood.
It is well-known that there is a shortage of affordable housing in Los Angeles. Hollywood Heritage knows that historic preservation and affordable housing go together. We have worked tirelessly on a deep dive into this Housing Element to show how saving historic buildings is no impediment to new housing!
(Check out the MORE INFO links to go further into the research and backup docs)
What is the Housing Element 2021- 2029?
The Housing Element of the General Plan identifies the City's directives from State law to accelerate housing production 5 times more than the last 8 years; to address housing affordability, displacement, rent burden, and equity; creates a “blueprint” (of sorts) for locales to increase zoning; and suggests an array of great goals, objectives, and programs for our City Council to consider implementing. The Housing Element does not create affordability but attempts to use zoning to create sustainable, mixed-income neighborhoods across the City. MORE INFO
What Specifically is Happening?
State legislation issued a mandate for LA to “upzone”, calling for a radical increase in development potential Citywide. How much growth? 456,643 housing units in the next 8 years – that’s 20% more new housing units than are already here and 4 times the boom we have just experienced! On top of this, the Housing Element document mentioned above makes a recommendation for “upzoning” 5 times as many sites as even the State required! Why does that matter? Because historic buildings get swept up in the Citywide sweep when they can and should be located and damage to them avoided. MORE INFO
What is Zoning?
For those new to this, “zoning” partitions a city by-law into “zones” reserved for differing purposes (residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), and “zoning” is the City ordinances by which the zones are set up and regulated. Zoning is what regulates what a private property owner can do with their land and building. Zoning is a long-term “City blueprint”, which can identify and protect landmarks, or change their value and prompt their demolition. MORE INFO
What did the Housing Element Contain that Puts Historic Buildings at Risk?
In their haste to legislate to increase housing development, the City forgot to check where our identified historic buildings are. Whether they realized the ramifications or not, they signed off on a document that rezones historic theaters like Grauman’s Chinese Theater. The Housing Element actually states that the Chinese Theater is “rezoned” as “High Medium Residential” for an 84-unit apartment complex. Historic landmarks all over Los Angeles, and especially in Hollywood are now at even more risk. MORE INFO
But Did the Housing Element really “Do” That? Yes. Because the State legislation requires that our City implement these upzoning changes, and because that rezoning must be done in 3 years, the Housing Element is real. Grauman’s Chinese Theater falls into the “Hollywood Community Plan” area. Our City is subdivided geographically into 35 “Community Plan” areas, and those are used as the follow-up action items for the City to deliver on its promises to the State.
Our Hollywood Community Plan is already marching toward adoption, already approved by the City Planning Commission, and waiting on the completion of this Housing Element to push it through City Council.
With that 5X housing oversupply recommended in the Housing Element rezoning, basic math tells us that if the Housing Element becomes the justification for the Community Plan, we lose our heritage. Basic math can fix the problem. MORE INFO
But what does this have to do with Grauman’s Chinese Theater?
The Community Plan Update was ALREADY proposing radical upzoning for Grauman’s – to SIX TIMES its current use if housing gets built on the site. So the Housing Element can become the justification for a massive and totally avoidable and unnecessary loss of historic buildings if it is not spotlighted and corrected!
How? Our Council must understand that these Housing Element targets can easily be met without touching a single historic building. Our Council must insist they every Council person sees the data and mapping divided by their Community Plan areas so that they see the local effects of the rezoning and make sure the loss of heritage doesn’t invisibly happen. MORE INFO
But “they” can’t tear down Grauman’s Chinese Theater can “they”?
Of course, Grauman’s Chinese Theater is privately owned. The owner will, we all hope, keep it as a theater. But our City’s historic building protections – in the hands of our Cultural Heritage Commission, are currently comparatively weak. The Cultural Heritage Commission itself has asked that the Grauman’s Chinese Theater recommendation in the Hollywood Community Plan be changed! MORE INFO
The property’s price is greatly established by zoning - its value is based on movie theater income vs. as a housing development site. And if that Commission invoked its authority under the Cultural Heritage Ordinance, or even if Building and Safety invoked its authority under Sec 91.06.4.5 to require environmental review, ultimate decisions get made by the City Council. MORE INFO
Won’t an EIR save the historic buildings?
The EIRs (Environmental Impact Report) for both the Housing Element and the Hollywood Community Plan upzoning ask the Council to adopt what is called a “Statement of Overriding Considerations” - a permission slip to SKIP all the analysis, and all the legally required “mitigation measures”, because the housing matters more. But no one ever analyzed how the housing CAN ALL BE AS WANTED - amply built - AND HISTORIC BUILDINGS AND DISTRICTS STAY LOVED - HEALTHY - AND SURVIVE!
We have. And it’s absolutely possible.
What Should the City Council Do to Make This Right?
Hollywood Heritage is asking the City Council to see the omission, and to add language to their Motion that will improve this “Housing Element.” It is truly possible to turn this into a good thing-- locate the landmarks on maps and earmark the zoning on these historic sites so they won’t be demolished, RSO tenants won’t be evicted, and adaptive re-use of commercial buildings is truly possible.
AS A RECAP:
If you agree that our historic landmarks Citywide must be protected, please join us by asking the City Council to incorporate this language into the Housing Element. You can EMAIL and PHONE.
“The City Council should ONLY approve HOUSING ELEMENT with ADDED AMENDMENT:
Any rezoning in the Community Plans-- that is based on or follows this Housing Element-- should be tailored to identify ALL historic buildings and districts and to avoid and mitigate adverse effects on them.
Failing to do this planning is unconscionable. Planning that saves historic buildings has no effect on housing outcomes.
I support Hollywood Heritage’s suggested amendment.”
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