Around the Corner 

Housing updates as gripping as White Lotus—minus the luxury resorts:

• UC law professors call for an audit of Housing Element Law, citing flaws that hinder California’s housing goals

• A new bill by Sen. Scott Wiener (SB 79) aims to speed up multifamily housing near transit, calling for a streamlined, ministerial permitting process for qualifying projects

• LA Metro identifies 20 new redevelopment sites near transit

• HACLA pauses 3,300 Section 8 applications due to federal funding uncertainty

• Explore The ADU Plans Gallery—an easy way to showcase and browse pre-approved ADU plans

The Week Ahead

March 17 | Santa Monica Architectural Review Board

• 2307 Lincoln Blvd, 24ARB-0126: To review the design, colors, materials, and landscape plans for the construction of a seven-story, 88’-tall, housing and mixed-use building consisting of 69 residential units and 1,800 sf of ground floor commercial space with two levels of subterranean parking located in the General Commercial (GC) Zoning District

• 601 Colorado Ave, 24ARB-0224: To review the design, colors, materials, landscape and sign program for a twenty-four story, 254’-5” tall, 310,648 sf mixed-use housing development project consisting of 264 units (224 market rate units; 40 affordable units) and 4,009 sf of commercial floor area above two levels of subterranean parking in the Transit Adjacent Zoning District of the Downtown Community Plan

• 318 4^th St, 25ARB-0041: To review the design, colors, materials, and landscape plans for the construction of a six-story, 75’-4”-tall, 100% affordable housing mixed-use development consisting of 122 residential units and an approximately 20,000 sf grocery market on the ground floor above 2 levels of subterranean parking in the Bayside Conservation (BC) Zoning District

March 18 | LA City Council

• Consideration of Motion (HERNANDEZ - RODRIGUEZ) relative to issuing one or more series of revenue bonds or notes in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $55,000,000 to finance and/or refinance the acquisition, rehabilitation, improvements, renovation, furnishing, and equipping of a 238-unit multifamily rental housing project at 1501 Miramar St in Council District One.

• AUTHORIZE the General Manager, EWDD, in consultation with the General Manager, LAHD, and the General Manager, Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) to negotiate and execute an ENA for a 12-month period, with the option to extend the ENA for an additional 12 months with The Bakewell Company of California, LLC; The Michaels Organization, and The Brotherhood Crusade, LLC to construct a mixed-use residential, recreational, retail, and commercial development, and a separate City-owned park (collectively, Slauson and Wall Project), located at 5867 South Los Angeles St. EWDD Report.

March 19 | Santa Monica Planning Commission

• 1323 5^TH St, 24ENT-0254: A two-year extension of Administrative Approval 18ENT-0283 and Minor Modification 20ENT-0009 to extend the expiration of said entitlements from March 23, 2025, to March 23, 2027. The project is a six-story, 52-unit mixed-use residential housing project. On July 12, 2022, the project previously received an administrative extension of one year. The additional two-year extension is subject to review and approval by the Planning Commission. Staff Report.

• 1338 5^th St, 24ENT-0255: A two-year extension of Administrative Approval 19ENT-0041 to extend the expiration of said entitlement from April 3, 2025, to April 3, 2027. The proposed project is a six-story, 120-unit mixed-use residential housing project. On July 19, 2022, the project previously received an administrative extension of one year. The additional two-year extension is subject to review and approval by the Planning Commission. Staff Report.

• Recommendation to the City Council on Proposed Amendments to the Text of the Zoning ordinance to increase the maximum allowable height of fences, walls, and hedges in the front setbacks of R2, R3, and R4 zoning districts and to address the rules for measuring the heights located on top of retaining walls. Staff Report.

• Recommendation to the City Council on Proposed Amendments to the Text of the City’s Zoning Ordinance, the General Plan Land Use Map and the Official Districting Map to (Staff Report):

  • 1) amend the text of the City’s Zoning Ordinance to eliminate parcel size threshold for streamlined review of Housing Projects, increase the maximum square footage for ADUs, revise provisions related to ministerially approved duplexes and lot splits on parcels zoned for single-unit residential, adjust the criteria for streamlined review of Housing Projects in Bergamot Zoning Districts on large sites, provide extensions for projects approved prior to January 6, 2025, convert parcel coverage development standards to FAR for the City’s Residential Zoning Districts, and align density standards for the City’s Multiple-Unit Residential Zoning Districts with the intensities envisioned in the LUCE;

  • 2) amend the Santa Monica General Plan Land Use Map and the Official Districting Map for parcels located at 2644 30th Street and 1331 Wilshire Boulevard for Consistent Designation.

     

Week in Review 

Highlighted Case Applications

Los Angeles

• 11509 Killion St, ADM-2025-1360-CLR: New 3-story duplex. new 3-story duplex with attached ADUs & garages

• 11300 Chalon Rd, DIR-2025-1457-ADJ-HCA: An adjustment to allow a front yard setback of 3'-9" in lieu of the 5' required for a second floor addition above an existing garage and ADU

• 680 N Las Casas Ave, DIR-2025-1371-SPPC: A coastal development permit to allow for a 1,814 sf second-story addition with an attached 2- car garage, to an existing 1,814 sf SFD, existing pool & spa to remain

Santa Monica

• 1902 Euclid St, 25PRE-0002: A pre-submittal review of a proposed 2-story 5 unit condominium with subterranean parking

• 1037 23Rd St, 25ENT-0038: Withdrawn reasonable accommodation application where applicant is seeking a reasonable accommodation for an exemption to the municipal code requirement for residential access to parking area via the alleyway instead of from an existing driveway with a current curb-cut that is facing 23rd street. A previous reasonable accommodation permit to maintain the existing driveway, however, the applicant decided not to do the construction project due to increase construction costs. the applicant is now trying to renew the application for a more modest project.

• 2901 Santa Monica Blvd, 25ENT-0036: An Administrative Approval for an 8-story multi-family residential building totaling 129 units (13 deed restricted affordable units) with three levels of subterranean parking total 129 parking spaces and 86 bicycle parking spaces (78 long term and 8 short-term)

Highlighted Completions

Did you know we now have a completed date filter for LA in ATC? You can also check a project's status using the new status filter. For example, many of the cases below have been approved but have a status of “In appeal period.”

Los Angeles

• 5917 Rhodes Ave, AA-2024-1135-PM-HCA: Approved preliminary parcel map to create three new parcels, A (6410 sf), B (6410 sf), and C (5142 sf), with lot widths of 45 ft in lieu of the minimum 50 ft required by the area standards of the R1 zone

• 11232 Vanowen St, ZA-2024-3745-ZV: Approved with conditions the continued operation and maintenance of two existing spray booths within an existing 15,176 sf auto-repair building, one of which operates as a painting preparation booth

• 4944 N Fulton Ave, AA-2024-3419-PM-HCA: Approved with conditions the demolition of existing SFD and accessory structures and sudivide lot into two lots, construct two new SFD and two new ADUs

• 6100 W Mulholland Hwy, DIR-2023-7444-DRB-SPP-HCA: Approved with conditions the construction of a new 3,516 sf 2-story SFD with a 3-car garage and 288 sf JADU located within the Hollywoodland Specific Plan and the RE9-1 zone

• 6439 Woodley Ave, VTT-83845-HCA-SL-VHCA: Approved with conditions small lot subdivision to create 10 units in South Valley

• 2161 Colorado Blvd, APCE-2025-816-SPPE-SPPC-DRB: Terminated specific plan project compliance with design review board and specific plan project exception for the installation of three wireless telecommunications facilities antennas

• 800 N Main St, ENV-2024-2879-EAF: Terminated demo of existing improvements and construction of a phased, 2-building project w/ a 4-story commercial building and a 7-story mixed-use building with 124 housing units (100% affordable) and parking