Planning & Zoning

Cultural Heritage Ordinance meetings: WED, Mar 4 & THURS, March 12

Los Angeles's proposed new Preservation Ordinance is headed to the Planning Commission on March 12, after being approved in November by the Cultural Heritage Commission.

Owners of Historic Cultural Monuments have also been invited to an evening workshop on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, at 6:30 p.m. at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral Auditorium. This meeting is open to the public, whether or not you currently own a designated historic property.

WAHA members and friends are encouraged to attend both meetings/hearings to make your own views on historic preservation and this proposed ordinance revision known.

The City Cultural Heritage Commission voted on November 20, 2008 to recommend a significant overhaul of the City's historic preservation ordinance. The ordinance's consideration by the City Planning Commission, originally scheduled for January 22, 2009, has been rescheduled for the City Planning Commission meeting of March 12, after 8:30 a.m. in Los Angeles City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., Room 1010 in downtown Los Angeles.

The Office of Historic Resources (OHR) is proposing important changes aimed at strengthening demolition review procedures, clarifying criteria for historic designation, and enhancing notification of private property owners. The City of Los Angeles' Cultural Heritage Ordinance, originally approved by the City Council in 1962, created the procedures for the designation and protection of significant Los Angeles buildings and sites as Historic-Cultural Monuments. While the Ordinance has undergone several minor, procedural modifications, it has never been comprehensively updated to give our City a state-of-the-art historic preservation program.

The OHR is also hosting an informational workshop on the ordinance for owners of Historic-Cultural Monuments, on Wednesday, March 4, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral (Historic-Cultural Monument #120), 1324 S. Normandie Avenue in Los Angeles (at Pico Boulevard). Enter the parking lot on the east side of Normandie, just south of Pico; the workshop will be held in Saint Sophia's auditorium, north of the main cathedral building.

Log onto http://preservation.lacity.org to read the summary or, if you are really brave, the entire proposed ordinance language. Both documents can be downloaded as PDFs.

Click Here for the UNNC Washington Boulevard Specific Plan Proposal (pdf)