Public Interest Briefs
Public Interest Briefs track CLIPI’s filings, funding, coalition wins, showing how each step drives policy change and nurtures advocates.
Center Successfully Sues Los Angeles on Zoning Violations
200,00 Parcels of City Land To Be Rezoned to Comply with State Law Requirements
The Center has successfully concluded a lawsuit that will have more far-reaching effect on land use planning in Los Angeles than any action of the last half century. State law in California compels local zoning to be in conformity with an area’s community plan. Yet in the City of Los Angeles, approximately one fourth of all parcels of land (200,000 out of 800,000) do not comply with the community plans. The community plans provide for a population of 4,000,000, while the zoning permits a population of 10,000,000. Multi-unit housing projects of up to 200 units had been permitted under current zoning for sites where the community plan called for a single family house. The Building and Safety Department of the City had been issuing permits for such developments without notifying anyone in the neighborhood simply because the largest projects complied with the applicable zoning. It did not seem to have mattered that the community plans called for low density; the plans were ignored.
A state law enacted in 1978 required Los Angeles to bring the plans and zoning into consistency by 1981. When the City failed to meet the initial deadline, the State Legislature agreed to a 1-½ year extension. But the City then failed to meet that second deadline and asked for still another extension – this one for 5 years. The Legislature again acceded to the request, but in September, 1984, Governor Deukemjian vetoed that legislation,
Los Angeles responded by merely proposing a program to bring its zoning into compliance over a period of 5-10 years. Forty-three local homeowners associations representing several hundred thousand Los Angeles residents objected and asked the Center to bring suit. The action, filed in mid-December, requested the court to order the City to bring its zoning into compliance with the general plans “as quickly as possible.” When the City publicly revealed for the first time that fully one out of every three development permits it had issued were inconsistent with applicable community plans, the Center also asked the court to prevent the City from issuing any building or development permits that did not conform to the City’s general and local plan.
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Summer ’85 sees CLIPI compel L.A. to rezone 200 000 parcels, crack a race-skewed Alameda map, sue for plain-language ballot guides, tackle Sprint holiday overcharges, secure minority hiring at Vons, reopen Diablo Canyon safety review, defend Ballona wetlands, and win full citizen standing in the Stringfellow toxic-cleanup fight.
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