West Hollywood, California (November 30, 2009) - Already nearly the densest city this side of the Mississippi River, will West Hollywood become even denser? 
As this photo of West Hollywood’s Westside from City Hall’s rooftop shows, WeHo has a densely populated landscape. Photo by WeHo News. |
Apparently so, because civic leaders, who gave over the entire last City Council meeting on November 16 to a joint study session on forming the city’s General Plan, began the process of re-drafting the 25 yr-old city’s General Plan not asking if the city should become denser, but how to accomplish that goal without bringing the city to a gridlocked halt.
General Plans, which state law mandates that municipalities update each ten years (West Hollywood’s is ten years overdue) guide the development of every city, laying down basic principles and providing a template for land-use over the following 20 years.
Up to this point several steps have been taken in achieving WeHo’s goal of a finished General Plan document by August 2010, including public input meetings, the hiring and replacing of a consultant firm and four of seven meetings of the 42-member ad hoc General Plan Commission.
The study session gave City Council members and Planning Commissioners an opportunity to ask questions and provide policy guidance in an early stage – two more joint study sessions are scheduled for January 25 and April 5, 2010.
Staff took pains to note that, as expressed in public input meetings where citizens were invited to comment, Wehoans are generally happy with land-use as it stands now, so Bianca Seigl, associate planner and presenter suggested, “maintaining and enhancing the city’s land-use policy rather than making dramatic changes.”
She played down the impact of any proposed changes, saying, “We are proposing, generally, very little change to land use with the exception of an increase in height and density for certain commercial locations,” as well as adding two new commercial land-use designations.
On top of that, staff suggested the General Plan also anticipate and support future possible subway routes through West Hollywood with Transit Overlays that will allow flexibility with possible increased service.
To kick off the discussion, staff presented the joint session with a plan that partitions the city into six land-use areas, asking the broad questions related to those land-use areas:
1. Are the Sub-Area Visions correct? If not, what changes do you recommend?
2. Are the proposed changes to commercial land use designations in keeping with your long-term vision of the City?
3. Do you generally agree with the proposed changes to land use designations? If not, which areas would you change?
An expanded Pacific Design Center campus (scheduled for 2011) will anchor the Avenues of Arts & Design area in the city’s new General Plan. Photo by WeHo News. |
The six areas suggested were:
The Avenues of Art and Design, or Melrose-Robertson-Beverly area, “to be maintained and expanded as a major destination for high-end arts and design studios, offices and related businesses.”
An important component of this area would be redevelopment of the Metro transit hub at San Vicente and Santa Monica Boulevards (the old Sherman train yard) into a mixed-use development.
The second designation would be Santa Monica Boulevard West, or Santa Monica Boulevard from Doheny Drive to La Cienega Boulevard. The General Plan envisions that this area will retain its identity as a regional destination for nightlife and entertainment while adding mixed-use developments at the potential subway stop near San Vicente.
Area three stretches in two blocks along Santa Monica Boulevard between La Cienega and Plummer Park, separated by area four (the seven-eight blocks between Crescent Heights and Genesee), and has been designated the Mid City Boulevard area.
Staff suggests adding density through “sensitive infill development” in this already quite dense part of town.
The Mid City area, bifurcated by the Fairfax Transit node, will remain largely the same in the proposed General Plan. Photo by WeHo News. |
The transit nexus at Santa Monica Blvd. and Fairfax Ave. makes up land use area four.
The staff report says, “This area's mix of multi-family residences and commercial uses evolves over time into a more intense mixed-use transit node that capitalizes on high levels of bus ridership, a potential subway station, a cluster of rehabilitated historic buildings, and artistic and educational institutions.”
Major intensification of land-use is proposed for area five, which lies east of Plummer Park to the city’s border at La Brea along Santa Monica Blvd. and Fountain Avenue.
Staff envisions that, “over time, the area transitions from a predominantly auto-oriented intersection into a pedestrian-oriented district with a diverse mix of neighborhood and regional retail stores, jobs, and transit-oriented housing.”
The final area, the city’s world-renowned Sunset Boulevard, WeHo’s primary economic engine, will see continued high intensity land-use.
WeHo News will publish features on each of the six proposed land-use areas over the next four-five weeks, including the discussions held at Nov.’s meeting and any directions handed down to staff.
Land-use along the the world-renowned Sunset Strip will continue to intensify in the proposed General Plan. Photo by WeHo News. |
CLICK HERE for expandable PDF file of the complete staff report on the six land-use areas proposed in the West Hollywood General Plan.
The General Plan project team plans to release the Draft General Plan and EIR in May 2010 and bring the General Plan and Environmental Impact Report to Planning Commission and City Council for consideration in August, 2010.
The City Manager's General Plan Advisory Committee will continue to meet monthly through February, 2010.
A full schedule of meetings and copies of materials presented at past meetings are posted on the General Plan website, weho.org/generalplan.
A workshop on January 30, 2010 will be a discussion of the draft policy framework and preferred land use vision for the General Plan Update.
A second workshop planned for April 2010 will follow the release of the public Draft General Plan.
.
Printer-friendly
E-mail to friend
