City of Los Angeles Reorganizes Its Planning Department April 8, 2010 We thought you would be interested in an important City Hall development.  Last week, the Planning Department announced a comprehensive reorganization. While it is unclear whether the City will take the drastic step of shutting down two days a week, the fiscal condition of the City is very bad. As part of the effort to close its gaping budget shortfall, the City convinced many employees to take early retirement – resulting in the departure of a number of senior planners. The departure of these planners has, apparently, accelerated the ongoing reorganization efforts and has caused the Planning Department to publish a reorganization chart (which we can provide to you upon request).  The reorganization may, at once, pose obstacles and present opportunities to our clients. The most important change in the Planning Department is the new “cradle-to-grave” case processing, with the concentration of development review into four geographic areas. Within each area, staff is assigned by sub-area to handle all aspects of project processing. Our goal is to help you process a project from cradle to completion, avoiding the “grave” altogether. We stand ready to assist you with any project needs. In representing you, we draw on our deep experience with the policies, politics, and pitfalls of Planning – not to mention our broad personal relationships with all of the people in the Planning Department who may be assigned to your project. If you are interested in more details of the Planning Department’s pending reorganization, which will certainly affect all land use projects in the City, we have provided more information below in this email. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns or if we can assist you in any way. Sincerely, Bill Delvac Armbruster Goldsmith & Delvac LLP 310.208.5762 More Details on the Reorganization of the City of Los Angeles Planning Department The Los Angeles Department of Planning is in the process of a reorganization which will be implemented in early July.  One immediate change discussed below is the naming of Ken Bernstein, who is currently in charge of the Office of Historic Resources, to head the Citywide Planning Division.  These new duties are in addition to Ken’s current role as the director of the Office of Historic Resources. COMMUNITY PLANNING DIVISION Development Review A key component of the Planning Department reorganization is to focus development review into geographic areas. There will be four geographic sections: North/South Valley, Central, East/South, and West/Harbor. The boundaries of each area will track the Area Planning Commission boundaries. Within each area, the work will be divided into smaller geographic units, which will consist of some staff devoted to Development Review and others devoted to Plans and Policy. With staff assigned by sub-area, the Department has stated that this will provide so-called “cradle-to-grave” case processing. Each assigned planner will handle all aspects of a case from pre-filing through the building permit sign-offs. The assigned Development Review planner will handle all matters involving City Planning Commission, Area Planning Commission, Zoning Administrator, subdivision Development Agreements for large projects, Plan Approvals and Site Plan Review cases. CEQA Review As for environmental review under CEQA, the geographic area planners will handle Negative Declarations and Mitigated Negative Declarations. Environmental Impact Reports, on the other hand, will be handled by a centralized EIR Review Section within the Community Planning Division. Plans and Policy The reorganization plan contemplates that the planners working on policy matters probably will work on Community Plans, Specific Plans, and other “overlays”.  Except for city-wide matters, policy programs will be handled by these planners. DEVELOPMENT SERVICES AND ZONING ADMINISTRATION DIVISION Although the Zoning Administrators will be located in a particular Community Planning section, they will still report to the Chief Zoning Administrator. Within each Community Planning section, a Zoning Administrator will be the decision-maker for ZA cases and subdivisions.  This work will be staffed by the Community Planning staff which will conduct site investigations and draft staff reports and Letters of Determination. The Expedited Processing Section will continue to function as it does currently. CITYWIDE PLANNING DIVISION Ken Bernstein, who is currently the head of the City’s Office of Historic Resources, will be promoted to oversee the Citywide Planning Division, given the retirement of Jane Blumenfeld. The Citywide Planning Division will include the following three sections: Citywide Policy The primary function of the Citywide Policy section is to update General Plan Elements (except for the Land Use Element) and to implement the City’s existing Elements. In addition, this section would manage special plans and policies that are city-wide in scope, such as the Industrial Land Use policy. Historic Resources The Historic Resources Section will continue to have jurisdiction over Survey LA, Mills Act, and Historic-Cultural Monuments.  In July, Historic Preservation Overlay Zone cases will move from the Community Planning Division to the Citywide Planning Division Urban Design Studio The Urban Design Studio will continue as part of the Citywide Planning Division.