Legislative News
Councilmember Koretz Formally Opposes Scott Weiner’s Senate Bill 50 (SB 50)
This week, Councilmember Koretz introduced a resolution in formal opposition of California State Senate Bill 50 (Wiener) that ostensibly seeks to mandate upzoning in cities throughout California to increase affordable housing and density along transit corridors regardless of local jurisdiction’s zoning laws.
The resolution points out that SB 50 would allow construction of higher density multi-family housing developments near major transit stops that are out-of-compliance with local land use regulations and procedures and requests that the City of Los Angeles oppose the bill in its 2019-20 State Legislative Program, unless the bill is amended to exclude the City of Los Angeles from its provisions. Los Angeles already has its own increased density mechanisms that are being tailored to better fit the city’s many unique neighborhoods.
Councilmember Koretz pointed out that “While we all agree that we need to build more affordable housing, particularly near transit, SB 50 focuses mainly on the creation of market-rate housing and takes away planning oversight from local jurisdictions. Furthermore, Los Angeles is more progressive than many California cities in that it already incentivizes multifamily development through Measure JJJ and the Transit Oriented Community program – both of which could be set back if SB 50 becomes law. State control of local zoning undermines not only the integrity of cities and counties, but strips residents of their ability to engage in a meaningful planning and community building process. The passage of SB 50 would still threaten single-family neighborhoods in CD5 and elsewhere, where we could look forward to seeing tall narrow 4 to 5 story buildings towering over single-family homes until they are squeezed out and many analysts of the bill say they could still could be much taller."
Department of City Planning’s Home Sharing Update
Home-Sharing Administration and Enforcement
On February 25, the City Council’s Budget & Finance Committee voted to allocate additional resources to the Department to administer and enforce the recently adopted Home-Sharing ordinance. The full City Council is expected to hear the Committee’s recommendations in March.
On December 22, 2018, the City Council adopted an ordinance that legalized short-term rentals — provided that the property is the primary residence of the host. The new staffing and online registration portal will give the City more tools to enforce the home-sharing regulations, to identify illegal listings, and ensure compliance. The Home-Sharing Ordinance takes effect on July 1, 2019.
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