September 08, 2016 

By Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou 

City News Service 

Apartment developers, who typically construct the majority of residential units in Los Angeles, will join condominium builders in paying into the city's park fund, under a set of updated requirements approved this week by the City Council.

Cities are allowed to collect fees from developers under the state's Quimby Act and use that money on nearby park projects. Los Angeles has long had a park fee policy in place, but city officials and park advocates complain that the rules, which have not been updated for more than 30 years, have fallen short on paying for the city's green space and recreation needs.

The changes approved by the council are expected to bring in more money through the addition of apartment developments, which were generally excluded from the fees. In past years, the fees have brought in about $22 million annually, according to council aides.

The new rules will also let the city spend the funds in a wider area than previously allowed by increasing the two-mile radius for park projects to a five-mile radius of the development.

Councilman Jose Huizar, who pushed to update the park fees policy, said the more restrictive radius made it difficult to use the funds where they were needed.

"This is something that is really going to change the lives of thousands, if not millions of Angelenos," he said of the new policy.

Huizar staffers estimate that with the added fee payments from the apartment projects, the annual park fee revenue could increase by another $30 million. City officials, however, have avoided settling on any specific, projected figure.

The rough estimate from Huizar's office was calculated using the 10,000 apartment units that are typically permitted annually, but assuming revenue will only come from about half of them. The total number of units permitted each year, including condos and some single-family homes, has been roughly 15,000.

The council also adopted a new fee structure. Instead of the existing process in which developers pay fees in the range of about $2,800 to $8,000 per unit, they will now pay flat amounts.

Under the new structure, developers of condo projects will owe the city $10,000 per unit, following an initial year when the fee will be $7,500 per unit. Apartments units, which are rented out instead of sold, will cost developers $2,500 per unit in the first year, after which a $5,000-per-unit fee kicks in. Both the condo and apartment fees are set to rise along with inflation, following the second year.

Developers will have some options for avoiding paying the fees under the rules, including giving away or "dedicating" land to the city or offering to pay for improvements to existing park space and facilities, in place of paying the park fee. Developers are also exempted from the park fees for each affordable housing unit included in their projects.

The park fee update was supported by the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust and other park advocacy groups, and in recent months won the support of pro-developer groups like the Central City Association.

The requirements, which still require approval from the mayor, are set to go into effect 120 days after adoption.

September 01, 2016 

LAWT News Service 

Strategies for success in today’s economy will be one of the featured topics at a free business resource seminar and expo at the Ken Miller Recreation Center on Wednesday, September 7. The seminar will also offer a variety of approaches and techniques that can help position businesses in Torrance and the surrounding areas for success, capitalize on billions of dollars in tax credits, and minimize the frustration of taxation.

Jerome E. Horton, Member, Third District, California State Board of Equalization (BOE) will host the event in collaboration with State Senator Isadore Hall III, Assemblymember David Hadley, and Los Angeles County Assessor Jeffrey Prang. The City of Torrance and the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce will co-sponsor the event.

Representatives from the BOE, the Employment Development Department, the Franchise Tax Board, Internal Revenue Service, Small Business Administration, and the Small Business Development Center will be available to answer questions on topics such as basic sales and use tax, forms of ownership, and recordkeeping.

“My goals are to help California businesses capitalize on available tax credits and to offer strategies and solutions that will help local businesses thrive domestically and internationally,” Horton said.

The seminar will be held on Wednesday, September 7, from 8:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Ken Miller Recreation Center, 3341 Torrance Boulevard, in Torrance. Check in begins at 8:00 a.m.

Free parking is available. Those interested in attending are invited to register online at www.boe.ca.gov/seminars or by calling toll-free 1-888-847-9652.

August 25, 2016 

City News Service Initiative 

Proponents of a measure that would temporarily halt major development projects in Los Angeles said this week that they are moving forward with their initiative, after Mayor Eric Garcetti failed to offer up a substitute plan.

Jill Stewart, campaign director for The Coalition to Preserve L.A., said the group submitted a petition with nearly 104,000 signatures to the City Clerk, more than the 61,487 valid signatures needed to qualify the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative for the March 2017 ballot.

The campaign held a news conference on Wednesday to announce their plans to submit the signatures outside the proposed Cumulus project in South Los Angeles. Stewart said the project contains plans for skyscrapers that “ignores the community and is essentially a takeover of the existing community.”

The coalition's measure proposes to temporarily ban, for up to two years, projects that are denser, taller or contain more floor area than is allowed in existing zoning and land use rules for the area.

Developers must routinely ask the city to grant exceptions — known as general plan amendments — for those types of projects to be built. The coalition contends the process has become standard practice and creates cozy relationships between City Council members and developers.

The initiative is officially named “Building Moratorium; Restrictions on General Plan Amendments; Requires Review of General Plan.” Cecilia Reyes, a spokeswoman for the City Clerk’s office, said  proponents turned in signatures for the measure today. The City Clerk has at least two weeks, and potentially up to a month and a half to review and verify the signatures, Reyes said.

The Coalition to Preserve L.A. said last week they would drop their initiative if the mayor came out this week with an alternative plan that met four terms laid out in a letter to him.

Stewart said today they have been expecting since April to see an alternate plan, but “so far we have seen nothing from the mayor,” other than a small increase in the number of planners and a 10-year timeline for updating community plans.

Last week, about 30 members of the campaign met personally with Garcetti to give him a final chance to meet their demands, Stewart said, but since then, the mayor’s staff has failed to reach out to them with anything “substantive,” except to say that they wished to “keep lines of communications open.”

The alternate terms laid out in a letter to Garcetti last week include banning “ex parte,” or private meetings between City Council members and developers, and instituting changes that make the process of updating the city's General Plan, which guides what is allowed to be built in the city, faster and more transparent.

The coalition is also demanding that “spot zoning,” in which developers request zoning changes, be reduced so that it becomes a rare occurrence, rather than standard practice.

A fourth proposed term would prohibit developers and lobbyists from being able to pick the consultants who write the environmental impact reports needed to allow the projects to go through.

The letter was signed by actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Kirsten Dunst, Chris Pine, Joaquin Phoenix, Chloe Sevigny and Garrett Hedlund, as well as several dozen representatives of community groups, businesses and homeowner associations.