The Accomplishments of Former Planning Director Gail Goldberg and the Los Angeles Department of City Planning

Last Updated: August 26, 2010

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The Accomplishments of Gail Goldberg, Planning Director
and the Los Angeles Department of City Planning
2006-2010

1. Began the creation of "real" plans. Meaningful, detailed Community Plans will provide developers and communities with certainty about the future of their neighborhoods, reducing project-by-project battles over every development. New plans will result in fewer deviations and entitlement requests, and, therefore, less casework, more by-right development, and a clearer vision and direction for communities. As a result, the new plans will create greater certainty for developers and community members alike. They will also include an Environmental Impact Report and all the necessary zoning and implementation measures to carry out the plan, further reducing the need for costly and time-consuming work for each project. This program and the department reorganization are the two essential foundations for assuring positive change in the planning and development process in Los Angeles.

2. Launched a comprehensive restructuring of the Department. The reorganization, which required many months of preparation and staff training, will restructure the department into geographic teams instead of functional silos. Staff in each geographic team will have the technical skills and abilities to handle all cases and projects from beginning to end, as has been suggested in all audits of the department over the past two decades. This is the key to making development processing far more efficient and the basis for implementing the "12 to 2" initiative (giving the Planning and Building and Safety Departments responsibility for coordinating conditions of approval for up to 12 City agencies). Also, for the first time in decades, the department will have a real organization chart - clear and transparent - to allow City officials and the development community to know who is responsible for key department initiatives.

3. Developed a project condition management and tracking system that is necessary not only for the Planning Department but for all of the other departments that have a role in the development process. This is also a fundamental step to the implementation of "12 to 2," so that other City departments' conditions of approval are integrated into the approval process earlier and with greater clarity.

4. Met regularly with developers and their representatives to identify code changes and other reforms that will streamline the development process. Has implemented a number of suggested changes (extended the life of tract maps and other entitlements to respond to the recession; changed live/work projects so that owners and developers could better secure financing; wrapped disparate senior housing application requests into a single entitlement; initiated a new "planned unit development" mechanism; created a simplified procedure for minor zoning deviations).

5. Brought high quality staff to the department; created a culture in which talented and highly educated urban planners now want to work in the department. Today's Planning Department is characterized by high quality staff with advanced degrees from the best universities in the country.

6. Combined a planner's vision of a sustainable Los Angeles with the management skills to implement policies and programs carrying out the new vision. For example, the Department completed or is in the process of completing nearly 20 Transit Oriented District (TOD) plans to create great urban spaces, leverage the city's investment in transit, and increase mobility options.

7. Created more housing and affordable housing by working with developers, architects, and housing organizations to secure the appropriate political support to adopt key housing ordinances (Transfer of Floor Area Rights in downtown and South LA; implementation of State density bonus law; elimination of density cap and other suburban requirements that previously governed downtown development).

8. Revised the amount of relocation dollars provided to families displaced by demolition and condo conversions to better reflect the affordability of the housing market.

9. Created the Office of Historic Resources and undertook the massive "Survey LA" project to survey and identify historic resources throughout the city, with a multi-million dollar matching grant from the Getty. The City of Los Angeles became a "Certified Local Government" for historic preservation for the first time, and its preservation program has won numerous statewide and local planning and preservation awards.

10. Developed and steered through Council approval the most aggressive green building ordinance of any large city in the nation.

11. Prepared the River Improvement Overlay enabling Ordinance (RIO) and the first RIO (LA-RIO) to implement the LA River Revitalization Master Plan.

12. Developed a Draft Specific Plan for the Cornfields/Arroyo Seco neighborhood (north of downtown), which has already been named as one of the nation's first and only LEED-ND (Neighborhood Development) projects with multiple owners. The Plan creates new types of districts for high-tech jobs, housing, mixes of uses, bike lanes, wider sidewalks, water management tools, and reduced parking requirements to provide certainty and clarity for an urban mixed-use neighborhood that optimizes the potential of two Gold Line stations.

13. Set up Los Angeles' first Urban Design Studio to integrate better urban design into major development projects. The Urban Design Studio has created the city's first Urban Design Principles, a Walkability Checklist to make projects more pedestrian-friendly, and new pedestrian-friendly Street Standards for Downtown Los Angeles, while "raising the bar" for design quality in key, catalytic projects throughout the city.

14. Restructured the financial foundation of the entire department to make it sustainable by undertaking a comprehensive fee study, ensuring that the General Fund would not need to continue subsidizing development review, and creating a dedicated fund for the Planning Department. The Department was transformed from 75% dependent on the General Fund to only 25% dependent on the General Fund.

15. Created and steered through Council approval two new ordinances to prevent the mansionization of the city's single-family neighborhoods in the flatlands and the hillsides.

16. Mapped, analyzed, and developed land-use regulations for the reduction in the number of medical marijuana dispensaries.

17. Developed an innovative new draft Bicycle Plan and a mechanism for building two complete citywide bicycle networks in five-year increments.

18. Developed an innovative zoning tool to facilitate the redevelopment and revitalization of older commercial strips by transforming underutilized parking spaces into "parking credits" and permitting such credits in lieu of required parking spaces for new uses.

19. Positioned Los Angeles to lead the way in economic recovery and the development of "Clean Tech" employment by strengthening the city's policies to protect and enhance its land that is zoned for jobs.

20. Updated and significantly improved the pioneering Zoning Information and Map Access System (ZIMAS) Geographic Information System to provide detailed information on every property in the city - an invaluable tool for city staff, developers, property owners, and the public.

21. Responded to community concerns in South Los Angeles and other communities about nuisance uses and violations of long-standing conditions by strengthening and staffing the Department's nuisance revocation program.

22. Developed and steered to final approval the first design guidelines shaping new development and historic rehabilitation of downtown's Broadway Historic Theater and Commercial District, one of the city's most significant historic corridors.

23. Adopted creative "Community Design Overlay" zones to promote high quality development and pedestrian-friendly improvements, along with an expedited, staff-level review of development projects, in numerous communities throughout the city, including Venice's Lincoln Boulevard, downtown Westchester, Echo Park, Reseda Central Business District, and Cypress Park/Glassell Park.

24. Played a leadership role in re-inventing Los Angeles' major commercial centers, including the "Greening of Century City" initiative, a significant overhaul to make the Warner Center Specific Plan more pedestrian and human-scaled, major new plans and ordinances for Hollywood, and the adoption of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Center (LA Live and the Convention Center Hotel).

25. Made major advances in changing the culture of planning of Los Angeles, reasserting the value of sound, objective, balanced professional planning advice to guide policy recommendations and key land-use decisions in the city.

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