AIA|LA & LADWP Development Services: 2024 Quarterly Meeting

AIA|LA & LADWP Development Services: 2024 Quarterly Meeting

For the past 24+ months, AIA Los Angeles and LADWP have been organizing a quarterly series of roundtable discussions, which serve as an opportunity to further connect the architecture community and LADWP development services personnel. These quarterly roundtables help to establish a more collaborative partnership and facilitate opportunities to identify solutions to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

In general, the quarterly meetings serve as forums to:

1. Build trust and understanding between LADWP personnel and the private sector (architects/ designers/ engineers).
2. Develop compassion and empathy to better understand each other’s professional priorities and implementation tactics.
3. Allow idea exchange and interaction — to learn from each other, and to test out new methods and performance standards.
4. Establish greater context for how environmental justice, shade equity, climate mitigation, urban heat island, tree canopy, building decarbonization, housing affordability, 100% electrification, on-site generation, and urban design are all inter-related (and therefore require a more connected partnership between LADWP and the architecture community implementing the infrastructure framework to address all of these inter-related challenges).
5. Expedite and streamline LADPW’s development services.

More specifically, the quarterly forums allow for:

1. Improve the architects’ understanding of specific LADWP rules, regulations, standards, and procedures – and offer helpful insight on how to better improve those specific regulations and standards to achieve more optimal outcomes.
2. Create pathways to achieve greater flexibility and clarity of purpose for why certain variances and modifications are necessary, helpful, and/or mutually beneficial.
3. Identify obstacles to implementation
4. Establish pilot programs to test out new ideas and innovative solutions.
5. Establish an inventory of code-related obstacles and analyze which codes and regulations may need to be modified/ altered to achieve more effective outcomes
6. Map out strategies for how to better leverage resources
7. Prioritize changes in equipment size, models, standards, and ‘cultural habits’ that can assist in delivering positive results (healthier urban design, greater biodiversity, safer working conditions, a more beautiful and less stressful public realm, etc.)
8. Identify opportunities to leverage best practices from Southern California Edison as it relate to design standards and protocols that promote more verdant ecosystems in integration with utility infrastructure (relationship between street trees and landscaping w/ utility infrastructure, etc) and the ability to utilize alternative materials that promote a ‘greener,’ and less stressful public realm.
9. The exploration of third-party services, peer review, and self-certification, etc.

Some of the direct outcomes achieved to date include:

1. Improved staffing and processing times at BOE for utility permits
2. More permissible variances for staging areas and transformer pads, etc.
3. Streamlined processes for 100% affordable housing (ED #1)
4. Amortization of line-extensions, etc
5. Deeper trust between AIA Los Angeles and LADWP leadership

In the future, as the impact of these sessions further evolves and demonstrates results, we’d like to make certain:

1. That these forums serve as a model for how other LA City departments can deepen relationships with the private sector to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
2. Deepen the trust between LADWP and the citizens/ residents/ professionals/ clients it serves.

We applaud LADWP’s leadership in prioritizing the partnership between AIA Los Angeles and the utility. If LADWP’s communication team can help us communicate and celebrate the impact of these forums, the general public will benefit from a deeper understanding of how public and private partnerships can help achieve positive results for all.

For more information about AIA LA GO!, the AIA LA Government Outreach Committee, please CLICK HERE.