City Council Passes Planning Changes

Did they change the parking requirements? I hope they did. We require too much parking per building nowadays, hopefully this gets reduced.

250 sq. foot units will not the be the norm, mainly because almost nobody will want them.

The only people who will tolerate them are people who cannot afford anything else. Therefore, they will remain only a small percentage of the available housing stock. Whether that will be closer to 1% of units, or 10% of units, remains to be seen.

I think it is better for the community and pedestrian life to have smaller units. It encourages people to dine out, take longer walks, and spend more time outside the home. It's also a better use of space and saves energy on cooling costs.

Nobody will want a 250 sq. foot condo ? Are you sure about that, Scott ? That's much larger than the common 8' x 10' jail cell.

Throw in some amenities like a pool, fitness center, or gaming room... and it sounds too good to resist at that price.

The last time I checked, about 80% of the people in Los Angeles... "can't afford anything else"...

The purpose of this planning change is not about smaller units, although the new rules would allow that, it is about appropriate development for a downtown area as opposed to the suburbs. Decades ago, the city changed the codes to apply suburban rules to downtown with the intention of destroying the urban center. In recent years, in order to build an urban stlye building, one has to get variances to all the rules that prevent urban development. All this code change does is to allow for this process without having to go through mutliple variances. It's a simple, sensible change that is long overdue.

This isn't Chicago nor NYC. It's Los Angeles and 250sq ft of living space is small folks. If you think traffic is bad now, wait till this is implemented citywide! The real winners here will be the developers who will become even richer. There's a recent clip I saw with LA county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky about developers and his views on LA city's planning office: http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=pq47aMbYAfY

At any rate, 300-400 sq would be more in line with the city core

Anyone notice how LA Weekly slammed this ordinance? They seem to be consistently against smart growth and transit-oriented development (and any transit not approved by the BRU). What's up with that?

I agree with Bert. One size does not fit all when it comes to zoning. Downtown is unique.

Mauricio, I respect your argument, but land in LA is not cheap. LA is catching up to San Francisco as the most expensive city on the West Coast to live in.

It's not pleasant, but it's the reality we have to face when land is running out, and we have a severe housing shortage.

Maybe they can build these smaller units closer to mass transit so it won't have to add to traffic. As opposed to building a 2,000 sq ft. house in the Inland Empire, which will generate alot more traffic.

It is true that no more small units will be built than the market can bear. However, I think we'll be surprised how many people are willing to do it. Young people going to college (USC) or starting out new jobs with significant debt will be tempted to continue living a dorm-size lifestyle and save a lot of money in the process.
I'm guessing that the people in NYC willing to pay $1800/mo. for a 250 sq. ft. studio (I have a friend who did so) are the same type of people that will be willing to live in one in Downtown LA for a whole lot less once the "attractions" (LA Live, etc.) come on line.