Bad management and antiquated practices have hampered the Los Angeles Planning Department's ability to create a coherent vision and responsible strategy for the growth of the nation's second largest city, according to an audit released Monday.
City Controller Laura Chick said the review commissioned by her office found "an agency cast in a time warp of past practices, old procedures and outdated technology" that was "mired in backlogs, often in violation of state law" because deadlines were missed.
Chick said a shortage of well-trained city planners -- caused partly by a hiring freeze that has left 56 of 319 jobs unfilled -- had forced the department during the current building boom to shift employees to processing a backlog of applications rather than refining the city's 44 "specific plans" that define how neighborhoods will develop.
"It's one reason why we are just beginning to have, so belatedly, great civic centers and great commercial centers that are the mark of a truly great city," Chick told reporters at a City Hall news conference.
Chick called for an overhaul of agency practices with 29 recommendations, including an effort to streamline planning approvals, the hiring of better-trained planners and the use of computer technology to allow the various departments that approve new development to work electronically from one shared form.
The audit proposed that the number of steps required to approve a development application be halved, from 10 to five, cutting out the need for high-level planners to sign off on approvals by lower level planners.
It takes more than 200 days, on average, to gain approval of subdivisions and projects that require Planning Commission approval.
Developers believe that the department could be more efficient, but also would like it to adopt a more visionary approach to meet housing needs, a representative said.
"It's important for the Planning Department to think long term about the city's needs," said Holly Schroeder, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-Ventura chapter of the Building Industry Assn. She said it was obvious that Los Angeles had not done so.
"The results speak for themselves in terms of the housing crisis we face," she said.
Neighborhood activists raised concerns Monday about some of the recommendations to streamline project reviews and to limit the time controversial cases can be reviewed, as well as calls by the auditors to enforce limits on public testimony during commission hearings.
