In a move that immediately angered business and development interests, Los Angeles officials declared Thursday that only a fraction of industrial land in downtown would be opened to residential and commercial uses.
The joint directive by the city's planning department and redevelopment agency -- supported by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- would preserve about 2,633 acres of land zoned for industry while opening 261 acres to residential development.
Many downtown advocates and business interests had hoped for more acreage. They want the city to begin aggressively rezoning industrial land.
Two City Council members quickly threatened to ignore the directive and approve exceptions that would continue the expansion of residential projects.
Those opposed to the directive wanted to see Los Angeles officials follow the lead of those in other large cities -- such as San Francisco; Portland, Ore.; and Vancouver, Canada -- that in recent years have transformed such lands into thriving urban neighborhoods.
Much of Los Angeles' downtown industrial region is coveted because of its price. Land costs elsewhere have escalated as parts of downtown have been gentrified in recent years, leading some developers to begin looking to the industrial area along the eastern edge of downtown.
But Cecilia Estolano, chief of the Community Redevelopment Agency, said the directive that she signed Thursday was intended to protect more than 40,000 blue-collar jobs, preserve land for future industrial uses and keep the focus on downtown neighborhoods that are being redeveloped.
"Economic development has to be more than high-priced condos and cheap retail jobs," she said. "You have no chance of creating these manufacturing jobs once" the land is used for other purposes.
Under the directive, city agencies would reject any application by developers to put housing in existing industrial areas known as "employment protection zones."
A limited amount of housing would be permitted in industrial mixed-use districts, while housing would be encouraged in "transition districts" where industry is dying.
The City Council has no authority to simply reverse an administrative policy directive by agency chiefs, but the council can declare exceptions that would put new housing projects wherever they please. But that process is often time-consuming and expensive for developers. Another option for the council is to rezone the land as part of new community plans. That, too, is a long and tedious process.
