E-mail reignites debate over L.A. zoning
The Planning Commission president's missive to neighborhood activists calls a new ordinance that allows denser development 'fatally flawed' and open to legal challenge.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's top appointee on the city Planning Commission sent an e-mail to neighborhood activists asserting that a new city ordinance that allows housing developers to roll back zoning rules is "fatally flawed" -- and vulnerable to a legal challenge.
Planning Commission President Jane Ellison Usher, who once served as Mayor Tom Bradley's in-house attorney, criticized a recently passed ordinance that makes it easier for developers who propose even a few affordable units to build projects that are larger and have fewer parking spaces than zoning normally allows.
The e-mail, sent Sunday, instantly reignited the debate over the city's campaign to add taller, denser buildings across the city. One neighborhood group has forwarded Usher's e-mail to its attorney.
"If it looks like there is a legal opportunity to have the city revisit this [law], we will look to join with others who have similar feelings," said Barbara Broide, president of the Westwood South of Santa Monica Boulevard Homeowners Assn.
The Los Angeles City Council approved the housing law last month, giving developers the ability to exceed height limits and provide smaller amounts of open space than the rules allow when as little as 5% of their residential projects are deemed affordable.
Councilwoman Jan Perry, who voted for the housing law, said recipients of the e-mail could conclude that Usher is inviting them to sue -- and representing the mayor while doing so.
"When you sign off with the words, 'President, Los Angeles City Planning Commission,' it implies that you might be acting on behalf of the city," she said.
Usher said Monday that she wrote the e-mail on behalf of herself, not the commission. The mayoral appointee said she sent it after learning about changes to the law at a Feb. 28 commission meeting -- a session held on the same day Villaraigosa signed the ordinance into law.
Villaraigosa's office shrugged off questions about the e-mail, saying the new law will lead to more affordable housing.
"With nine people sitting on the planning commission, you're bound to get a variety of viewpoints," said mayoral spokeswoman Janelle Erickson in a written statement.
Usher has repeatedly criticized the new housing ordinance, saying it violates the state's environmental laws and breaks faith with neighborhood groups that try to craft zoning rules for their communities.
