Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss has only a few weeks before he leaves office. But in the run-up to his June 30 departure, his council colleagues are considering a burst of high-profile development projects from his Westside district.
The council voted last week in favor of a 39-story tower at Westfield's shopping mall in Century City. A day later, it approved a seven-story apartment building on La Brea Avenue backed by Weiss, who recently lost his bid for city attorney.
On Wednesday, council members are scheduled to review an expansion of the Museum of Tolerance on Pico Boulevard that has been the subject of heated neighborhood debate. And at least two other projects could reach the council before July 1, when Councilman-elect Paul Koretz is slated to take office in the 5th District.
"Everything seems to be coming this month," Koretz said. "There's just a parade of projects that seem to be rushed to get done before I get there."
Although he called the number of projects "ridiculous," Koretz said he was hesitant to halt proposals that have been in the bureaucratic pipeline for a long while, in some cases years. Still, he has asked council members to delay a vote on at least one proposal: a planned 14-story condominium tower near Beverly Hills.
Koretz, who often took an anti-development stance during his campaign, said the project was much taller than allowed under the site's existing zoning, which limits new buildings to 45 feet.
Weiss spokeswoman Lisa Hansen said the council district, which stretches from Cheviot Hills to Encino, always has a large number of development projects in the works -- and June is no exception.
"Many have been in the public process pipeline for years and are now ready for a vote after a lot of community work has been done," she said.
Hansen said some district projects have drawn little if any controversy. Critics have a different take, saying that it is no coincidence that so many projects have come up for a vote.
"Across this district, projects that have been fought, and fought hard, are being rammed through," said Laura Lake, a land-use consultant who represents a neighborhood group opposed to the planned 14-story complex.
When it comes to real estate development, the 15-member council typically relies on the "Rule of 15," which suggests that members not interfere with projects in other council colleagues' districts. That concept was briefly ignored last week, when council members demanded and obtained new concessions from the developer of La Brea Gateway.
