General Plan Update Archive
General Plan Update Archive
Project 02-305-(1-5)
The County is comprehensively updating the General Plan. The Los Angeles County 2035 General Plan provides the policy framework for how and where the unincorporated County will grow through the year 2035, while recognizing and celebrating the County’s wide diversity of cultures, abundant natural resources, and status as an international economic center. Comprising approximately 2,650 square miles, unincorporated Los Angeles County is home to over one million people. The Los Angeles County 2035 General Plan accommodates new housing and jobs within the unincorporated areas in anticipation of population growth in the County and the region. The General Plan Update effort includes goals, policies, implementation programs, and ordinances.
The project will replace the adopted General Plan, including all of the elements (excluding the Housing Element), land use distribution maps, and circulation maps. Other components of the General Plan Update include amendments to the existing County ordinances and/or adoption of new County ordinances as necessary to implement the updated General Plan; and digitizing, parceling, and refining land use policy maps for existing community-based plans, as needed.
For information on the County’s Housing Element Update, please click here.
Public Hearing Information
On March 24, 2015, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to approve the General Plan Update.
On December 10, 2014, the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission voted to recommend that the County Board of Supervisors approve the General Plan Update The Regional Planning Commission considered the General Plan Update during a series of public hearings in 2014, during which the public provided testimony and written comments. The hearing schedule and supplemental materials are provided below. We anticipate a public hearing before the Board of Supervisors to occur in March 2015.
The following meetings will be held by the Regional Planning Commission Hearing Room, starting at 9am and located at: Department of Regional Planning - Room 150 320 West Temple Street Los Angeles, California 90012
If you need reasonable accommodations or auxiliary aids, contact the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator at (213) 974-6488 (Voice) or (213) 617-2292 (TDD) with at least 3 business days’ notice.
Please check this page regularly for updates to the schedule, as well as supplemental materials for each item. Staff reports will be posted approximately two weeks prior to the scheduled meeting. If you have any questions or would like to submit a comment letter, please contact the General Plan Development and Housing Section at (213) 974-6417 or genplan@planning.lacounty.gov. Comments for the public hearings are posted at the following link: https://case.planning.lacounty.gov/generalplan/comments2014.Si necesita más información por favor llame al (213) 974-6417.
Regional Planning Commission - Public Hearing
Board of Supervisors - Public Hearing
| Public Meeting | Date |
|---|---|
|
Board Letter Attachment |
March 24, 2015 |
General Plan Update: Overview
Major Policies
The General Plan anticipates growth and will guide development in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County through the year 2035. Major policies include:
Expanding Transit Oriented Districts
Transit Oriented Districts (TODs) are areas where the General Plan Update encourages infill development, pedestrian-friendly and community-serving uses near transit stops. The goal is to encourage walking, bicycling, and transit use. The General Plan Update will expand the existing TODs from approximately a ¼ mile radius to ½ mile radius from the transit stations. In addition, new TODs will be established around transit stations in West Carson, Rancho Dominguez, Del Aire, East Los Angeles and East Pasadena-East San Gabriel.
For more information please visit our TOD webpage here.
Promoting Mixed Use
The General Plan Update encourages high densities and mixed use (e.g. commercial and residential) development along major commercial corridors near transit stations. Properties along these corridors will be designated “Mixed Use” (MU), with a maximum allowable density of 150 units per net acre and a maximum floor area ratio of 3.0. To view the locations of these MU-designated properties, click the individual communities below:
In addition, these properties will be zoned “Mixed Use” (MXD), which will allow for a greater mixture of pedestrian-oriented commercial and higher-density residential development. Click here to view the latest draft MXD zone.
Expanding Significant Ecological Areas
A Significant Ecological Area (SEA) designation is given to land that contains irreplaceable biological resources. Individual SEAs include undisturbed or lightly disturbed habitat supporting valuable and threatened species, linkages and corridors to promote species movement, and are sized to support sustainable populations of its component species. The objective of the SEA Program is to preserve the genetic and physical diversity of the County by designing biological resource areas capable of sustaining themselves into the future. However SEAs are not wilderness preserves. Much of the land in SEAs is privately held, used for public recreation or abutting developed areas. Thus the SEA Program is intended to ensure that privately held lands within the SEAs retain the right of reasonable use, while avoiding activities and development projects that are incompatible with the long term survival of the SEAs. To learn more about the SEA program, including background studies, maps, and the proposed SEA ordinance, please visit the SEA program homepage.
Creating Employment Protection Districts
The Employment Protection Districts (EPDs) are economically viable industrial and employment-rich lands to be preserved as major employment centers. These areas, which are identified on this map, are protected by policies to prevent the conversion of industrial land to non-industrial uses. Click here and here to view policies
The General Plan aligns itself with the Los Angeles County Strategic Plan for Economic Development in recognizing the value and importance of retaining land where jobs-rich uses can thrive. To implement the General Plan Update’s industrial policy, manufacturing zones will be revised to preserve industrial lands. Click here to view the draft manufacturing zones.
Protecting Agricultural Resources
Agricultural Resource Areas (ARAs) are areas where the General Plan Update promotes the preservation of agricultural uses. The ARAs, which are identified on this map, consist of areas that have been historically farmed in the County, as well as farmland identified by the State Department of Conservation. These areas are protected by policies to prevent the conversion of farmland to incompatible uses. Click here and here to view policies.
The General Plan Update also includes an implementation program for a future Agricultural Resources Ordinance. For more information on this program, please click here.
Zoning Consistency
The General Plan Update includes amendments to the existing County ordinances and/or adoption of new County ordinances as necessary to implement the updated General Plan, including but not limited to the SEA Ordinance and Hillside Management Area Ordinance, and the addition of new zones to implement the General Plan Land Use Legend. In addition, the scope of the General Plan includes rezoning, as necessary, to implement and/or maintain consistency with the updated General Plan. For more information on zoning consistency, please click here.
CEQA/Environmental Impact Report
The DEIR for the General Plan Update has been completed and is available for public review from June 23, 2014 - August 7, 2014. For more information, please click here.