L.A. Citywide General Plan Framework Update

The Citywide General Plan Framework is completing another major milestone. Begun 18 months ago, the Framework (or GPF) is entering its third phase in January 1994: the completion of an analysis of the cumulative impacts of the community plans and the impacts of two additional future citywide growth options. The project is supported by non-General Funds and was undertaken as a result of a lawsuit settlement between the city and Environmental Protection Agency over the sewage spills of the Hyperion Sewage treatment plan into the Santa Monica Bay in the late 1980s. Federal and state Clean Air and Clean Water mandates require this new long range citywide view. 

In addition to exploring the distribution of land use (a strategy to target or focus growth), the two additional growth options also consider scales and types of future growth, providing important refinements to the City's prior long range plan, Concept LA, which treated centers equally with no distinction for neighborhood, community, regional or international scales. Finally, the GPF will include implementation mechanisms, another significant departure from the prior effort. After a technical analysis and public discussion of these options, and their associated impacts, a preliminary Framework plan will be drafted for the City Planning Commission in November 1994. 

The GPF will result in five principal products: a long range land use management plan, coordinated with a transportation plan, a policy plan, an environmental impact report and an economic impact report. A supportive relationship of the GPF to other current planning efforts is an important focus of the effort, affording constructive vertical integration of policy including station area planning, the community plan update program and use of the GPF EIR as a master document. The GPF will form the basis for the City's subregional component to SCAG's Regional Comprehensive Plan.

A second major round of public workshops are being scheduled throughout the city during January and February 1994 to discuss the ramifications of the old and the new options. From March to June 1993, an initial round of public workshops were completed identifying issues and visions among residents.

In preparing the future visions, background data researched by the consultant and staff team are being taken into consideration. The reader should note that these figures undergo constant refinement, however: 

• In a city of 467 square miles, over 40% of the land area is open space, streets or infrastructure. 
• 38%: of the city is planned for residential. The remaining planned residential capacity is about 28% of what exists today. 
• 4.4% of the city is planned for commercial. However, the remaining planned commercial capacity is over 3 times what exists today.
• City household income is $43,789 (1990) or 3.1 % below the L.A. County average. The City is jobs rich compared to the region with a jobs/housing ratio of 1.45. 
• Of the City's original 29 centers, a high of 21 are served by the MTA transportation plan.
• Job growth in the 1980's was concentrated in the San Fernando Valley communities.
• State job losses were 523,000 from June 1990 to February 1992, with 2/3 of those losses in L.A. County.
• High unemployment is concentrated in inner city communities while "job clusters" (or concentrations) are much more widely distributed throughout the city. 
• The City budget for 93-94 is substantially in deficit.
• The City will exhaust remaining capacity in the land zoned for residential use by 2000.
• Primary basic industries in the region are aerospace, entertainment, apparel, trade and tourism.