Taking it to the Streets

Downtown Los Angeles is in the midst of a residential boom, bringing much-needed vitality to a neighborhood that seems nearly abandoned most weeknights, weekends, and holidays. Originally, the focus of this activity was the rehabilitation and conversion of historic buildings into lofts; recently, it has shifted towards the construction of brand new residential buildings "from the ground up." As a professional urban planner, I am intimately familiar with the intricacies and issues involved in getting any sort of structure "permitted" in this city.

Today the Los Angeles Downtown News featured an excellent article that described some of the conflicts inherent in the current "renassiance," namely whether the government should be focused on designing streets for cars or designing streets for people. Indeed, Downtown is one of the few places in the metropolis where an engaging and urbane community might yet flourish; I refuse to believe that urban planners like myself are the only ones who have an interest in the outcome.

Link to article here (text follows)

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Street Widening Policy Challenged

Perry Pushes Pedestrian Walkways Over DOT Practice

By Katherine Maese
City Editor

The city policy on street widening requirements for new housing projects is meeting resistance from some developers and city planners who say the practice is at odds with efforts to create more vibrant sidewalk activity throughout Downtown.

Until now, the need for street widening has been relatively rare. But with a slate of new ground-up projects buzzing along on numerous once-vacant lots, particularly in South Park, the clash with pedestrian improvements is coming to the forefront.

The current policy doesn't sit well with Ninth District City Councilwoman Jan Perry, who has introduced a motion asking the Bureau of Engineering to halt all street-widening projects until the Department of Transportation (DOT) and other city agencies can find a solution. The motion is headed for the City Council's Public Works Committee, and later the Transportation, and Planning and Land Use Management committees.

"We looked at the whole situation, and realized we needed to streamline the process and try to create a much nicer environment for residents in Downtown," said Karen Yamamoto, a city planner with the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), which is studying the issue. "We would prefer to see wider sidewalks and more amenities to create urban street life."

Currently, the DOT requires developers to widen thoroughfares around ground-up projects to account for the resulting boost in traffic from residents and customers frequenting street-level shops. The result is that in some cases, a 15-foot sidewalk could shrink five feet.

A DOT proposal to accommodate more cars and traffic around the planned police headquarters, the new Caltrans building and the ongoing St. Vibiana's project would widen the north side of Second Street by six feet between Spring and Main, and by 5.6 feet between Main and Los Angeles.

Tom Cody, a principal with the South Group, which plans to build more than 1,200 apartments and condominiums in South Park in coming years, called Perry's policy examination long overdue. The street widening requirements, he said, will have a lasting impact on the area's long-term development.

"Whatever the economic hardships on the developer, it pales in importance to the legacy this policy will have on the urban environment," Cody said. "What we're dealing with is largely a car culture that is not necessarily conducive to building a great neighborhood. Of course we have to move people around the city, but we need to recognize that there is a cost to that."

For its 176-unit project on 11th Street between Grand and Hope, called Elleven, South Group was required to give up 16,000 square feet of land to right-of-way dedications and setbacks. Cody said while there are cases where major arterial streets do need to be widened to accommodate density, the city has an opportunity to promote "smart growth" by encouraging the use of mass transit and building restaurants, gyms and other amenities on the ground floor.

Major Study

Despite the support from some quarters, Perry's request may be a tall order, particularly with a short examination deadline, said James Okazaki, DOT's assistant general manager. A study on this scale would require at least a year to complete as well as a serious infusion of staffing and funding, he said.

"What Jan is asking in this motion is noteworthy," Okazaki said. "We have been looking at trying to do this but for us it has been a matter of resources. But there is also a real need for goods movement like FedEx and UPS deliveries, buses and traffic. It's a balancing act of trying to make sure we have adequate access, and circulation for passenger cars as well."

Okazaki said with more parking lots being snatched up by developers for housing, coupled with a growing workforce and residential population, traffic is projected to increase up to 40% citywide in the next two decades. It's a reality planners will have to come to grips with, especially Downtown.Okazaki noted that Downtown's sidewalks are actually larger than the city norm of 10 feet. In the Central City, sidewalks range from 12 to 15 feet, while larger promenades such as Broadway can reach 25 feet. In the case of the Elleven project, Okazaki said the department asked for about three feet of widening.

"I don't think we have been widening the streets in Downtown more than a foot here or a foot there," he said. "The thing is, city government has to be fair. That's what we worried about. Policy has to be good for everyone and not just one developer."

Perry's proposed moratorium on street widening follows two other endeavors addressing quality of life for pedestrians. The Planning Department is working to update the city's antiquated zoning code by allowing developers in dense urban areas like Downtown to front the sidewalk and set up restaurants and other retail amenities that generate activity on the ground. The move also makes it more attractive for developers to invest Downtown, because it allows them to build more units.

The CRA is devising guidelines that would unify streetscape design in new housing developments with elements such as public art, lamps, trees, paving and even turning foreboding alleyways into a web of pedestrian walkways and mid-block paseos. It is expected to be approved later this year.