BACKGROUND

In January 2001, the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development (H&CD) issued a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for its Downtown Rebound Planning Grants program.  On January 9, 2001, a City Council motion (Pacheco-Walters) instructed the LAHD, Community Redevelopment Agency, City Planning Department, and Department of Building & Safety to apply for funds under this program. LAHD convened a group of downtown stakeholders and representatives of the aforementioned departments from which the scope of work was created.  A letter was received from H&CD by City Clerk Executive Officer Frank Martinez on June 7, 2001, indicating that the City was successful in its application for grant funding under the program.

The purpose of the grant is to facilitate the development of infill, mixed-use and adaptive reuse housing.   To achieve this goal, the work plan consists of studies in the following areas of emphasis:

• Analysis of Building and Fire Codes/ Adaptive Reuse Handbook
• Brownfields
• Coordinate Activities of Government Agencies
• Need for Complementary Amenities
• Parking
• Residential Market Summary and Survey
• Telecommunications
• Transportation

More detail on each area of emphasis can be found in the April 12, 2002 to City Council.  For purposes of the work on this grant, the boundaries of "Downtown" (.pdf) are the same as those of the Central City Community Plan Area. The Central City Community Plan is a document created by the City of Los Angeles Planning Department (note: an update to the Central City Community Plan was approved in January 2003).

STATUS OF WORK IN EACH AREA OF EMPHASIS

Analysis of Building and Fire Codes/ Adaptive Reuse Guides

Work done by the team consisting primarily of representatives from the Mayor's Office, Department of City Planning, Department of Building & Safety, and Fire Department concerning changes to the Municipal Code related to Adaptive Reuse projects is complete. Codification of changes to the Municipal Code is going through the approval process.

Status: Booklet showing successful Adaptive Reuse developments completed. Technical Handbook containing regulations the City has adopted to encourage Adaptive Reuse also completed: Intro & Table of Contents (.pdf 1.1MB) | Entire Handbook (.pdf 4.7MB)

Brownfields

• Work products include: 1) a list of brownfield sites within the study area that are likely to be suitable for redevelopment into housing or mixed-use developments; 2) examples from other California cities that have encouraged adaptive reuse of brownfields along with summary information of such programs; 3) results of a survey regarding brownfields development of for-profit and non-profit developers to obtain a list of pros and cons to brownfields development.
• Status: Final report (.pdf 5.4MB) completed.

Coordinate Activities of Government Agencies

• The consultant inventoried the goals of governmental agencies that have an impact on the development of Downtown as a viable livable community and reviewed the operations of existing coordinating bodies such as the City of Los Angeles Brownfields Task Force and Emergency Preparedness Department as models for broader use of interagency coordination. A questionnaire was designed to interview developers regarding their perception of working with different agencies. The consultant identified model livable communities of appropriate scale that were assisted by successful overall planning strategy involving coordination of governmental agencies and inventoried the coordination mechanisms of said livable communities.
• Status: Final report (.pdf) completed.

Need for Complementary Amenities

• Contractor has reviewed relevant documents/plans including Downtown Strategic Plan; Central City Community Plan; Residential Market Summary and Survey; Grand Avenue Realignment Plan; and Diamond Plan. Field survey of existing amenities and conditions in study area and adjacent areas was completed. A progress meeting was held with the DRPG Advisory Group on September 30, 2003.
• Status: Work completed. Executive Summary (.pdf 5.2MB) | Part 1 (.pdf 4.5MB) | Parts 2 & 3 (.pdf 4.2MB)

Parking

• The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) issued RFP No. 01-41 on January 25, 2002. Kimley-Horn was selected as the consultant.
• Status: Final report (.pdf 1.2MB) completed.

Residential Market Summary & Survey

• Two surveys (one for downtown residents and the other for downtown workers) were performed in December 2002. Demographics and housing preferences of residents in successfully revitalized downtown areas of select cities were evaluated by the consultant (cities chosen: Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Diego).
• Status: All work completed: Market Summary & Survey (.pdf) and Comparison of Other Cities (.pdf).

Telecom

• Status: Final report (.pdf 1.1MB) completed.

Transportation

• "Origin and Destination" questions were added to the Residential Market Survey.
• Status: See Residential Market Summary & Survey

CONTACTS

Administration of the grant is the responsibility of the Los Angeles Housing Department.  Contact the Policy & Planning Unit at  (213) 808-xxxx.