How to evaluate a multifamily site in Los Angeles

A site's value is set before the first drawing, by what the code, the record and the ground allow on it. A site evaluation reads each of them for the parcel itself, so the decision to pursue a site rests on the building it can hold.

The zone and everything over it

The base zone sets the use, the density and the yards; the height district sets the height or the floor area. Over them sit the parcel's Q conditions, D limitations, specific plans, community design overlays, CPIOs and HPOZs, each adopted by its own ordinance. ZIMAS names them; the ordinances say what they do. A Q condition or a D limitation can cap the height or the floor area below what the zone shows.

Transit proximity

Distance to transit sets two things. Under AB 2097 (Gov. Code 65863.2), no minimum parking is required within half a mile of a major transit stop. Under the Mixed Income Incentive Program, the distance to a Major Transit Stop sets the subarea and the incentives.

The record of the parcel

• Ownership, the last sale and the assessed values, from the County roll.
• Permits and planning cases on file: a prior entitlement, a pending application or an open code case changes what the site can do next.
• Units subject to the Rent Stabilization Ordinance and units occupied in the last five years: they set the replacement owed under the Housing Crisis Act and LAMC 16.60, and they can exclude a site from a program (ED 1 excludes a parcel with 12 or more such units).
• Housing Element site designation and any minimum density it sets.

The physical constraints

• Lot lines, frontages and alleys: the code's front, side and rear lot lines set the yards, and half of an alley's width counts toward a rear yard opening on it (LAMC 12.22 C.2).
• Hazards: fire hazard severity zones, hillside areas, liquefaction, methane zones and fault proximity.
• Street trees, power lines and easements that require their own clearances.
• Street dedication and improvement where the lot abuts a major or secondary highway or a collector street (LAMC 12.37).

What the evaluation produces

A short read of the pathways that apply, the units each yields on a test fit of the parcel, the binding constraint and the questions still open. The feasibility model starts from it.

Questions

Where are a Los Angeles parcel's zoning conditions recorded?

ZIMAS names the zone, the overlays, the Q conditions, the D limitations and the ordinances that adopted them. The ordinance text states what each condition requires.

Does a multifamily project near transit need parking in Los Angeles?

Under AB 2097 (Gov. Code 65863.2), no minimum parking is required within half a mile of a major transit stop.

Sources