The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion Tuesday seeking to nullify the city’s parking space replacement policy in an effort to accommodate more affordable and supportive housing developments.
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky introduced the motion seeking to nullify a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Transportation and the City Administrative Office, which outlined the parking space replacement policy.
The policy set requirements for the number of parking spaces that an affordable housing developer must replace depending on the size and utilization rates of the parking facility.
“The mandate of replacing parking without individual analysis of the particular sites can have a detrimental impact on the redevelopment of property for affordable housing,” said Tricia Keane, executive officer for the city’s Housing Department.
According to Yaroslavsky’s motion, the policy made it more difficult for affordable or supportive developments because it increased development costs between $40,000 to $70,000 to replace parking spaces.
Keane explained that typically, replacement parking is not something that can be paid for by sources of funding that are used to subsidize affordable housing development. Also, there can be instances in which it’s not feasible “because of site constraints.”
“The approach of the motion is to allow for that analysis to happen on a case-by-case basis to thread that needle,” Keane said.
Yaroslavsky assured her colleagues that, if the MOU were nullified, their council offices could still “ensure the parking needs of their communities are met and accounted for.”
She said the MOU was adopted in 2019 without council consideration, and has made it “impossible” for her to develop on any of the parking lots in her Fifth District.
“It’s rendered them financially infeasible because it’s added million of dollars to the development costs,” Yaroslavsky said. “Eliminating this MOU still gives each of us the discretion we need through the land use approvals process to add whatever parking we believe the community needs.”
Councilman Bob Blumenfield introduced two amendments to the motion. The first ensured that initial feasibility studies of parking facilities for housing developments include an analysis of the mobility, livability and commercial needs of the nearby community, if requested by a council member.
Second, Blumenfield called to secure off-street parking lots in Reseda, as these parking spaces have been under “active consideration” for several years as potential housing sites.
“During multiple community meetings, the community has been promised replacement parking should housing be constructed on these sites,” Blumenfield said. “The availability of these parking lots was a consideration in approving the Reseda Boulevard Complete Streets project.”
The council voted 12-0, with members Eunisses Hernandez and Marqueece Harris-Dawson absent from Tuesday’s meeting, to approve Yaroslavsky’s motion.
The council also instructed its city administrative officer to report back in 60 days on all Department of Transportation-owned facilities with at least 25 parking spaces that will no longer be subject to the parking replacement policy, along with the current status of any contemplated or in-process affordable housing developments.
Lastly, the council instructed the city’s Housing Department to publicly notify affordable and supportive housing developers of the policy change.