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≡ PERMITS & POLITICS ≡
Moving forward with some trepidation, the Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee approved Tuesday a request to have the City Attorney and other departments prepare a draft ordinance to exempt the LA28 organizing committee – and potentially others – to receive expedited approvals for temporary works related to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The original motion came from 11th District Council member Traci Park, then the Chair of the Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which last met in June 2024. She presented a motion in December that included:
“[T]hat the Los Angeles City Council authorize and direct the City Planning Department, in coordination with the City Attorney, the Department of Building and Safety, and other relevant departments, to draft an ordinance to exempt Olympic and Paralympic temporary and permanent venues, training facilities, security perimeters, broadcast and media centers, transit infrastructure, live sites and fan zones, and associated structures from the requirements of City Planning approvals, zoning regulations, and conditions, including but not limited to Conditional Use Permits (CUPs) and conditions tied to such permits, Site Plan Review requirements, height restrictions, setback requirements, limitations imposed by Specific Plans, and any other planning or zoning regulations that could delay or impede the rapid deployment and or use of essential facilities.
“I FURTHER MOVE that the Department utilize the California Code of Regulations Title 14 Statutory Exemption Section 15272 – Olympic Games – ‘CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] does not apply to activities or approvals necessary to the bidding for, hosting or staging of, and funding or carrying out of, Olympic Games.’”
That exemption was originally included to support the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and has been maintained as L.A. continuously bid for a future Games, beginning in 1990.
Park’s motion came up in Tuesday’s Planning and Land Use meeting, with Ken Bernstein of the City Planning Department explaining that approval of the item “would direct our department, in coordination with several other agencies and offices, to prepare a report with recommendations and an accompanying draft ordinance to exempt Olympic and Paralympic improvement projects from planning and zoning approvals, and it would direct the Department of Building and Safety to establish a dedicated unit to coordinate all development-related services for 2028 Games projects.”
Committee Chair Bob Blumenfield (3rd District) explained his view that the idea was worthwhile, but had to be controlled:
“We can request the departments to report and we can request an ordinance.
“What I’d like to do is, to be clear, and create a carve-out for particular projects that Council determines – based on things like size and location – should not be subject to the streamlining process.
“So, my thought is, we can move forward with this, and get the report back, but create an opt-out provision, so that the fears that have been expressed here today can be allayed, and then those fears that we all share that certain things might be shoe-horned into this, that we as a Council would have that opt-out by a simple majority. If there is a [project that is being moved forward on streamlining that we don’t think is appropriate, we can opt that project out.”
One project which two public speakers asked about specifically was the “Gondola” project, from Union Station to Dodger Stadium, which has drawn fierce neighborhood opposition; they worried that such projects – which are not directly related to the 2028 Games – would be approved via this process.
Blumenfield also did not want to have essentially permanent projects placed under the “Olympic” category – such as road repairs – that would then allow other safety or transit requirements to be eliminated.
Council member Nithya Raman (4th District) asked about the definition of “temporary,” noting:
“What does temporary infrastructure mean, vs. permanent? I think there’s lots of infrastructure that you think is being built for a short-term basis that ends up being long-term infrastructure in cities. You see this all the time.
“So, I would want a clear understanding of what exactly a piece of temporary infrastructure or a temporary intervention would mean, that would qualify for this kind of fast-tracking.”
The motion as modified by Blumenfield was approved by a 5-0 vote and is now with the City staff to develop the report and the ordinance, but without a specific time line. The motion was also referred to the Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which has no listed date for a next meeting.
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