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≡ PERMIT EXEMPTIONS FOR 2028? ≡
The Los Angeles City Council cautiously advanced, by an 11-1 vote, a motion directing the City staff to prepare a report on the advisability of waiving the usual, lengthy permitting reviews via an ordinance to assist the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee with temporary installations for the 2028 Games.
There was consistent and considerable negative public feedback on the motion, tied to two points:
(1) What constitutes “temporary” installations and what makes a request “related to the Olympics” and
(2) A fear of the proposed “gondola” – the Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit project – between Union Station and Dodger Stadium that could somehow use such an ordinance to allow it to be approved against community concerns.
The motion as it came to the City Council was slowed down a bit from discussions in committee, with a report and a draft ordinance to be delivered by City staff, instructed to:
“prepare a report with recommendations, including budgetary/fiscal impacts, and an accompanying draft ordinance that will not be considered until the reports are prepared and considered …”
The actual action of such an ordinance would be 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 (2028 Games Projects) from the requirements of City Planning approvals, zoning regulations, and conditions, if applicable, 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 …”
In order to meet the concerns over the Dodger Stadium gondola project, an amendment was added to specifically exclude from any exemptions, “any large-scale, permanent cable guided transportation project and associated infrastructure.”
The City’s Department of Building and Safety to create a “establish a dedicated unit to manage and expedite all development services related to the 2028 Games Projects and projects related to other major events.”
The vote was unanimous other than by Council member Imelda Padilla (6th District), who told the Council:
“I’m very disappointed that we are still taking a really long time with this. I think those of us who took the time to make the trip to go educate ourselves on what exactly these facilities look like and potentially look like to understand the difference between what is permanent vs. non-permanent, like, are we really going to have another conversation related to what those could potentially be?
“I feel like we are on the cusp of potentially losing all of the benefits that we could potentially get from the fact that we’re going to be hosting the Olympics because we keep having questions.
“I think our Planning Department , with the way we have this presented to us already, will get the job done, to get us moving, so colleagues, I’ve got to just say I’m not convinced with any of these three amendments.”
She voted against the amendments and the overall motion. There was no specified timetable for the report to be delivered.
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