★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ TEMP USE ORDINANCE ≡
A purely bureaucratic, technical – but important – step in the process of allowing the LA28 organizing committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games to actually stage the events moved ahead Thursday morning.
The Los Angeles City Planning Commission approved a draft ordinance to exempt the organizing committee, and potentially others, from the normal, laborious and lengthy planning and approvals process by a 6-0 vote.
The draft ordinance will now be sent on for review by the City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and Public Land Use Management Committee, and then ultimately to the City Council itself for final approval. But the City’s primary planning review board was fully satisfied.
This “Zoning Code Amendment Ordinance pursuant to Section 138.1.3.D.3. of Chapter 1A of the Los Angeles Municipal Code” started with a City Council motion in December 2024, with an initial draft presented in September 2025 and continuously refined. In its present form:
● “Olympic and/or Paralympic Projects” are defined as “Any supporting facilities, installations, uses, and/or activities that serve athletes, officials, spectators, visitors, and/or residents at approved competition venues or non-competition venues necessary to host Olympic and/or Paralympic events including but not limited to training facilities, security perimeters, broadcast and media centers, transit infrastructure, live sites, and fan zones.”
● Temporary projects desiring relief from planning and zoning regulations under the ordinance must be applied for by 27 August 2028, the last day of the 2028 Paralympic Games. Further, the report noted:
“Under California Assembly Bill 149, passed in September 2025, temporary facilities must be completely removed and the area restored to a clean and safe condition within six months after the conclusion of the Games. The proposed Ordinance comports with this six-month period with a specific date of removal of temporary facilities and restoration to original condition by February 27, 2029, after which the provisions of the proposed Ordinance would be null and void and any unpermitted construction or operations would be subject to the existing provisions of the City’s Code, including Code Enforcement.”
● Projects must be within a competition venue, or if not, must be approved by three City department reviews.
● The report also noted, importantly: “The proposed Ordinance does not directly grant or authorize building permits or any certificate of occupancy. Once the planning and zoning exemption has been granted to an eligible project, the project may then proceed to the Department of Building Safety, and other relevant departments, to begin the building permit process.”
● Because of public concerns over controversial permanent projects, such as the Dodger Stadium gondola from Union Station, any permanent construction seeking an exemption would still require a City Council resolution to be adopted.
In fact, the draft ordinance specifically bans its use for “Large-scale cable-guided transportation projects or other aerial mobility projects,” which would also ban air-taxi programs from using the ordinance. LA28 has Archer as an Official Supporter and as its “Official Air Taxi Provider.”
The seemingly odd deadline for application-and-adoption of a resolution for permanent construction under the ordinance to 27 February 2029 – six months after the Paralympic Games – is in fact quite clever, allowing temporary improvements for the Games that are worth making permanent to be converted under the ordinance. An example was given of a swimming pool installed for training for the Paris 2024 Games that was kept in place afterwards as a facility for the local area.
A similar ordinance was adopted ahead of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and was used without significant difficulties. The 2028 equivalent has taken an important step to being available as well.
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 45-sport, 910-event International Sports Calendar for 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
