City embraces concept to ease housing, investment woes. (Mixed-Use L.A.--Revolution in Progress?).

AFTER years of experimentation and small-scale efforts, the City of Los Angeles is finally jumping on the mixed-use development bandwagon.

City officials are pushing through a series of changes to ordinances designed to make it easier for developers to get such projects approved. In the process, they hope that the developments will anchor the revitalization of decaying commercial strips.

"We see mixed-use development as having two big advantages," said Mitch Menzer, the newly appointed president of the L.A. City Planning Commission. "It allows the city to address its serious crisis in affordable housing and, in the right areas, it has the potential to transform neighborhoods and bring in new investment"

Among the proposed changes:

* A measure due to come before the L.A. City Council in the next few weeks allowing for the creation of special zones along certain commercial corridors.

* A proposal set to go to the Council next month that eases regulatory barriers to converting old commercial buildings to live-work space. Right now, the ordinance applies only to downtown; city planners want to expand it to the Mid-Wilshire corridor, Hollywood, Chinatown, Lincoln Heights and Central Avenue heading towards South Central L.A.

* Wider application of density bonuses for mixed-use projects. A density bonus raises the cap on the number of units that can be built in a given area; it is now invoked mostly for affordable housing set-asides.

Taken together, these changes would reduce the regulatory hoops mixed-use projects now have to jump through, shortening the approval process and saving developers time and money.

Opposition mounts

But the changes are meeting opposition from neighborhood groups concerned about the impacts of increased densities and traffic on their communities.

"Neighborhood opposition is going to be extremely intense," said Sandy Brown, president of the Holmby-Westwood Homeowners Association. "The projects that will result from these ordinance changes are going to create densities that the surrounding communities cannot take."

Brown says the city has a long history of approving projects with inadequate allowances for traffic, parking, schools for the children living there and other amenities.

Mixed-use proponents say such fears are unfounded.

"These projects can and have been built in such a way that neighbors are accepting of them," said Beth Steckler, policy director for Livable Places, a non-profit organization. "Plus, once these things are built, you find there are a lot of people out there who actually like the idea of walkable communities, where you can walk to the neighborhood Trader Joe's or hair salon."

Steckler pointed to various mixed-use projects in Santa Monica and the residential component of the Paseo Colorado project as examples of mixed-use developments that work.

But in the city of Los Angeles, there are few projects with such successful track records. And that is a key reason behind the opposition.

"It's a classic chicken-and-egg problem," said David Abel, publisher of The Planning Report, a local newsletter, and chair of New Schools, Better Neighborhoods, an activist group formed to help the Los Angeles Unified School District site new schools. "Until the residents see good examples of mixed-use projects, they are likely to focus only on the negative aspects of growth, because that's all they know from past experience."

Shifting allegiances

But there is one significant difference from previous battles: the role of environmental groups. Previously, neighborhood associations often teamed up with environmental groups to oppose development projects, on the basis that they add traffic and pollution to the region. It made for a potent alliance that stopped or delayed many developments.

But environmental groups are focusing their opposition now on urban sprawl, as exemplified by the Ahmanson Ranch and Newhall Ranch projects. The solution to sprawl, these groups say, is developing more densely in the urban core--precisely the kind of development exemplified by mixed-use projects.

"I have testified in favor of these ordinances as they have gone through the planning process," said Jerilyn Lopez Mendoza, policy director for the local chapter of Environmental Defense (formerly the Environmental Defense Fund). "We feel very strongly that this is the right direction to take, away from urban sprawl, clogged freeways and all the pollution that brings."

Mixed-use projects also may gain support from affordable housing advocates eager for changes to city policy that would east the city's housing crunch.

"In South Central L.A., mixed-use projects are seen as a key positive to revitalizing neighborhoods," said Steckler. "It's just that few developers are proposing projects there because they don't seem to pencil out." That's where the $100 million Affordable Housing Trust Fund that the city is setting up can come into play.

But all this support from environmentalists and affordable housing advocates could wither in the face of well-organized neighborhood opposition. "There are going to have to be compromises made to address these neighborhood concerns," Steckler said.

City officials said they were open to compromise.

"People are not opposed to the idea of mixed-use projects," said L.A. City Planning Director Con Howe. "People will argue about the details of a particular project--this building is a story too tall or needs 10 percent more parking spaces, etc."

But in recognition of the power homeowners can wield, Howe made one promise: "We are not going to site mixed-use projects in areas zoned for residential use. That's a line we are not going to cross."