DEVELOPERS FACE NEW HURDLE UNIONS, GARCETTI WANT PEOPLE-IMPACT REPORTS.

Byline: James Nash Staff Writer

A coalition of unions and activists has formed to try to make developers of large projects in Los Angeles file community-impact reports - which business groups say would add to the cost and complexity.

The impact reports would be required for residential projects of 100 or more homes or apartments and for commercial and industrial projects of 50,000 square feet or more. Last year 25 projects in the city met those criteria. Los Angeles would be the first city in California to require such reports.

The reports would include expected wages and health benefits, as well as union status, for employees at new developments - requirements that opponents say would force developers to hire union workers and further add to costs.

Backers say the community-impact reports would educate neighbors about the effect of developments on local jobs, housing affordability, retail competition and public services.

Opponents, who include members of business groups such as the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, say the reports represent yet another burden on builders in a city already notorious for taxes and regulations.

The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, a union-backed group that has long advocated higher wages for low-income workers, is spearheading the proposal for community-impact reports in redevelopment areas in Los Angeles.

Councilman Eric Garcetti is proposing that the impact statements apply to all projects, inside and outside of redevelopment areas.

``Development affects people's lives,'' said Josh Kamansky, an aide to the Hollywood-area councilman. ``We definitely want development in Los Angeles. This lays out a rational process at the beginning of a development for bringing the community into the process.''

Business advocates, however, said the impact statements would discourage developers from building in Los Angeles. In an annual nationwide survey, Los Angeles ranked 11th among major U.S. cities in the cost of doing business, well above neighboring suburbs such as Burbank, Santa Clarita and Long Beach.

``Los Angeles is a wounded animal in the Southern California economy,'' said Steven Frates, a researcher at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College, a co-sponsor of the study on the cost of doing business.

``This (community-impact report) requirement is another arrow in the body of the Los Angeles economy.''

Some opponents of the impact reports say labor unions could use the reports as tools to pressure developers into using unionized work forces in both the construction and operation of developments such as retail stores.

Roxana Tynan, director of accountable development for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, said the reports would show the wages, health benefits and union status of workers to be hired.

``We want to know what kind of jobs are being created,'' Tynan said.

The Valley Industry and Commerce Association is urging its members to speak out at a forum Nov. 20 when the Community Redevelopment Agency's board of directors will listen to opinions.

Brad Rosenheim, a VICA member and development consultant, said developers already evaluate whether their projects will be well received and economically viable in communities.

He noted that projects are subject to a planning-review process that allows community residents to comment in writing or in person at public hearings.

``This is adding another layer to an already very complicated and time- consuming application process,'' Rosenheim said. ``We don't think that's a positive.''

Kamansky said Garcetti is working on measures to blunt the impact of the new requirement on developers by streamlining the review process. Garcetti supports a measure to expedite the process by allowing developers to pay for city planners to earn overtime reviewing projects on weekends.

Some advocates of the community-impact reports say developers would actually benefit because they would get early warning of community opposition to their projects.

The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy is working on a computer program that would allow developers to complete the impact statements in a matter of hours and at minimal cost, said James Elmendorf, a research analyst for the group.

``The community-impact reports will create a public dialogue early in the process,'' Elmendorf said. ``Are these developments creating good jobs or bad jobs? (Developers) should have to account for whether developments stimulate the economy of an area.''

But Frates said the reports would further politicize the development process by giving outside forces undue influence.

``It will almost inevitably be used to proscribe who gets what jobs,'' Frates said. ``Invariably, instead of it being an economic decision, who gets the jobs would become a political decision.''

James Nash, [phone]

james.nash(at)dailynews.com