My Perspective On ED-1
Should We Be Worried About These Projects?
ED-1 is a third density threat facing our community, along with the CHIP Ordinance and the Community Plan Update. Two groups presented on ED-1 this past week at the Neighborhood Council Planning & Land Use Committee meeting on Tuesday. Additionally, I'm following chatter on the topic from multiple perspectives and I’ve done additional research. Below is my take on the threat raised by ED-1 and what our response should be.
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What Is ED-1?
Why Is ED-1 Concerning?
Is Westchester Getting Hit With A Disproportionate Share?
What Should We Do About ED-1?
What Is ED-1?
ED-1 is an “executive directive” issued unilaterally by Mayor Bass. As can be seen by its title, this was her first big move once elected. It was issued in December 2022, with revisions in June 2023, July 2023 and July 2024.
ED-1 expedites the building process for shelters and 100% affordable housing projects in the city of LA. Eligible projects receive expedited processing, clearances and approvals via a “Ministerial Approval Process.”
By definition, ED-1 projects are rental projects, not for sale projects. There is a prescribed rental price schedule and tenants must meet eligibility criteria.
Watch that red box. More about that below.
Projects are required to meet planning and zoning requirements set forth in the directive. If a project changes at any time in the review or construction process that it no longer meets ED-1 eligibility criteria, the project is disqualified from streamlining and all prior determinations are inapplicable.
ED-1 is currently in the process of being converted to law under the name Affordable Housing Streamlining Ordinance.
Why Is ED-1 Concerning?
The biggest issue with these projects is that “ministerial review” means there is no opportunity for the community to weigh in, and there is a high likelihood that developers won’t even come to the Neighborhood Council with their projects. Our first indication of a new project will be the construction fences.
The second issue is that these projects will be built on the cheap to maximize profit to the developers, at least where the developer is “for profit.” Even the rare non-profit developer is not incentivized to build high-end projects.
A third big issue is that these projects are statistically being build as studios and 1-bedroom apartments with little or no parking provided. These units are likely to shared by couples and maybe even roommates with multiple cars. This is a concern for any neighborhood.
A fourth possible issue, and it remains to be seen whether this is a significant risk, is that a project built for one level of affordability might be sold to another operator who wants to operate a shelter or lower category housing project. I think this risk really depends on some source of money opening up for shelters and acutely/ extremely low income residents.
Given the city’s and state’s budget crisis, and the decidedly right leaning influences in DC right now, I don’t see this happening any time soon. I’m no expert in these matters, but do keep an eye on AB 3093 and be very suspicious.
Is Westchester Getting Hit With A Disproportionate Number Of These Projects?
One Voice Westchester has been out peddling a doom, gloom and destruction of our community narrative about these projects:
They want you to believe that Brentwood, the Palisades, Venice and PdR are being protected with “exemptions.” When I pushed back on what these “exemptions” are, the response was “fire zones, canyons and coastal zones.” Those zones do provide exemptions but only cover parts of those communities.
The more simple truth is that Westchester, Palms/Mar Vista and West LA happen to have more empty parking lots and other low density lots that will be cheap to demolish. And costs matter.
Also, on the topic of cost, Westchester has the cheapest land on the westside.
And let’s talk about exactly what units they are counting in their calculation.
Currently, only 193 ED-1 units are approved in Westchester and those are in the Reading/Ramsgate area.
A 413-unit project was filed in July for the parking lot behind Bed, Bath and Beyond, but as of today, zero paperwork has been approved for this project.
Another 157 units are pending for Reading/Ramsgate, but also not approved at this time.
The remainder of the scary number aren’t even filed projects. The hint of these projects comes in the form of lobbyist applications for potential projects. We know who owns the land now and we know they have some kind of intention to build ED-1 projects on their land, but we don’t know if they’ve penciled out and committed to their projects.
And here’s the thing about all these “maybe” projects. My sources at United Neighbors (very plugged in with planners and Mayor Bass’ office) tell me they’ve had conversations with planners about ED-1 projects, and are hearing that many of the potential projects are being abandoned once developers start running the numbers.
This doesn’t mean we aren’t looking at density on these lots. It just means they might not end up being ED-1 projects, and maybe we’ll get a crack at having some say in the ultimate development. And there will be no streamlining for non-ED-1 projects, making them more expensive and less attractive to build, especially as long as interest rates stay high.
Another interesting point raised by Building A Better Westchester Playa (“BaBWP”) in their presentation Tuesday night was their observation that City Planners are holding the line on ED-1 projects that don’t strictly comply with the criteria spelled out in the language of the directive. BaBWP spot-checked some of the local proposed projects and found through conversations with Planners that the projects aren’t progressing for lack of compliance.
Will planning hold the line? So far, the answer is yes, and I take some comfort in that. Developers lined up to try their hand at building affordable projects because “streamlining” sounds like a huge benefit, only to find out there are still zoning and building rules they have to work within.
Projects Are Being Built For Higher Brackets
Another interesting statistic BaBWP pointed out in their presentation is that 93% of ED-1 projects across the city are being built for the “low income” category.
This is a category we want to support in our community. These are people making 80% of the Area’s Median Income. Think about young college graduates and other people with good, but lower paying, jobs. Think about the people who help us at the grocery store and other local businesses.
If we take one or two of these projects, is that so bad?
Lastly, ED-1 projects are mostly meeting compliance criteria and winning approval in non-CD-11 areas:
What Should We Do About ED-1's Impact On Our Community?
After sitting through the presentations on Tuesday night, and further research, I’ve concluded the fear being peddled about these projects is overblown.
That doesn’t mean there is any harm in pushing back some. I’m just worried about dying on this hill with an overly dramatic fight that sets us up to look like hysterical and rabid NIMBYs, rather than the sensible development supporters I know most of us to be.
So what am I supporting?
PLUC voted on Tuesday night to support a Community Impact Statement (“CIS”) on three topics:
an ED-1 exemption for the airport region
asking the Mayor/City Council for some kind of cap on projects
a distance rule between projects to defeat a concentration of units to the point that a high resource area like ours is blighted
I was gung ho on this CIS idea on Tuesday night, but further research and reflection leave me a little more lukewarm on the idea.
The idea I like more was the floated recently by my fellow neighborhood activist (and fellow Neighborhood Star 😁), Cory Birkett. Cory offered the interesting idea of creating an overlay zone for our downtown area designed to incorporate features to support a more vibrant and inviting downtown area, like wider sidewalks and larger setbacks.
If designed correctly, we might be able to create requirements that make these maxed out ED-1 projects less fiscally appealing.
Unfortunately, the city is trying to do away with specialty zones, and we’re getting pushback from our CPU planners on this idea. To me, this is our best chance to design the downtown we want and simultaneously squeeze out the threat of too many ED-1 projects.
I’m told ED-1 developers can ask for zoning exemptions, and this is something we’ll have to look at if we can get traction on the overlay idea with our councilperson’s office, but I have to think that even the idea of having to ask for exemptions makes the project a little more expensive and might be a deterrent.
What are your thoughts? Drop a note in the comments and tell me.
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Until Next Time…
Be well and use this link to refer others to The Politics Of Housing. Let’s grow a community of informed neighbors!
Concerned For Westchester Playa - Sharing upzoning and housing policy information and guidance to residents in Westchester, Playa del Rey, Ladera & Playa Vista
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