Council heads for the hillside again

Out of those meetings came a barrage of additional suggested amendments to address open space, parking, emergency access through narrow residential streets, landscaping and more design guidelines, according to city reports.

The Planning Commission in September finalized those suggestions into a set of recommendations for inclusion into a draft ordinance that would amend zoning codes, which will eventually require a supermajority vote from the council.

And while the suggested zoning code amendments — which would include guidelines for garages, driveway length, parking, lot merging and minimum lot sizes — are among the most extensive to date, some city officials are wondering if the passage of time and other more recent design review overhauls haven’t made them obsolete.

“Is it design review, or the zoning rules?” said Wolfgang Krause, a principal planner for the city.

City planners and residents have yet to see the effects of the first round of zoning code amendments made in 2004, Krause said, since few homes built under those rules have been finished.

And many of the concerns that came up during that round of amendments will be addressed in the forthcoming overhaul of the design review process, which the City Council is expected to adopt soon, he said.

“It’s one thing to see it on paper, it’s another to see it built,” Krause said.

Even so, for the amount of time and community cooperation that went into the recommendations, the City Council practically has “a mandate to see this through,” Murray said.

“It’s the will of the people,” he said.

City planners are looking for clear direction from the council on the recommendations so that work on drafting an ordinance can begin immediately.

If the City Council tonight is firm on what recommendations to include in an ordinance, city officials would then have to take that draft back to the Planning Commission for a public hearing before returning for a final vote, city planners said.

“A lot of that will depend on what the City Council says,” Krause said.

The council will discuss the recommendations at its meeting at 7 tonight in City Council Chambers, 613 E. Broadway.

?JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.