Four Years Later, City Reboots Community Planning in Boyle Heights

After a four year hiatus, the City of Los Angeles held its first public meeting on the stalled Boyle Heights Community Plan last week.

“If they feel their voice wasn't heard earlier in the process, they can come back,” said Valentina Knox, one of the two city planners assigned to the Boyle Heights Community Plan update.

This past Wednesday, planners had a small focus group that reviewed the housing situation and stock in the neighborhood. The next focus groups are as follows:

• Feb 20: Small Focus Group  on Mobility
• Feb 26: Small Focus Group on Cultural/Historic Preservation
• March tentative topics: Environmental Justice/Health and Economic Development

City planners Haydee Urita-Lopez and Knox are holding these meetings to decide which parts of the research and input gathered in 2009 is still relevant for a master plan developed in 2009. The Boyle Heights Community Plan, the land use blueprint for the neighborhood, was last updated in 1998.

The January 30 meeting reviewed the community plan process with community leaders. The meeting, which went over various planning tools, was a crash course in planning with the planners talking about various zoning tools like overlays and inclusionary zoning.

For more information on the Boyle Heights Community Plan, or to rsvp to attend a focus group, contact:

Haydee Urita-Lopez

213-978-1162 or

Haydee.Urita-Lopez@lacity.org

Valentina Knox

213-978-1169 or

Valentina.Knox@lacity.org