The city of Los Angeles is taking steps toward reforming the street dedication processes that have long resulted in dangerous street widening. A new road widening process - proposed by the city Bureau of Engineering (BOE) - was approved by the City Council Transportation Committee last week and by the Public Works Committee today.
Responding to a council motion directing city departments to eliminate spot road widenings, the BOE has proposed new "Street Dedication and Improvement Investigation Criteria." The proposal can be found in Appendix B of an August BOE report; the latest version includes minor technical amendments.
One significant wonky change is that the BOE proposal would change street dedication for discretionary project approval processes (where today the city often requires spot widening) to more-or-less match by-right approval processes (which generally don't require widening).
At the Public Works Committee today [meeting audio - widening item begins at minute 17:00], BOE staff stated:
The [proposed] new criteria... are carefully crafted to add context sensitivity and pragmatism to the process, without introducing discretion into what needs to be a streamlined ministerial process. The result should be a predictable outcome that is more favorable to housing providers than current practice...
... the biggest change that people will notice is that we will no longer require applicants to move an already existing established curb and gutter just because an older street no longer meets current standards for roadway width.
BOE staff noted that the proposal addresses a broad spectrum of development types from newly urbanizing to infill. Part of this is that the city will continue to require full sidewalk and parkway improvements in places that currently lack sidewalks.
The committee discussion today was brief, but did include Councilmember Bob Blumenfield's amendment that the city process comply with the recently approved state law A.B. 3177, which prohibits cities from requiring road widening at housing developments.
While the BOE proposal should be effective in ending/minimizing road widening at future private developments, there are several common city street widening situations it does not address, including:
- L.A. City projects: BOE's proposed new criteria does not apply to the BOE itself, and a lot of L.A. City spot widening is "coming from inside the building." The BOE has a portfolio of more than a dozen planned road widening projects (several listed in this 2023 SBLA post). BOE requires widening roads in/along various city projects: bridges, parks, libraries, bike/walk paths, etc. A few other city departments - including the airport - also widen city streets.
- Metro projects: Metro and the city collaborate to widen city streets along various Metro projects, including rail stations, freeways, bike/walk paths, etc. BOE's proposed criteria does not apply to Metro projects.
- Private projects already in the pipeline: In 2024, L.A. City widened Topanga Canyon Boulevard based on a private development condition that the city approved in 2011. The new proposed criteria do not invalidate many years of city-required widenings still pending.
