Landscape and Site Design Ordinance

The Proposed Project involves the adoption of a new ordinance known as the “Landscape and Site Design Ordinance” (Proposed Ordinance) that will amend the City's current Landscape Ordinance (No. 170,978), Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) Sections 12.40 through 12.43, previously adopted in May 1996 and amended in April 2005. The proposed amendment to LAMC Sections 12.40 through 12.43 will create new landscape and site design objective standards (Landscape and Site Design Point System) using a dynamic and flexible performance-based point system, in order to implement healthy building design and climate-adapted site design. Through established point targets dependent on project types, the Point System will establish a more efficient and effective implementation process. The objective design standards represent a more comprehensive approach to site design that aligns with broader Citywide policy goals of climate resilience, designing for health and the protection and enhancement of the City’s urban forest and biodiversity. Related amendments to LAMC Sections 12.03, 12.10.5, 12.11.5, 12.12.2, 12.13, 12.21, 12.21.1, 12.40, 12.41, 12.42, 12.43, 13.08, 13.09, 14.00, 19.04, 62.177 and 91.7012 are necessary in order to effectuate the Landscape and Site Design Ordinance and Point System. The proposed Landscape and Site Design Ordinance will apply Citywide and will address pressing sustainability and health-related needs, building upon The Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles, the General Plan’s Health and Wellness Element, and the Citywide Design Guidelines that are in effect today. Policy 2.2 of The Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles (Chapter 2.2) addresses healthy building design and construction and the relationship of health to the built environment. This policy encourages the design and rehabilitation of buildings and sites for healthy living and working conditions, promoting enhanced pedestrian-oriented circulation, lighting, attractive and open stairs, healthy building materials and universal accessibility. Secondly, a future Implementation Program identified in the Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles (Program 36) speaks to streamlining and updating the 1996 City of Los Angeles Landscape Guidelines and Ordinance to better respond to climate change and healthy communities. The proposed Landscape and Site Design Point System implements Policy 2.2 of the Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles through a set of objective standards that are organized into the following three design approaches: (1) Pedestrian-First Design, (2) 360 Degree Design and (3) Climate Adapted Landscape and Site Design, similar to the Citywide Design Guidelines. Under each design approach, the standards are further organized under topical categories accompanied by corresponding strategies that are identified as either Mandatory or Elective, each with an assigned point value. The Ordinance will apply to residential and non-residential projects that may employ any of the standards in each category to obtain a required total of points, some of which will be mandatory, with a minimum of three points in each category and at least eight Designing for Health standards. To encourage the protection and expansion of tree canopy and heat island reduction in climate-vulnerable communities, projects that are in a mapped “Health and Urban Forest Equity Priority” area, per the draft Zoning Information file that accompanies the Proposed Ordinance, will be required to meet two additional health-related standards in the Landscape and Site Design Point System. These projects will also be eligible for up to five additional bonus points if certain standards related to tree canopy conservation, tree planting, and reduction of climate impacts are selected. Industrial or hybrid-Industrial projects and surface parking lot projects must meet a total of 15 points, through a combination of Mandatory and Elective standards. The proposed Landscape and Site Design Ordinance also includes a new definition for Outdoor Amenity Areas to support the integration of indoor and outdoor spaces. Outdoor Amenity Areas are outdoor spaces that are covered with overhead structures like patios, terraces, and courtyards and/or outdoor spaces that are only partially enclosed. This new definition and set of standards, allows for creative design solutions for outdoor areas that provide shade and comfort without counting these outdoor spaces toward the building’s floor area and height.