Last Updated: March 1, 2023
This Privacy Policy explains how the Los Angeles Department of City Planning (“City Planning” or “Department”) collects, uses, and discloses personal information for individuals who opt in to receive print and digital communications services including, but not limited to, hearing notices, print mailers, email communications (“e-blasts”), mobile messaging, and web-related updates.
Subscribers usually sign up for these communications at the Department’s website (https://planning.lacity.gov/ or https://planning4la.org/), an online or in-person survey, or an in-person or virtual event.
You agree to access and use City Planning’s website only for lawful purposes. You are solely responsible for knowledge of and adherence to any and all laws, statutes, rules, and regulations pertaining to your use of the Department’s website and print communications. By accessing the aforementioned sites, via the two file paths, you agree that you will not:
- Use https://planning.lacity.gov/ or https://planning4la.org/ to:
- commit a criminal offense or to encourage others to engage in any conduct, which would constitute a criminal offense;
- give rise to civil liability, or encourage others to engage in any conduct which would give rise to civil liability;
- use or sell City Planning’s information or data for personal gain, benefit, or compensation;
- impersonate other parties;
- upload any content that contains a software virus, "Trojan Horse," or any other computer code, files, or programs that may alter, damage, or interrupt the functionality of the aforementioned websites; or the hardware or software of any other person who accesses the Department’s websites;
- Upload, post, email, or otherwise transmit any materials that you do not have rights to, including tampering with materials found online that would misrepresent information;
- Alter, damage, or delete any content posted on https://planning.lacity.gov/ or https://planning4la.org/, in addition to disruptings its servers or networks in any way; or,
- Claim a relationship with or claim to represent any business, association, or other organization with which you are not authorized to claim such a relationship or which you are not authorized to represent.
City Planning reserves the right to suspend any account and/or suspend access to https://planning.lacity.gov/ or https://planning4la.org/ if the Department has reason to believe that the account/access is being used for any of the prohibited purposes.
Collection of Personal Information
Information Collected: Directly from City Planning
City Planning may receive personal information from you via a web form or at a community event or hearing, as well as in-person at one of the Department’s public counters.
Personal information the Department collected from you may include your first and last name, address, email address, and phone number, in addition to project files and payment related information for the purposes of filing project applications. City Planning may afford you the option to also include personal information related to your gender, ethnicity, age, income, and other related matters for the sole purposes of conducting a survey, demographic research, or possibly even policy recommendations. By providing this information, you consent to giving City Planning the authority to retain this information for internal purposes. Your name and other related information will not be shared with our City departments or agencies, or the general public, with certain limited exceptions―including, in instances when any statutes, the Los Angeles City Charter, Municipal Code, or court order may require disclosure. Disaggregated information may be uploaded to the public file as part of the mailing list of interested parties who subscribed for Department updates, or when a request pursuant to the Public Records Act is filed in accordance with California State law or a subpoena is filed by the Courts.
Information Collected: Various City Planning Web Platforms
The Department’s website as well as its various service providers and online platforms may use technologies such as cookies, web beacons, pixels, and other similar technologies to automatically collect certain information from your device including: your IP address, date and time of your visit; browser and operating system information; referring website address; and other information about how you interact with the website. These service providers and online platforms may use similar technologies to enhance your user experience and enable certain features, such as receipt of digital communications, open and read rates, and click rates.
Information Collected: Third Party Partners
The Department may also collect personal information about you from our third party partners and combine it with other information that we collect. Personal information we collect from our partners may include, for example, your demographic information or contact information from third parties, such as community organization lists, nonprofits, or a government agency.
Use of Personal Information
The Department may use information collected about you for any lawful purposes, including:
- To inform new policies and programs in adherence to federal or State law;
- To broaden City Planning’s outreach more equitably across the City; and,
- To inform larger citywide demographics, such as forecasting housing projections.
Note: As a general policy, City Planning will not sell, share, or disclose your information with any party outside of the Department, except as required by law. The information on-file will be stored through the life of a work program, and in some instances even thereafter, provided there is utility in retaining personal information. City Planning will exercise all precautions to safeguard sensitive information, including restricting access to listservs and personal information, including removing sensitive information when necessary, in accordance with federal, state, and citywide guidelines. However, in keeping with City of Los Angeles practice and in adherence with the City Charter and Municipal Code, the Department may upload your name, email, and/or address to the Council File Management System―Los Angeles’s office repository for policy initiatives or development projects, which include entitlement requests in which the City Council is the decision-maker―in instances when you opt-in to receive mailings for project hearing notices or planning initiatives as an interested party. In these limited instances, the Department may share limited information that has been disaggregated, as part of its concerted efforts to disclose outreach and engagement on select work programs. This information includes interested parties lists for policy efforts and case files that you signed up for to be alerted of from the Department.
E-mail or other information requests may additionally be maintained in order to respond to the request, forward a certain request to the appropriate agency within the City family, communicate updates to the City page that may be of interest to citizens, or to provide valuable customer feedback to assist in improving a service. At the same time, individuals can cancel any communications regarding new service updates by emailing planning.media@lacity.org.
Disclosure of Personal Information
City Planning may share select information the Department collects with other parties, including:
- Third-party service providers to assist with the dissemination of outreach materials and other project or policy-related initiatives to support information exchange;
- City Clerk’s Office to upload interested parties lists, including names and emails of individuals who opted-in to receive planning updates, in accordance with City practice;
- Digital platforms to map information, including attendance and representation at community events, in addition to feedback on select land use initiatives or cases; and,
- Subpoenas and/or in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, such as the California Public Records Act Request, at the time of data collection or sharing.
While City Planning will exercise its right to retain access to information collected, the Department may share information that has been de-identified or aggregated without limitation. The Department’s website (https://planning.lacity.gov/ and https://planning4la.org/) and other web-related services may offer interactive features, such as the ability to leave comments. If you disclose information on these public forums, this information can be viewed, collected, and retained.
Note: The Department will make every reasonable effort to protect your privacy. It restricts access to your personal, identifiable information. Furthermore, City Planning does not intentionally disclose any information about its users to third parties inside or outside the City except as required by law. The Department collects personally identifiable information for the purposes of City purposes. You can decline to provide City Planning with any personal information at any time. If you choose to withhold requested information, the Department may not be able to provide you with certain timely services and updates, however.
