Final Environmental Impact Report
Project Description: The West Adams-Baldwin Hills-Leimert New Community Plan (West Adams New Community Plan or proposed project) is a comprehensive revision of the adopted 1998 West Adams Community Plan. The proposed project includes new policies and programs, as well as zone changes, plan land use designation and district amendments, and establishes overlay zones. The zoning designations would serve to regulate development standards such as: heights of structures, setbacks, lot coverage, density and intensity, open space, use of land, parking, and design. A Community Plan Implementation Overlay District (CPIO) would also be established to regulate development that is consistent with the General Plan, to enhance the unique character of neighborhoods, and to address growth within the West Adams CPA. While the policies and programs contained within the West Adams New Community Plan do apply throughout the Plan Area, only certain portions are proposed to undergo zoning and land use changes. The change areas are classified into different types: CPIO subdistrict and Specific Plan Amendment change areas, nomenclature change areas, and zone changes to establish consistency. The nomenclature change areas are changes in name only; densities, heights, and land uses would not change in these areas as a result of the proposed project. Other zone change adjustments would simply create consistency between existing land uses and the General Plan. The CPIO subdistrict and Specific Plan Amendment change areas are where “active” changes will be made.
These changes will primarily involve properties located along the commercial and industrial corridors of Pico, Robertson, Venice, Washington, Adams, West, Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr., La Cienega and Crenshaw Boulevards as well as Slauson and Florence Avenues, and 48th and 54th Streets. Existing development parameters along these corridors will be tailored in a manner that directs future growth away from adjacent residential neighborhoods to higher-intensity commercial center locations. Other “active” change areas include Transit Oriented Development (TOD) areas located directly adjacent to Phase I of the Expo Light Rail Transit (LRT) stations at Exposition/Crenshaw Boulevards, La Brea/Farmdale Avenues, Jefferson/La Cienega Boulevards, and Venice/Robertson Boulevards. In addition, TOD strategies are considered at station areas for the proposed Crenshaw/LAX Corridor LRT at the intersections of Crenshaw/Exposition Boulevards, Crenshaw/Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevards, Crenshaw Boulevard/Vernon Avenue, and Crenshaw Boulevard/Slauson Avenue. All of these TODs would allow for an increase in both jobs and housing through their increased height and density characteristics. In addition to policies addressing the distribution of land uses and building intensity, the proposed West Adams New Community Plan also addresses mobility, historic preservation, urban design, provisions for public infrastructure, public safety, and healthy and sustainable communities. The proposed project intends to allocate land uses in a manner which promotes economic, social, and physical welfare of the community, providing sufficient land for housing,jobs, and recreation while preserving historic, cultural, and environmental resources.
