Press Release
                                                  Valley VOTE
               Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment
             14622 Ventura Blvd. #424, Sherman Oaks, CA. 91403
                     August 13, 2007    Contact: Joe Vitti -President
                             javittisr@cs.com    [818] 366 1668

The Valley VOTE Board has overwhelmingly approved the following motion:

Valley VOTE strongly supports the proposed ordinance limiting "Mansionization" as an excellent first step and calls for the L.A. Planning Department to complete the program by developing the same practical limits for the so called "Hillside Areas" of the city as soon as possible.

Discussion
The Valley VOTE Board strongly supports the “Baseline Mansionization Ordinance” presently being considered by the Los Angeles City Council. The proposed ordinance applies to properties zoned single-family residential that are not located in areas designated as “Hillside Areas.” Valley VOTE believes that maintaining an appropriate relationship between house size and lot size is critically important in retaining the residential character of neighborhoods in the Valley and throughout the city of Los Angeles. While Interim Control Ordinances (ICOs) may protect some areas against outsized houses dwarfing their neighbors, a more permanent resolution of this issue is necessary.

Valley VOTE congratulates the City Planning Department and its Director, Gail Goldberg, for proposing a sensible solution that will require developers to scale the square footage of freestanding single-family homes to the square footage of the lot. Moreover, the proposed ordinance allows for flexibility in design but prohibits granting exceptions. Pauline Tallent, the Chair of the Land Use Committee of Valley VOTE, applauds this courageous move; "This Ordinance should shorten the time required to obtain building permits, and possibly obviate the need for conditional use, variances and Q conditions. This would lower the cost of building, and make housing more affordable."

However, the proposed ordinance is only the beginning because it exempts properties located in hillside areas and coastal zones. These exemptions leave a lot of areas where the ordinance would otherwise apply and the Planning Department and City Council need to craft solutions for these exempt areas as soon as possible.

“Hillside Areas,” according to the maps of the city's Bureau of Engineering, include not only those areas south of Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley and throughout the Santa Monica Mountains from the Pacific Ocean eastward through Griffith Park and beyond, but the designation also includes substantial residential areas in the northern and western edges of the Valley. Another exempt Hillside Area is the hill in the center of the Valley surrounding the Sepulveda Veterans Facility.

Valley VOTE Mission Statement
Valley VOTE, a diverse coalition of San Fernando Valley residents, business people, educators, community activists, and organizations, is committed to exploring and fostering the implementation of programs that empower the people of the San Fernando Valley and the City of Los Angeles, to improve local governance, education and public participation on policy matters.

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