The Westside Area Plan includes the unincorporated areas of  Ladera Heights, View Park – Windsor Hills, Franklin Canyon, West LA Sawtelle VA, West Fox Hills, Marina del Rey, and Gilmore Island. The County’s Area Plans are similar to the Community Plans that the City of LA – both clarify elements of the General Plan and provide more specific guidance on land use, transportation and open space. For LA County, the Area Plan updates are also important to maintaining Housing Element compliance, as the County must plan for more than 90,000 new units of housing.

As part of the Area Plan update, a Historic Context Statement was prepared by Historic Resources Group (HRG). This long-overdue guiding document provides the basis for evaluating future historic resources in the area. The Westside Area Plan also includes a Historic Preservation Element, which makes some recommendations on how to enhance preservation goals. Both of these are important first steps, but a full survey and better safeguards for historic resources are still needed.

To learn more about the Westside Area Plan, please visit https://planning.lacounty.gov/long-range-planning/westside-area-plan/

The draft Westside Area Plan generally responds to community concerns and targets new growth along underutilized commercial corridors, protecting neighborhoods from redevelopment. In some cases, multifamily areas were downzoned to encourage the preservation of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH).

Although the majority of proposed changes do not appear problematic from a preservation perspective, there is one site mentioned in the historic context statement that is targeted for upzoning and appears at risk. The “Jet Inn Motel” at 4542 W. Slauson Avenue and built 1959, is a good example of Googie architecture. Although it has yet to be formally surveyed, it appears eligible for historic designation at least at the local level. We continue to ask that the current zoning of the Jet Inn be maintained and that and alternative site or sites be identified on the Slauson corridor that might be better candidates for redevelopment, many of which are vacant lots.

The Conservancy previously also had concerns regarding the modernist University Christian Church at 5831 W. Centinela Avenue, which was designed by Robert D’Arcy Bolling, Deasy & Bolling Architects and built in 1965. Previous versions of the plan considered it for upzoning, but the latest version has the zoning unchanged. Housing can still be built on this site using state law, most notably through SB 4, or the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act, which allows by-right construction of affordable housing on church property but also includes crucial labor provisions.

We are encouraging the Department of Regional Planning and Board of Supervisors to accelerate the timeline to complete a historic survey of Ladera Heights and Windsor Hills, which was included Implementation Programs of the Area Plan. We believe this is a crucial step to protecting neighborhoods that have recently experienced gentrification and speculation, and is the logical next step after completion of the historic context statement.

To read our full comments submitted to the to the Department of Regional Planning, click here.