The Valley Economic Alliance has presented 13 recommendations for permit reform to the city of Los Angeles in an effort to streamline the current real estate development and building process.
A subcommittee of the Van Nuys-based alliance — which represents businesses in San Fernando Valley, Calabasas, Burbank and Glendale — has presented the recommendations to Mayor Eric Garcetti’s liaison to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety; and to City Councilmembers John Lee and Paul Krekorian.
“The alliance and its stakeholders are concerned that the current development process in the city of Los Angeles is dramatically inhibiting commercial and residential real estate development, costing the city jobs and tax revenues,” the subcommittee said in a statement.
Changes the alliance committee would like to see include easier navigation via a case manager assigned to each project from beginning to end and an online tracking process.
The committee also made recommendations in smoothing out the signoff process, including the unification and standardization of a review system among all departments into one citywide program; the use of commercial off-the-shelf software with more user-friendly interface rather than developing proprietary software; and the provision of specific deadlines over roughly three- to six-week windows.
The committee also recommended “overall standardization of plan change requirements in the inspection area in order to remove arbitrary judgment calls.”
In addition, the alliance addressed the California Environmental Quality Act and would like to see collaborations with organizations that are actively lobbying for changes to CEQA “to reduce the crippling impact of Nimbyism to stop, hold up or extort the state of California.”
