The Los Angeles City Council is set to take public feedback and vote on a proposed Wildlife Ordinance which would create a new Wildlife District and new regulations which would harm private property rights and impede efforts to solve the region’s severe housing crisis.

The new ordinance would establish new restrictions regarding the location, size, fencing, landscaping and design requirements of development or redevelopment projects within the new Wildlife Ordinance District (WOD).

This district would cover the Santa Monica Mountains area bound by Ventura Blvd to the north, Sunset Blvd. to the south, the 405 Freeway to the west and the 101 Freeway to the east.

You can read the proposed ordinance here, and you can read GLAR’s official comment letter on the ordinance here.

GLAR has significant concerns about the proposed ordinance, notably the multiple questions that remain unanswered as the City Council rushes the ordinance. Passing the ordinance as-is would result in significant unintended consequences for the region as it seeks to address our housing crisis, and would create new obstacles for property owners looking to improve their properties. While GLAR supports protecting wildlife and the environment in our region, the current ordinance is problematic as written.

The chief concerns with the current ordinance are as follows. You can use the bolded first line of each bullet point as a tweet to send to your city councilmembers; their contact information is listed below.

• The ordinance would result in the involuntary downzoning of large swaths of the Greater Los Angeles region, harming the ability to build critically-needed housing of various types and price points, conflicting with recent hard-earned reforms. The heavy restrictions and requirements placed on construction in the proposed WOD would act as a de facto ‘downzoning’ of many areas of Los Angeles County, restricting the types of housing that could be built and reducing diversity of housing types available. - Tell the city council that our region cannot afford to go backwards on zoning and housing reforms at a time when we need to be increasing the variety of housing on the market, not less.

• The ordinance as written will likely restrict or eliminate the ability for many homeowners to build ADUs, impacting efforts to introduce more housing into the region. ADUs have been one of the most successful tools in addressing the region’s housing crisis, and the restrictions in the ordinance would make it difficult if not impossible for many homeowners to add ADUs in the new WOD. The current ordinance does not address ADUs; GLAR is urging the city council to review the ordinance to ensure that new restrictions do not adversely affect a homeowner’s ability to build an ADU on their property. - Tell City Council that we cannot afford to take a critical tool out of the tool kit to bring more rental units onto the market during a housing crisis.
  
• The ordinance infringes on private property rights by dramatically restricting what a property owner is able to do with their property. With increased fencing requirements, buffer zones and other restrictions included in the proposed ordinance, many property owners will find themselves with less usable area on their property overnight. This will affect their ability to improve their property, such as by adding an ADU, and impacts their ability to renovate or replace an existing structure. Property owners will, in effect, lose the use of significant square footage of their property as they see fit to new fencing, open space and buffer requirements.
  

GLAR supports efforts to preserve and protect our region’s wildlife. We encourage the city council to take a closer look at their proposed ordinances, and to extend the stakeholder feedback period so that residents who will be impacted by the new regulations may have a chance to have their voice heard on this issue.

Click Here to submit your letter to oppose the LA City “Wildlife Ordinance District” (Takes less than 60 seconds!)   

Click Here to read the approval & background documents.