Planning and Land Use Management Committee · Held

Los Angeles City Council Planning and Land Use Management Committee meeting, August 25, 2026

August 25, 2026, 2 p.m. · Updated October 2, 2026

From official records: On Aug. 25, 2026, the Los Angeles City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee voted 5-0 to withhold rebuild permits at the burned Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights and draft a moratorium on large cold storage warehouses near homes, to seek fines of $25,000 to $1 million for high-impact code violations, and to back an urgency ordinance halting demolition of rent-controlled homes in part of Valley Glen. It also granted an appeal against a nine-lot subdivision at 4061 W. Melrose Ave., raised appeal fees for non-applicants to $1,145 or $2,289, and continued a Starbucks drive-through appeal to Dec. 8. The agenda had 18 items.

As of October 2, 2026, outcomes for the August 25, 2026 meeting of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee of the Los Angeles City Council come from official records posted so far, such as council files, recorded votes and filed statements. Some results may be missing until the full minutes are posted and read.

Committee members voting, per the committee report on building permits: Bob Blumenfield (chair), Heather Hutt, Adrin Nazarian, John Lee and Nithya Raman. Item numbers follow the posted agenda.

2. Longer-lasting building permits: three years for low-rise homes, four years for other construction after a disaster

• What it does: Instructs Building and Safety and City Planning, with the City Attorney, to draft an ordinance that sets different permit lifespans by construction type. As amended, permits for low-rise residential construction would last three years instead of two, and permits for high-rise and all other construction would last four years following a natural disaster. Building and Safety could also extend permits on its own for complex or unusually difficult projects, without an application from the permit holder (committee report).
• Who brought it: Traci Park, seconded by Katy Yaroslavsky (CF 25-0173).
• Money: No fiscal analysis was completed (committee report).
• Neighborhood council positions: For: Sunland-Tujunga. Against unless amended: Westside and Bel Air-Beverly Crest (committee report).
• What happened: Approved as amended, 5-0 (committee report).
• What’s next: The Council adopted it Sept. 8, 2026, 12-0, with Blumenfield, Price and Rodriguez absent (CF 25-0173).

3. Withhold rebuild permits at the Lineage warehouse site, 1400 S. Los Palos St., and draft a cold-storage moratorium for Boyle Heights

• What it does: Instructs Building and Safety, with the Fire Department, to withhold rebuild or reconstruction permits for 1400 S. Los Palos St. until the Fire Department confirms its investigation of the fire is complete and evidence is preserved. It asks the City Attorney to report on the City’s authority to delay permits during a fire investigation, asks for a report on discretionary review of future projects at the site, and has City Planning draft an urgency Interim Control Ordinance barring permits for large cold storage warehouses near homes, parks, schools, day care centers and libraries in Boyle Heights. The ordinance would run 45 days and could be extended by 10 months and 15 days, then by one more year (joint committee report).
• Who brought it: Ysabel Jurado, seconded by Monica Rodriguez (CF 26-0906-S10).
• Money: No fiscal analysis was completed (joint committee report).
• Who it affects: Council District 14, Boyle Heights (agenda).
• What happened: Approved, 5-0 (joint committee report).
• What’s next: The Ad Hoc Committee for Boyle Heights Fire Recovery concurred Sept. 4, and the Council adopted it Sept. 16, 2026, 15-0 (CF 26-0906-S10).

4. Fines of $25,000 to $1 million for code violations with major community impact, and aid for Lineage fire victims

• What it does: Instructs Building and Safety and the City Attorney to report in seven days on the City’s citation and fine structure and recommend higher penalties, in a range of $25,000 to $1,000,000 per fine, for violations on projects with a significant community impact. The Community Investment Department is to propose a way to send part of any fines from 1400 S. Los Palos St. to people affected by the Lineage warehouse fire, including a guaranteed income component. The committee added reports on recovering the City’s fire response costs and on collecting response costs from a property owner up front (committee report).
• Who brought it: Ysabel Jurado, seconded by John Lee (CF 26-0906-S11).
• Money: No fiscal analysis was completed (committee report).
• Who it affects: Council District 14; businesses, residents and workers affected by the fire (committee report).
• What happened: Approved as amended, 5-0 (committee report).
• What’s next: The Ad Hoc Committee for Boyle Heights Fire Recovery added a report on code violation notices issued to the property on Sept. 4 (ad hoc committee report). The Council adopted that report Sept. 16, 2026, 14-0, with Hutt absent (CF 26-0906-S11).

13. Urgency ordinance halting demolition of occupied rent-controlled homes in part of Valley Glen

• What it does: An Interim Control Ordinance bars demolition permits for occupied residential units that are, or were within the past five years, under any form of rent or price control, in a part of Valley Glen inside the Van Nuys-North Sherman Oaks Community Plan area. The urgency clause requires 12 Council votes (committee report).
• Who brought it: Adrin Nazarian, seconded by Monica Rodriguez (CF 25-0970).
• Money: No fiscal analysis was completed (committee report).
• Who it affects: Council District 2 (agenda).
• What happened: Approved, 5-0 (committee report).
• What’s next: The Council adopted the ordinance Sept. 8, 2026, 12-0, with Blumenfield, Price and Rodriguez absent; it took effect Sept. 14 (CF 25-0970).

14. Appeal granted against a nine-lot small-lot subdivision at 4061 W. Melrose Ave.

• What it does: Grants the appeal by Dustin Cañez and Stephen Webb and overturns the Central Los Angeles Area Planning Commission’s approval of Vesting Tentative Tract Map No. 84762-SL, which would merge three lots totaling 15,513 square feet and divide them into nine small lots. The committee also disapproved a waiver of a two-foot street widening on Melrose Avenue and told City Planning to prepare findings (committee report).
• Who brought it: The Council took jurisdiction Aug. 12 under Charter Section 245 on a motion by Hugo Soto-Martinez and Adrin Nazarian. The applicant is Melrose Ten, LLC (committee report).
• Who it affects: Council District 13; a Council District 13 representative spoke for granting the appeal (committee report).
• What happened: Appeal granted, 5-0 (committee report).
• What’s next: The Council adopted the committee report Aug. 28, 2026, 10-0, with Blumenfield, Harris-Dawson, Lee, McOsker and Yaroslavsky absent (CF 26-1079).

15. Appeal denied: historic cafe with beer and wine, plus a new house and ADU, at 700 W. Paseo del Mar

• What it does: Denies the appeal by Noel Gould, June Smith, Robin Rudisill and Emma Rault and upholds the Harbor Area Planning Commission’s zone variances. They allow a 736-square-foot historic cafe to keep operating in an R1 zone with 73 seats and beer and wine service from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and a new 2,453-square-foot house with a 1,070-square-foot ADU in place of a garage. The committee added conditions of approval presented by Tim McOsker (committee report).
• Who brought it: The applicant is Masis Holdings, LLC. The Council also took jurisdiction over the related coastal permit case Aug. 11 on a McOsker and Hutt motion; the committee noted and filed that review as moot (item 16) (committee report on item 16).
• Neighborhood council positions: For if amended: Coastal San Pedro.
• Who it affects: Council District 15, San Pedro, in the Coastal Zone (committee report).
• What happened: Appeal denied, 5-0, with modified conditions (committee report).
• What’s next: The Council adopted both reports Aug. 26, 2026, 15-0 (CF 26-0975-S1, CF 26-0975).

17. Raise the fee for non-applicants who appeal planning decisions to $1,145 or $2,289

• What it does: Approves a Municipal Code amendment, under Option B23 in the CAO’s report, setting the appeal fee for people other than the applicant at 5% of cost recovery, or $1,145, for those inside the project’s noticing radius and 10%, or $2,289, for those outside it. It asks the City Attorney to draft the ordinance (committee transmittal).
• What happened: Approved, 5-0 (committee transmittal).
• What’s next: The file went to the Budget and Finance Committee on Sept. 17, 2026 (CF 09-0969-S4).

Previous meeting: August 11, 2026 · Next meeting: September 8, 2026 · All meetings