Planning Commission to Hold New Warner Center Specific Plan Hearing

The Los Angeles Department of City Planning will host a public hearing for the proposed new Warner Center Specific Plan, dubbed the Warner Center 2035 Plan, Thursday.

The Warner Center 2035 Plan is a developmnet guide for the Warner Center region that, among other things, outlines what would be permitted and what mitigations may be required of developers moving forward.

A copy of the proposed plan can be found online, as can the plan's environmental impact report, history and timeline.

Since 2006, a citizen's advisory council has been working with the city of Los Angeles to create the new plan. California law requires cities to have general plans which guide planning and development (see the Los Angeles General Plan here). Within a city, there can be even more detailed or stringent guidelines for particular areas, and these are found in specific plans. Los Angeles has 45 specific plans, one of which is the Warner Center Specific Plan (you can also download a copy of the current plan, which has been in effect since 1993, on the Department of City Planning website).

The one-and-a-half square mile Warner Center area, named for Harry Warner, the eldest of the Warner brothers, is generally bound by Vanowen Street to the north, the Ventura Freeway to the south, DeSoto Avenue to the east and Topanga Canyon Boulevard to the west. According to the city's website, the area was originally planned to relieve traffic to and from downtown Los Angeles as well as generate jobs in the San Fernando Valley.

The city's planning commission hearing will take place at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in the council chambers of the Van Nuys City Hall Building, 14410 Sylvan St., Van Nuys.

The hearing follows September open houses in which members of the public were invited to learn about and have questions answered about the plan.