Local News in Brief : Restrictions on New Hotel

In an effort to limit traffic and parking problems in the area, a Los Angeles City Council committee voted Monday to reduce by 40% the total occupancy of meeting rooms, banquet facilities and restaurants at the Ma Maison Sofitel Hotel.

The 311-room luxury hotel is scheduled to open in September at Beverly and La Cienega boulevards on the Westside. Hotel developers would be required to provide 117 off-site parking spaces within 18 months of opening under the provisions of a conditional use permit approved by the council’s Planning and Environment Committee. The developers would also be required to squeeze 383 parking spaces into the hotel’s parking garage, which was designed to accommodate 328 spaces.

The requirements were backed by Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who argued that they are the surest way to protect neighboring residential areas from traffic and parking problems. An attorney for the developers said the restrictions would cost the hotel more than $1 million a year in lost revenues, and nearby homeowners complained that the requirements would be too difficult to enforce.

The conditional use permit will be considered by the full City Council in two weeks.