City Council OKs Tougher Controls on Mini-Malls

After pondering public complaints about mini-malls for more than four years, the Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to require that most new small shopping centers provide more parking and amenities such as shade trees.

The problem that spurred the outcry from homeowner groups and ordinary citizens--the hundreds of mini-malls allowed to spring up in many parts of Los Angeles under looser controls--is not affected by the new rules.

“To my taste it doesn’t go far enough,” said City Councilman Mike Woo, who nonetheless joined the unanimous vote for the controls. “Los Angeles has become the mini-mall capital of the world. Not only should we have done this five to 10 years ago . . . but tougher standards should have been imposed.”

Minor Headache

Consumers have proven that they like such convenience centers--the name preferred by their developers but eschewed by the public. But the mini-malls have become a minor headache for city officials forced to endure complaints that the complexes are ugly, lack sufficient parking and create traffic snarls.

Even the restrained legal language of the new city ordinance acknowledges “such problems as . . . deficient design standards, aesthetic and visual blight, noise and litter.”

Under the law passed Wednesday, most new mini-malls will have to include four parking spaces for every 1,000 square feet of shops. If more than 20% of the space is rented to restaurants, cookie emporiums or other shops that sell food items, the formula bumps up to five parking spots per 1,000 square feet.

Before 1986, many mini-malls were allowed to open with two parking spaces per 1,000 square feet. In a first wave of efforts to regulate mini-malls, the council in 1986 raised the standard to the current three parking spots for every 1,000 feet of commercial floor space.

For a shopping center of 65,000 square feet, the largest that would fit the city’s definition of a mini-mall, the new formula will ensure drivers of at least 260 parking spaces instead of the 195 guaranteed under the old rules.

New centers can be built as high as three stories under the law passed Wednesday. In addition to parking, every new mini-mall will be required to be encircled by a decorative wall and landscaping. Owners will have the legal duty to keep the shopping center free of graffiti.

At the urging of Mayor Tom Bradley, the new law requires developers to plant one shade tree for every four parking spaces and position the trees to protect cars on at least half of the parking lot from summer sun.

After the vote, Bradley’s press office released a statement containing restrained praise for the new rules.

“I’m pleased with the council vote today, which takes a major step toward protecting communities from the intrusive development resulting from mini-mall construction,” Bradley said.

However, the mayor noted that early in 1987, he called for the council to reduce the building of new mini-malls, something that was not attempted in the measure approved Wednesday.

“I am disappointed it took the City Council 19 months to approve this desperately needed proposal,” Bradley said, adding that “this is a beginning. We must continue our efforts to improve urban design and assure thorough public review of all projects effecting neighborhoods.”

Bradley’s expected mayoral rival, Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, said the mayor deserves much of the blame for the delay. Efforts to limit mini-malls were continually bottled up in the Planning Commission when it was headed by Bradley confidant Daniel P. Garcia, Yaroslavsky said.

“It’s too little too late,” Yaroslavsky said. “There isn’t a planner in the city that I know of who considers the mini-malls a good thing for the city.”

The new ordinance replaces interim controls first passed in 1986 that were due to expire next Jan. 20.

Councilman Hal Bernson, chairman of the Planning and Environment Committee that ironed out the political objections to the ordinance, was congratulated by his colleagues for nudging some form of mini-mall controls onto the books. He acknowledged the sentiment that the law is not perfect, but added, “Nothing in life is ever 100%--but this is 99 and 9/10ths percent perfect.”

At the last minute, the Council also voted 12 to 0 to extend the controls to enterprise zones--sections of the city where development is encouraged by offering incentives to investors.