General Plan Report Ordered

The Lawndale City Council has called for a detailed report in 30 days on possible November ballot measures that would clarify how the city’s General Plan should be adopted.

The council Monday debated legal and practical questions raised by a recent state attorney general’s opinion on the General Plan, a document that governs all zoning and development in the city.

The Dec. 20 opinion upheld the validity of a 1963 ordinance requiring that any General Plan be submitted to the voters.

Residents have never voted on the current General Plan, because a 1974 opinion by the attorney general’s office held that the 1963 law was unconstitutional. Relying on the 1974 opinion, the council in 1976 adopted the city’s General Plan without putting it before the electorate.

With the recent reversal in favor of the 1963 law, city officials are attempting to resolve questions about how the General Plan should be adopted. The city is in the process of updating the 1976 plan, and the council is considering whether the old plan and/or the new plan should be put to a citywide vote.

The Planning Commission has recommended that the council put the 1963 law, called Ordinance 82, on the ballot in November to see whether public opinion has changed or whether Lawndale residents still want the General Plan to be subject to voter approval.

The council also is considering whether amendments to the plan should be submitted to the electorate, and how to define major changes that should be subject to a vote as opposed to minor changes that could be handled administratively.