Valleywide : Hearing Set for L.A. Growth Plan

Dozens of people are expected to turn out today to criticize a long-term blueprint for growth in Los Angeles that will be presented to the city Planning Commission at City Hall.

The General Plan Framework guides how the city will develop over the next two decades. It seeks to direct most new construction into “targeted growth areas,” or high-density neighborhoods connected by transit.

Planners claim that by channeling new development into these areas, it will reduce the pressure to build in established single-family neighborhoods and make more efficient use of utilities and roads.

But critics complain that the plan encourages over-development of existing neighborhoods and is unrealistic in its projections for future population and job growth in the city.

The hearing is expected to begin after 11 a.m. in Room 340 of City Hall. A second hearing will be held in the San Fernando Valley on July 27 at the Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys.

The plan, which has taken two years to produce, will ultimately be reviewed by the Los Angeles City Council, probably before the end of the year.