Audit Criticizes City Planning Policies

Bad management and antiquated practices have hampered the Los Angeles Planning Department’s ability to create a coherent vision and responsible strategy for the growth of the nation’s second largest city, according to an audit released Monday.

City Controller Laura Chick said the review commissioned by her office found “an agency cast in a time warp of past practices, old procedures and outdated technology” that was “mired in backlogs, often in violation of state law” because deadlines were missed.

Chick said a shortage of well-trained city planners -- caused partly by a hiring freeze that has left 56 of 319 jobs unfilled -- had forced the department during the current building boom to shift employees to processing a backlog of applications rather than refining the city’s 44 “specific plans” that define how neighborhoods will develop.

“It’s one reason why we are just beginning to have, so belatedly, great civic centers and great commercial centers that are the mark of a truly great city,” Chick told reporters at a City Hall news conference.

Chick called for an overhaul of agency practices with 29 recommendations, including an effort to streamline planning approvals, the hiring of better-trained planners and the use of computer technology to allow the various departments that approve new development to work electronically from one shared form.

The audit proposed that the number of steps required to approve a development application be halved, from 10 to five, cutting out the need for high-level planners to sign off on approvals by lower level planners.

It takes more than 200 days, on average, to gain approval of subdivisions and projects that require Planning Commission approval.

Developers believe that the department could be more efficient, but also would like it to adopt a more visionary approach to meet housing needs, a representative said.

“It’s important for the Planning Department to think long term about the city’s needs,” said Holly Schroeder, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-Ventura chapter of the Building Industry Assn. She said it was obvious that Los Angeles had not done so.

“The results speak for themselves in terms of the housing crisis we face,” she said.

Neighborhood activists raised concerns Monday about some of the recommendations to streamline project reviews and to limit the time controversial cases can be reviewed, as well as calls by the auditors to enforce limits on public testimony during commission hearings.

“I think it’s all wet,” said Don Schultz, a neighborhood activist in Van Nuys. “I think what it’s doing is trying to eliminate community input.”

Councilman Ed Reyes, chairman of the council’s planning committee and a former associate planner with the department, endorsed the audit.

“For too long, our planning department has been working on 21st century problems using 20th century technology, and our communities have been paying the price for it,” Reyes said.

Reyes said the department was failing to involve communities in creating a blueprint for the future, and he faulted the agency for not having enough planners who speak languages other than English.

The audit was conducted for Chick by Zucker Systems, a private consulting firm that reviewed how about 3,000 development applications were handled by the department.

The same firm also recommended major changes to the Planning Department in a 1991 audit. Chick said some of those recommendations were not carried out and are recommended again.

For instance, Zucker again recommended that each development proposal be handled by one planner, rather than multiple planners.

Chick called for better training of the city’s seven area planning commissioners, and called for permit approval to be carried out in one-stop planning offices spread throughout the city rather than only in downtown.

More attention should be given to updating and refining community plans that govern how neighborhoods should develop, she said, adding that the agency’s problems have delayed the move toward building more commercial and residential development along subway, light-rail and bus corridors.

“These community plans have been collecting dust and not getting the visionary, professional, expert leadership from the Planning Department they merit,” Chick said, blaming the department’s understaffing. The audit was released as the city searches for a planning director to replace Con Howe, who resigned Sept. 16 amid heavy criticism of his department for not presenting a vision for development.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has appointed Mark Winogrond, a consultant and planner, as interim planning director.

Chick did not single out any managers by name, but she did fault the city’s elected officials for imposing a hiring freeze and other decisions.

In particular, she cited the City Council’s decision last month to waive $4 million in permit fees for a convention center hotel, saying that the money could have paid for staff to handle other projects in the city.