Just in time for Christmas, the new draft community plans for South LA and Southeast LA are here. They make a great stocking stuffer! Both plans, which will eventually guide planning and zoning in the 'hoods, are similar to one another, though with its impressive collection of historic preservation overlay zones like Harvard Heights and University Park, the South LA plan has a greater focus on preservation. Taken together, the two plans set out a vision for development over the next 20 years for a swath of the city expected to be home to more than 600,000 Angelenos come 2035. Combined, the area under discussion stretches south from Pico to 120th Street, and is bounded by Arlington to the west and Central Avenue to the east. Each plan's scores of policy recommendations are designed to achieve goals like keeping density low, while making the area's less car-centric, preserving industrial areas while keeping them from encroaching on residential neighborhoods, improving public health, and tackling problems like lackluster commercial corridors.

To give a sense of the kinds of recommendations made, the phrase "mixed-use" and its variants appear 99 times in the two documents, in the contexts of neighborhoods, boulevards, nodes, and buildings. Other recommended policies include promoting "crime prevention through environmental design," limiting things like motels and liquor stores in residential neighborhoods, incentivizing mixed-income housing especially near transit, and promoting transit-oriented development. The two plans are expected to make their way to the City Council in the new year.

· Southeast Los Angeles Community Plan [Draft Document]

· South Los Angeles Community Plan [Draft Document]

· Huge South LA Plans Would Block Liquor Stores, Encourage Transit-Oriented Development [Curbed LA]