The Department of City Planning and Metro are moving forward on their ambitious plan to rezone the areas surrounding five Expo Line stations--the Culver City stop and four under-construction stations on the extension to Santa Monica (they're also working on rezoning around the Crenshaw Line, but they have more time for that since it doesn't open until 2018). The DCP is putting together an environmental impact report on the zoning changes and is planning a meeting with the public on April 10 in Palms. "The focus of the Plan will be the establishment of new development regulations that better support transit ridership, such as allowing some increased development intensity near stations where appropriate, requiring the design of new buildings to be pedestrian-oriented, and improving the configuration and condition of streets to better promote pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular circulation," according to the DCP. The plan will look at the areas within a 15-minute walk of the Culver City stop (the city of LA surrounds this station), Palms, Westwood, Sepulveda, and Bundy stations (the others stations in the extension are in Santa Monica)--the city will likely hear the rezoning suggestions in the winter or spring of next year. Meanwhile, developers already have big plans for the station areas and the city is hoping to create a (t)expo Line technology corridor along the length of the line.

· Los Angeles Transit Neighborhood Plans [Official Site]