The Beverly Hills City Council passed an ordinance at its Sept. 14 meeting that removes the Planning Commission from part of the process in reviewing large scale developments. The change, voted on three to two, makes the City Council the “planning agency” that reviews development agreements between the city and a project for conformance with the city’s general plan. The change follows the occasionally contentious approval process of the historic One Beverly Hills luxury hotel and condominium development in the spring.
As the city’s land use agency, the Commission makes recommendations to the City Council about whether or not to grant requested entitlements for developments. This involves determining whether the project conforms to the city’s general plan. In addition to reviewing all the jargon-rich documents that go into a new project–environmental impact reports, general plan amendments, overlay specific plans–prior to the change, the Commission would also examine development agreements.
