At its June 17 Regular Meeting, the Beverly Hills City Council voted to approve the city’s $662 million budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, extend an interim urgency ordinance relating to urban lot splits and two-primary-unit projects, and delay the public hearing of an appeal to a proposed multifamily residence at 412 N. Oakhurst Drive.
During the public hearing portion of the meeting, the council voted 4-1 to adopt the budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, with Vice Mayor John Mirisch voting against it.
The $662 million budget is a $10.4 million increase from the previous fiscal year. It includes 27 areas of budget enhancements, totaling $13.2 million across all funds, which were determined necessary to support the needs of the community and City Council. The budget enhancements entail $7.8 million in one-time costs, such as $4.5 million for private security, and $5.4 million in recurring costs, such as $2 million in the General Fund and $0.9 million for annual tree maintenance services.
The updated budget emphasizes investments in public safety, such as a public safety kiosk in preparation for the new Wilshire/La Cienega Metro station, dedicated police staff in that facility, and advanced security technologies aimed at enhancing community safety.
The City Council also voted to delay public hearing of Rabbi Ruben Milikan’s appeal of the Planning Commission’s decision to approve a Density Bonus permit for an eight-story multifamily residential building. The project is located on a dual jurisdiction property in both Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. While the hearing for the appeal was originally scheduled for June 17, Rabbi Milikan requested the hearing be postponed to a future date, which staff recommended to allow for timely processing of the housing application.
“I think it would be justice for the seniors of the community … if we bring on all the mistakes that exist in this document that they have,” said the appellant, referring to the housing application. Many senior citizens currently occupy 412 N. Oakhurst.
Farhad Novian, an attorney who spoke on behalf of Rabbi Milikan, told the council, “We hereby request that this hearing not be held now, but rather, in 60 to 90 days. There are people that are affected—seniors of your community that are affected by these decisions, and we should give them more time to consider what’s going on.”
A representative for the housing project, Avi Stieglitz, said that they do not want to extend the hearing beyond this date. “From our perspective, this is one of the issues with building affordable and any sort of housing in California—these types of delays,” said Stieglitz.
After Rabbi Milikan collapsed shortly after speaking, sending the meeting into a brief recess, Mayor Nazarian and the rest of the council agreed to postpone the hearing to Aug. 5.
Moving forward with other items on the agenda, the council voted to extend the city’s interim urgency ordinance relating to the implementation of the state law SB 9 to May 2026. The additional time allows city staff to further study ways to develop permanent SB 9 housing regulations, which includes updating the city’s existing regulations to align with more recent state legislation, notably SB 450. Given the severity of the L.A. wildfires in January, the extended time allows for staff to review proposed SB 9 projects that lie within the city’s Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone and the limited evacuation routes available, which Principal Planner Chloe Chen said could “present an adverse impact to public health and safety.”
SB 9, which took effect in 2022, requires local agencies to ministerially approve urban lot splits and development to two residential units per single-family residential lot, provided the projects meet certain criteria. SB 450 updates certain provisions of SB 9 and was passed in 2024.
Other matters discussed at the meeting included the “No Kings” rally that took place in Beverly Hills, among other cities across the nation, this past weekend. Councilmember Lester Friedman applauded the city for conducting the demonstration in a safe manner.
