Livia Pierson
Professor Hansen
Expert Article
10 July 2015
Effective Land-Use Planning
The Skyline
Think back to a time when you’ve
travelled across the country, or around the world, to a different city – any
city that was particularly memorable to you. Toss away the awful plane ride,
the painful line through security, the crazy cab driver that almost killed you
on the way to the hotel, and think about how that city looked to you. When
you looked out the window of your residence, what did the skyline look like?
Right now, the view outside my Los
Angeles apartment is quickly being consumed by the construction of Frank and
Jill Fertitta Hall at the intersection of Figueroa and Exposition. The LA
skyline is already built up, but the main reason my fears of massive,
overdeveloped, disgusting urban sprawl are assuaged is because the space is
truly functional. USC is an institution of education, and I believe in
education.
Real Estate Development
My biggest business related obsession
is real estate. In particular, I am fascinated by the place where the business
of real estate and the government policy surrounding real estate intersect.
Many people I have talked to who aren’t as interested in real estate as I am
are not aware of the real estate project approval process, so the goal of this
article is to:
1) Educate you
on the process by examples and reliable research
2)
Help you formulate an opinion on some of the most important laws regulating real
estate development in the cities of Rancho Palos Verdes and Los Angeles
3)
Provide a brief international comparison to give you a global perspective on ineffective
land-use
Rancho Palos Verdes
The Planning Commission is the government entity in
every US City that is in charge of approving real estate projects within their
jurisdiction. My
first real exposure to the real estate project approval process was in my
hometown of Rancho Palos Verdes. The best large-scale examples of real estate
projects the Rancho Palos Verdes Planning Commission analyzed and eventually approved are the Trump National Golf Course and
Terranea Resort (Terranea Resort Website). I live right next door to Terranea
Resort and therefore have insight on the development of the project.
Lowe Enterprises first approached the
City of Rancho Palos Verdes with its plans to develop a massive, 5 star resort
right smack dab on one of the last undeveloped cliffs in PV about 10 years
before the project was actually completed (Terranea Resort, Curbed LA; Lowe Enterprises).
The City of RPV took many different
factors into
consideration when approving the project – impact on the environment,
dissent from neighbors, and revenue for the city only being only a few.
Development Hurdles: Rancho Palos Verdes and Los
Angeles
Politics & Environment
The main reason it took Lowe Enterprises 10
years to have Terranea approved by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes is the
California Coastal Commission (California
Coastal Commission). The CCC protects California's coast by limiting the
number of developments along the shoreline (Frequently
Asked Questions: The Coastal Commission Permit Appeal Process). Distinct from land locked locations but similar to the
regulations regarding nature preserves, the CCC prohibits the development of
new buildings generally "within 300
feet of a beach, mean high tide or bluff edge; within 100 feet of a wetland or
stream; or on tidelands, submerged lands, or public trust lands" (Frequently Asked
Questions: The Coastal Commission Permit Appeal Process). For a major developer, the time tied up in the
project approval process in addition to extra time spend dealing with the CCC
means big bucks out of pocket.
Money
Trump golf course is just down the road from
Terranea, and Mr. Trump has had plenty of disputes with the RPV city
politicians. Lawyers are rampant in the project approval process, simply
because there is so much money tied up in whether a project is approved or not.
Time is money in the development business, and the longer the approval process
time means the more money out of the developer's pocket. Lawyers and
constant Public Relations staff to endorse Terranea and Trump’s project over
years of deliberation with the city add on cost. Those cost are in addition to
the already purchased land remaining vacant during the years that a developer
fights to get their project approved.
People
Additionally, city planning politicians have a
duty to those citizens that elected them to take into consideration multiple
public hearings where citizens express their dissent towards the approval of
the project. The neighbors of Terranea resort, aka my family and all the other
families in the neighborhoods surrounding the development were invited to
events hosted by Lowe Enterprises designed to shed light on the details and local
impacts of Terranea Resort.
Height of the Hurdles
To give you a better scope of the
complexity and difficulty of project approval, especially in the Los Angeles
and RPV areas in Southern California, there are consulting companies that
specialize in the navigation of city politics, and these companies are paid a
substantial commission by large and small developers to expedite their real
estate project approval process.
One company I know of from my studies
is Elizabeth Peterson Group, which “is a land-use consulting and lobbying firm
headquartered in downtown Los Angeles, specializing in hospitality, mixed-use,
and adaptive reuse developments located in historic and urban communities” (Elizabeth Peterson Group, LA). EPG
consults with major developers and has a deadline for acquiring land-use
permits from the city for their developer clients.
Why Difficulty is a Good Thing
Responsibility is of utmost importance
when it comes to land use. The proper and effective use of land involves
people, resources, food, flora, and fauna, flood, fire, and traffic. Organizations
such as the Urban Land Institute, which has a mission "to provide leadership in the
responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities
worldwide" (Urban Land
Institute, LA) are created to foster responsibility in land use, yet many
communities or commercial developments are still poorly planned given the
demand. There is a common phrase in land use planning called "highest
and best use," but the question remains: for whom is the land
being utilized at the highest amount
of return and best kind of use?
There
are entire cities in China that exist for the sole purpose of the developer’s
profits, boosting China’s GDP, and figuratively storing money for Chinese
citizens who are too afraid to store their money in the bank (Badkar 1).
These
cities are known as “Ghost Cities,” because they are vacant. Let me repeat: the
CITY is vacant.
In the United States, corruption is
rampant in city politics, and “buying” politicians
to expedite the project approval process has been known to occur. There is a
fine line between building relationships with city officials and influencing
city politics for the wrong reasons. But in some countries, there are virtually
no rules city politics regarding the development of buildings without a
function. Do the Ghost Cities seem like efficient or good uses of space,
resources, and money to you?
Ghost
City: Ordos
Works Cited
Badkar, Mamta. China's
Most Famous Ghost City Got Even Worse In The Last 4 Years. 9
June
2014. 1 July 2015. <http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-ghost-cities-in-2014-2014-6>.
9 June 2014.
California Coastal Commission.
<http://www.coastal.ca.gov/>. Web. 1 July 2015.
Elizabeth Peterson
Group, Los Angeles. <http://epgla.com/>. 3 July 2015.
Frequently
Asked Questions: The Coastal Commission Permit Appeal Process.
California
Coastal Commission. <http://www.coastal.ca.gov/cdp/appeals-faq.pdf>.
1 July 2015.
Lowe Enterprises. Terranea < http://www.loweenterprises.com/news/news-
download.aspx?newsid=1161>.
Web. 2011. 2 July 2015.
Terranea Resort, Curbed LA. Active Discussions, Newest Posts.
<http://la.curbed.com/tags/terranea-resort>.
2011. 2 July 2015.
Terranea Resort Website. <http://www.terranea.com/>.
Web. 1 July 2015.
Urban Land Institute, Los
Angeles. <http://la.uli.org/about-us/>.
3 July 2015.
