How Community Plan Updates Work on the Los Angeles City Planning Website

Updated

Community Plan Updates are the City of Los Angeles' process for revising the long-range land use rules that govern each of its community plan areas. On planning.lacity.gov, you can find the current status of each update, the documents produced at each stage, and the opportunities to comment or attend hearings. This article explains what Community Plans do, how an update moves through the process, and how to track or participate in the update for your neighborhood.

What a Community Plan Is and What It Covers

Los Angeles is divided into dozens of community plan areas, and each one has its own Community Plan. These plans are part of the City's General Plan — the collection of plans and policies that guide land use and development citywide.

A Community Plan sets the land use framework for its area, including:

  • The allowed uses and density for parcels
  • Building height and scale expectations
  • How land use relates to housing, jobs, transportation, and open space at the neighborhood level

Because Community Plans are long-range documents, they are written to stay in effect for years. When conditions, policy priorities, or citywide plans change, the City updates them. The Community Plan Updates page on planning.lacity.gov tracks these revisions area by area.

The Main Stages of a Community Plan Update

While the exact sequence and timing vary by plan area, an update generally moves through these phases:

  1. Initiation and scoping — The City announces that a plan area will be updated and begins gathering background information and public input on the issues to address.
  2. Plan development — Staff and consultants draft the updated plan, often with public workshops and comment periods along the way.
  3. Environmental review — The draft plan goes through environmental analysis under state law, with its own public review and comment period.
  4. Public hearings and adoption — The plan goes before the City Planning Commission and then the City Council, both of which hold public hearings before deciding whether to adopt it.
  5. Adopted regulations — Once adopted, the new land use regulations take effect and are published alongside other adopted regulations.

Each stage produces documents you can read and comment on. The website separates Proposed Regulations from Adopted Regulations, so you can tell whether a rule is still under consideration or already in force.

How to Find Your Community Plan and Its Update Status

To check where your area stands:

  1. Go to planning.lacity.gov and open the Community Plans section to see the list of plan areas.
  2. Open the Community Plan Updates page to see which areas are currently being updated and at what stage.
  3. If your area is in an update, the update page typically links to draft documents, meeting notices, and comment instructions.
  4. For adopted rules, check the Adopted Regulations page; for rules still in process, check Proposed Regulations.

If your area is not currently being updated, the existing Community Plan still applies, and its land use rules remain in effect.

How to Participate or Follow an Update

Participation happens mainly through public comment and hearings. Depending on the stage, you can:

  • Attend public workshops or hearings — Notices for these are posted on the relevant plan or update page.
  • Submit written comments — Comment periods accompany draft plans and environmental review documents; the page for each update explains how and by when to submit.
  • Track the plan through its hearings — City Planning Commission and City Council hearings are the points where public testimony is taken before a decision.

The website also lists related policy areas that can shape an update, including the General Plan Overview, the Housing Element Rezoning Program, Environmental Justice, the Open Space Element Update, Plan Overlays, and the CASP Update. These are worth checking because an update in your area may be coordinated with one or more of them.

A Practical Example

Suppose you live in an area where the Community Plan is being updated. You would:

  1. Open the Community Plan Updates page and find your plan area.
  2. Read the current draft and note the sections that affect your block — for example, proposed height or density changes.
  3. Check whether the draft is still in the comment stage or already at a hearing.
  4. If comments are open, submit them through the method listed on the update page before the deadline.
  5. If a hearing is scheduled, attend and give testimony, or follow the outcome afterward on the Adopted Regulations page.

This sequence lets you act while the plan can still change, rather than after adoption.

Key Things to Keep in Mind

  • Timing matters. Once a plan is adopted, the rules are set until the next update, so the comment and hearing stages are your main windows to influence it.
  • Proposed vs. adopted. Always confirm which category a regulation falls under before relying on it.
  • Updates are area-specific. Your neighbor's plan area may be at a different stage than yours, so check your own area rather than assuming citywide status.
  • Related policies can apply. Overlays, the Housing Element Rezoning Program, and other citywide efforts can interact with your Community Plan, so review those pages if they are referenced in your area's update.