WHAT IS A COMMUNITY PLAN?

A community plan is a localized land use tool guiding development decisions in neighborhoods. Community plans act as a blueprint for future development in a community, including the types of developments permitted, zoning regulations, and development goals and policies to be followed.

By law, the City of Los Angeles must update a Community Plan every ten years, but some Community Plans have not been updated for over 30 years. The City’s approach to the Community Plan update process is to include community input to ensure the plans accurately reflect the changing environments of neighborhoods and needs of the people residing in them.

However, if a community is not engaged in the update process, the city will revise it on their own terms. For example, Los Angeles City Councilmembers have the power to introduce amendments to Community Plans within their district, and override recommendations from both the Los Angeles City Planning Commission and community members, giving them a unique discretionary authority over land use decisions in their districts.

There are 34 community plans in the City of Los Angeles, making up Los Angeles’s General Plan Land Use Element. One of these community plans is the Boyle Heights Community Plan.

POLICY TOWER EPISODE WITH LEA: THE BOYLE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY PLAN

OUR BOYLE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY PLAN PRIORITIES

OUR BOYLE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY PLAN ADVOCACY

Since 2017, our coalition has engaged the community in the update process of the Boyle Heights Community Plan to ensure their needs and priorities are included. As a coalition of residents, community organizations, and community members, we have worked together to advocate for a community plan that advances strong anti-displacement policies that prioritize the preservation and development of deeply affordable housing, aligning with our core coalition vision.

Our coalition has won the following for the Boyle Heights Community Plan:

• The inclusion of strong set-asides for inclusionary zoning, or affordable housing requirements in Boyle Heights which requires new housing developments to choose one of the following affordable housing income levels:
  11% of units for families with an income of $14,750 or less (0-15% AMI)
  15% of units for families with an income of $69,350 or less (<50% AMI)
  25% of units for families with an income of $110,950 or less (<80% AMI)

• New housing developments must reserve at least 30% of the units available to be either two or three bedrooms.

• Demolitions will not be granted to developers who have been cited for tenant harassment within the last five years. 

*If you are experiencing tenant harassment, visit Stay Housed LA to receive help and sign up for a tenant rights workshop.

• New buildings built in Boyle Heights will remain affordable for 99 years, following 99 year affordability covenants.

WHERE IS THE BOYLE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY PLAN NOW?

Currently, our Boyle Heights Community Plan wins are at risk.

Despite our coalition advocacy since 2017, yielding successful local wins for Boyle Heights community members, state-level laws are currently threatening to override our wins.

California AB130, signed into law on June 30th, 2025, exempts residential projects from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). This new law creates a statutory CEQA exemption for housing projects of up to 20 acres (that’s 15 football fields!). 

This means that residential projects under 20 acres in the Boyle Heights Community Plan area will not be obligated to follow CEQA requirements including Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) that highlight areas with a high displacement index. Areas with a high displacement index are areas with populations that are at high risk of displacement due to climate change, natural hazards, and large-scale developments. This is especially detrimental to the Boyle Heights community, with this neighborhood currently standing at the top 1% of the most polluted and environmentally burdened communities in California. 

Additionally, California SB79, signed into law on October 10th, 2025, will impact transit-oriented developments by setting new height and density standards for housing near high-frequency rail stations and bus lines. This means that this new law will allow higher density housing within a half-mile of major transit, overriding the Boyle Heights Community Plan’s zoning requirements.

Los Angeles City District 14 Councilmember Ysabel Jurado has voted to take a stance on SB79’s new housing density requirements, voting to exempt SB79 on specific land development areas (parcels) in Boyle Heights. 

On August 15th 2025, the Los Angeles City Council voted to oppose SB 79, with Jurado stating the insights given to her by city planners stating that a site-by-site analysis would be needed to determine which housing units will be impacted and which will not. “I am not willing to gamble losing Boyle Heights” Jurado stated, outlining that in the time it will take to access which units are impacted and which will not, units run the risk of being demolished and rent-stabilized ordinance (RSO) units may not be able to be brought back. 

Although these new laws seem daunting, our local wins can be saved by engaging in the Community Plan process. Through our Boyle Heights Community Plan Update campaign, our coalition looks forward to engaging with the City of Los Angeles to identify ways to minimize the impacts of SB79 and AB130 in Boyle Heights and prevent overriding our critical local wins. 

TAKE ACTION - SAVE OUR LOCAL WINS!

Enter your information below to help us preserve our local wins for the Boyle Heights Community Plan. Receive updates and ways to take action.

Interested in sharing a testimony as a stakeholder in Boyle Heights or joining our campaign workgroup? Send an email to our Program Organizer, Jasmine Perez, at jasmine@eastsideleads.org.