Last week, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning held a scoping meeting for the Purple Line Transit Neighborhood Plan - a new set of proposed land use regulations for properties surrounding future stations on the $2.8-billion Purple Line extension.

The amorphous study area is centered around under-construction stations at Wilshire Boulevard's intersections with Fairfax and La Brea Avenues, and stretches between Rimpau Boulevard on the east, the Beverly Hills city line in the west, 3rd Street and Beverly Boulevard in the north, and Pico and San Vicente Boulevards in the south.  The extension's third stop - located at La Cienega Boulevard - sits within Beverly Hills city limits and is thus outside of Los Angeles' land use jurisdiction.

Although the study area spans across a broad swath of Central Los Angeles, most of the proposed zone changes under the draft plan are restricted to major thoroughfares including Wilshire, Fairfax, San Vicente, and Olympic Boulevard.

A presentation from the scoping meeting offers up lower- and higher-intensity alternatives, as detailed in the chart below:

Under both concepts, the most intense development is reserved for Wilshire Boulevard between La Cienega and La Brea.  More modest changes in allowable density and buildable area are planned for major north-south corridors.

Single-family and multi-family zones are left largely untouched - owing to a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone which encompasses much of the plan area.  However, several blocks of existing multifamily development flanking Wilshire could are also proposed to see minor increases in allowable density.

Last week's scoping meeting marked the start of the Transit Neighborhood Plan's environmental review period.  According to a presentation, an EIR for the project will be drafted through the remainder of 2018 and the start of 2019, with a final report expected to be adopted in mid-to-late 2019.  Implementation of the new plan would occur in either late 2019 or early 2020.

The Purple Line TNP is joined by a similar document now underway for neighborhoods surrounding the Orange Line busway, and follows a recently-adopted plan for the Expo Line.

The Purple Line's westward push is continuing past La Cienega as of February 2018, when Metro officially broke ground on athe second extension to Century City.  A third phase of the project - which would run to a final terminus at the Westwood Veterans Administration Campus - has yet to break ground.  The full Purple Line extension is expected to enter service in 2026.

The TNP area could also be intersected by a northern extension of the Crenshaw/LAX Line, which could travel toward Hollywood via La Brea, Fairfax, La Cienega, or San Vicente.