The short version
On Friday, Oct. 16, the Los Angeles City Council voted 10-1 to have the city attorney draft an ordinance that would take city-owned parking lots out of the Board of Transportation Commissioners' hands once the council and mayor approve them for housing. The motion does not name a project. But it targets the city code rule at the center of the decade-long fight over Venice Dell, a planned 120-unit affordable and supportive housing complex on a city beach parking lot at 200 N. Venice Blvd., near the Venice Canals.
The vote does not approve Venice Dell, settle its lawsuits or change any law yet. It starts a drafting process. Here is what agents working Venice and the Westside need to know.
The backstory: a beach parking lot and a 2022 contract
The site is Lot 731, a city-owned public lot of about 2.65 acres run by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT). In 2016 the city picked two nonprofit developers, Venice Community Housing and Hollywood Community Housing Corporation, to build there.
The plan calls for 120 homes, all affordable except three on-site manager units, plus about 200 parking spaces in two structures so the site keeps public beach parking. Part of the project is supportive housing, meaning affordable apartments with on-site services such as case management for people leaving homelessness. Mar Vista Voice reports that 68 units are set aside for them.
The City Council approved the project's land-use permits, including a coastal development permit, on Dec. 1, 2021. In June 2022 it approved a disposition and development agreement (DDA). A DDA is the binding contract for a city site: it sets out how the city hands over the land, here through a long-term ground lease, and what the developer must build. City News Service reported that the California Coastal Commission approved the project in December 2024.
Then the politics shifted. Councilmember Traci Park, whose District 11 includes Venice, and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto took office after the 2022 election, and both have opposed the project. On Dec. 10, 2024, the Board of Transportation Commissioners, an appointed panel that oversees city parking, voted unanimously to deny the use of Lot 731 for Venice Dell. LADOT staff cited lost parking revenue, unresolved maintenance and liability questions, and reduced coastal access, and suggested the housing department study nearby Lot 701 instead. The council did not overrule the board.
Two court cases
The authority case. The developers sued in March 2025. On May 26, 2026, Superior Court Judge Curtis Kin ruled that the board had no power to block the project. The code section it relied on lets the board manage how parking is provided, he found, but a lot already intended for affordable housing falls under the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD). Mayor Karen Bass, who had raised concerns about the project, wrote to the board on June 26 asking it to follow the ruling. The board vacated its 2024 decision in late August.
The contract case. The developers say the city is still bound by the 2022 agreement. The city attorney's office says the project is no longer valid. A trial is set for April 2027.
While that case waits, the developers asked a court to make the city start the Ellis Act process for four rent-controlled apartments the city owns on the site. The Ellis Act is the state law (Government Code section 7060 and following) that lets an owner take rent-controlled units off the rental market. In Los Angeles, the owner files a notice with LAHD and pays relocation assistance. Tenants get at least 120 days. Tenants who are 62 or older or disabled, and have lived in the unit at least a year, can claim a full year if they ask within 60 days.
That one-year rule explains the rush. Westside Current and Mar Vista Voice both report that some tenants on the site qualify for it, and that the project's state award of about $42.5 million from the Multifamily Housing Program, roughly 43% of its funding, will be rescinded unless all permanent financing is secured by September 2027. Applications for tax credits and tax-exempt bonds are due by May 2027. Mar Vista Voice reported that Judge Steven A. Ellis granted the developers' request on Sept. 29, ordering the city to process the application by Oct. 26 and serve tenant notices by Nov. 23 once the developers post a bond. No tenant would have to move before the April 2027 trial, according to that report.
What the council's vote would change
The motion, Council File 26-1354, asks the city attorney to amend the Los Angeles Administrative Code in four ways:
- A new exemption. The transportation board keeps its advisory role over public parking lots, except lots the council and mayor have authorized for temporary or permanent housing or homeless programs. Why: the authors say an appointed board should not be able to undo land deals that the elected council and mayor already approved.
- Control moves to LAHD. The housing department would have "charge, superintendence and control" of city land approved for affordable housing. Why: this writes into the code what Judge Kin read it to mean, so future projects do not need a lawsuit to settle who decides.
- LADOT keeps running the lot until construction is real. LADOT would keep operating and maintaining the site until a ground lease or similar deal is signed and LAHD gives it 30 days' notice. Why: parking and revenue continue until a project is actually ready to start, and the parking department gets time to wind down operations.
- A process update. The city would revise its Asset Evaluation Framework, the process for deciding what to do with city-owned property, to drop the board from these approvals.
Who is behind it and why
Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez and Ysabel Jurado introduced the motion on Sept. 22, and the Transportation Committee approved it on Oct. 7. It argues that "ambiguous wording within the administrative code" has been "used to halt or slow the development of necessary and life-saving affordable housing on city-owned land." It says the board's advisory duties have let it "overturn or delay" exclusive negotiation agreements, which give one developer the sole right to negotiate for a city site, and DDAs that the council and mayor approved. The authors also warn that blocking housing puts state affordable housing funding at risk.
The council passed it without discussion. According to City News Service, Park cast the only no vote, and Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield, John Lee, Curren Price and Katy Yaroslavsky were absent.
Who disagrees and why
Park, some Venice residents and, at earlier stages, Bass have raised concerns about safety, beach access and neighborhood fit. In February, the city attorney issued a public-interest report concluding that Venice Dell "never has been 'approved'" and was "infeasible and unauthorized," as reported by Westside Current. The report questioned a side letter that it said raised the project budget from $86.9 million to $133 million without council approval or city attorney sign-off. Park called the project "defunct" at the time, and city officials pursued a transit mobility hub on Lot 731 with housing on Lot 701.
Cost is another objection. LADOT's Aug. 27 staff report cites a 2024 estimate of $19.5 million to $22.1 million for a replacement parking structure. It says the developers propose that the city pay for it with borrowing repaid by the general fund, and that the city would lose about $605,000 a year in parking revenue during construction. No city financial analysis of the new ordinance has been done, according to the committee report.
Mar Vista Voice reported that two long-time tenants on the site opposed the Ellis Act order in court.
What happens next
- The ordinance. The city attorney drafts it and returns it to the council for a vote, then the mayor. No date is set.
- Ellis Act deadlines. Oct. 26 and Nov. 23, as reported, unless an appeal pauses the order.
- Council approvals. Bass's June letter notes the council must still approve the ground lease and the public parking plan, both tied to financing the parking structure. No date is set.
- Financing. Tax credit and bond applications by May 2027; all permanent financing by September 2027.
- Trial. The contract case goes to trial in April 2027.
- Construction. In June the developers told the Los Angeles Times they could break ground next year and finish in 2030 if the city stops fighting the project.
What it means for LA agents
- Disclose and document near the site. For listings near Venice Boulevard and the canals, treat Venice Dell as a known, public proposal. Point buyers to Council File 26-1354 and the court record rather than predicting the outcome. Construction cannot start before 2027, and the developers' own target is 2030.
- Talk parking with buyers and hosts. Lot 731 is public beach parking today. The plan keeps about 200 spaces in new structures, but LADOT expects the lot to be out of service during construction.
- Look past Venice. The rule would apply citywide. If a listing sits next to a city parking lot, search the city clerk's council files for it before you list.
- Brief landlord clients on the Ellis Act. Most tenants get 120 days, qualifying seniors and disabled tenants a year, and all get relocation payments. Send clients to LAHD's removal-from-rental-market pages and a landlord-tenant attorney before they act.
- Keep the talking point accurate. The Oct. 16 vote starts a draft. It does not approve Venice Dell, fund it or end the lawsuits.