The Boyle Heights Community Plan Update

The Boyle Heights Community Plan Update will utilize new zoning tools created through the City’s comprehensive zoning code update and implemented through the Boyle Heights Community Plan.

The Boyle Heights Community Plan will have tailored zoning designations developed to implement the policy vision that has been created over the past several years of outreach.

This presentation and series of interactive maps will walk through some of the ways that zoning is being used in Boyle Heights to address issues of housing affordability, environmental justice, food access, neighborhood identity, and local jobs.

For additional information on the Boyle Heights Community Plan Update, including the draft Plan policy document and Community Plan Implementation Overlay (CPIO), please visit our  website .

Nearly 40% of the land in Boyle Heights is zoned for or built as multi-unit residential uses today. The Plan maintains these neighborhoods for multi-unit housing, and brings forward protections for residential neighborhoods, including a number of goals, policies, programs, and zoning strategies that safeguard existing households. The majority of new housing growth and development is directed away from the existing neighborhoods and towards mixed-use corridors around existing and future bus and rail service. This proposal is intended to alleviate future development pressures on the existing residential neighborhoods while bringing current and future residents closer to commercial amenities and transportation options.

Boyle Heights’ mixed-use developments characterize the neighborhood’s most vital corridors. New zoning standards support established mixed-use corridors and encourage opportunities for small business along corridors such as Whittier Boulevard, First Street, Wabash Avenue, and Soto Street.

The Plan encourages more housing along mixed-use corridors close to bus and rail transit to reduce the impacts of development on the surrounding residential neighborhoods, incentivizing greater affordable housing development and growth in these areas.

The new zoning along mixed-use corridors requires new buildings to be built closer to the street and provide pedestrian entrances and greater transparency, to reflect some of the historic development patterns along these corridors and improve the pedestrian experience. For more details on these regulations, please visit the  Form District  and  Frontage District  sections of the new zoning code.

Draft Zoning and land use regulations maintain the existing mix of Light Industrial and Heavy Industrial land, designated for jobs-producing uses, throughout the Plan Area.

Industrial areas closest to residential neighborhoods are proposed to change from heavy industrial zones to lighter industrial zones, indicated on the map below. Please use the slider tool to see areas with existing light and heavy industrial zones compared to the proposed light and heavy industrial zones.

Adopted as an overlay in 2016, Clean Up Green UP (CUGU) began as a pilot program for the communities of Pacoima, Wilmington, and Boyle Heights. Through the proposed zoning, CUGU regulations have been incorporated into the zoning instead of as an overlay, through Development Standards and Use District regulations.

Base & Bonus Floor Area Ratio

Bonus available only for projects utilizing the Boyle Heights  Community Benefits Program 

Base & Bonus Height Limit

Bonus available only for projects utilizing the Boyle Heights  Community Benefits Program 

You may skip ahead or back at any time using the navigation tabs above.

The draft General Plan Land Use Designations and zones can be viewed using this interactive map. Please note that the first tab "Land Use Designations" will not show zoning information. The subsequent tabs for "Residential Neighborhoods", "Mixed-Use Corridors", "Industrial Land", and "Public Facilities & Open Space" will show parcel level zoning details.

The interactive map illustrates proposed changes addressing land use mix, height, massing and feel of the buildings along the street. These detailed zoning and land use recommendations were developed based on the City’s goals for housing, economy, mobility, health, and sustainability, and were informed through public input over the past several years.