University Library
Right of Way
University Library
Right of Way
Like most American cities, Los Angeles uses zoning mechanisms as a tool to regulate land use for myriad purposes. At their best, these regulations serve to promote economic development and separate residential and industrial areas for the benefit of both groups. Zoning has significant implications for shaping urban environments, but because changes to zoning laws and regulations are made through political processes, it is also vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
Zoning restrictions can omit uses from the description of a zone, or explicitly prohibit a particular use within a zone. Historically, implicit and explicit zoning regulations have been used to exclude marginalized communities from municipalities entirely, force them into specific neighborhoods and areas within a city, or bar them from desirable urban and suburban areas by inflating housing costs, among other things. In some instances zoning regulations specify the siting of infrastructures harmful to humans within areas that are geographically proximate to marginalized communities, thus contributing to the disproportionate burden of environmental and health impacts experienced by those groups.
On display in this case is a call from a group of local business leaders about the need for industrial zoning in the then-agricultural and residential San Fernando Valley, a notice of public hearing about proposed zoning changes in Pacoima scheduled for a weekday morning when many impacted residents were likely unable to attend, petitions and applications submitted by home and business owners for zoning exemptions and changes, and letters written to members of the City Planning Commission by local residents voicing support and opposition for various zoning proposals and exemptions.
Case 9, Conservation, is the flat case near the Gohstand Reading Room.
1
"Need for Industrial Zoning in the Valley Critical," circa 1950sIndustrial Association of the San Fernando Valley Collection
2
"Request and Recommendation," 1972Northridge Civic Association Papers
3
"Notice of Public Hearing...Abatement of Building, Structures, Premises and Portions Thereof which…are Hazardous, Substandard or Subject to Repair," 1979Pacoima Revitalization, Inc. Collection
4
"Mapa de Estrategia," 1978Pacoima Revitalization, Inc. Collection
5
"Programa Comprensivo de Desarrollo de la Comunidad de Pacoima," 1978Pacoima Revitalization, Inc. Collection
6
Letter to City Planning Commission, 1986Dorothy Boberg Collection
7
"Notice of Public Hearing to Property Owners," 1971Dorothy Boberg Collection
8
Excerpt from oral history interview with Delmar Oviatt, 1971John Broesamle Suddenly A Giant: A History of CSUN Collection
9
Application for Condition use, Kids Korner Pre-SchoolArleta Chamber of Commerce Collection
10
Petition in support of Kids Korner Pre-School zoning exceptionArleta Chamber of Commerce Collection
11
Zoning proposal, "Proposed Land Use Categories and Distribution," circa 1990Los Feliz Improvement Association Records
12
Zoning proposal, "Hollywood Community Plan Revision," circa 1990Los Feliz Improvement Association Records
13
Petition for zoning change on Los Feliz Boulevard between Riverside and Vermont, 1929Los Feliz Improvement Association Records
14
"Zoning Application for Area, Building Line, or Height Variance," 1986Los Feliz Improvement Association Records
15
City of Los Angeles, Notice of Exemption, 1987Los Feliz Improvement Association Records
16
"Land Use Plan: Sepulveda District"Albert Zoraster Collection
