The Baseline Hillside Ordinance has finally become a reality. The ordinance is designed to provide for appropriate development of our hillside neighborhoods that is in scale with its lot, that preserves the natural topography of the land as much as possible, and that assures that there will be adequate open space between structures to provide for wildlife corridors. It was June 6, 2006, when Councilmember Tom LaBonge initially introduced a motion to draft an ordinance to protect the hillsides from mansionization. The Planning Department did an extraordinary amount of public outreach listening to our suggestions and incorporating many of them in the ordinance.
The ordinance became effective on May 9, 2011.

The press gather for Mayor Villaraigosa's signing of the Baseline Hillside Ordinance on April 16, 2011. Front: Mayor Villaraigosa, Councilmember Tom LaBonge Back: Councilmember Paul Koretz, LFIA Past President Marian Dodge, Carol Sidlow, and Susan Mullins

By Marian Dodge