Venice Local Coastal Program
Los Angeles, CA · Coastal Planning
Our principals worked with a team to implement the Venice Local Coastal Program to address housing demand, sea level rise, and community character in one of LA's most complex and contested coastal neighborhoods. Venice presents a planning environment unlike almost anywhere else in the city: a dense, diverse community with a strong cultural identity, significant environmental constraints, intense development pressure, and a history of deep divisions over how growth should be managed.
Work included parcel-level analysis of existing development patterns, assessment of coastal hazard exposure under multiple sea level rise scenarios, and community engagement with stakeholder groups whose visions for Venice's future often appeared irreconcilable. The resulting program established regulatory standards designed to accommodate growth while protecting the qualities , the street life, the pedestrian scale, the cultural diversity , that define Venice's distinct urban character.
Key Elements
- Parcel-level analysis of development patterns and coastal hazard exposure
- Sea level rise scenario modeling integrated into land use and development standards
- Character-based design standards protecting Venice's distinctive pedestrian environment
- Affordable housing provisions calibrated to the economics of coastal development
- Community engagement process bridging deeply divided stakeholder perspectives