Over the past decade, California has passed numerous housing bills to encourage housing production. Many of these bills provide streamlined review for certain categories of housing projects that require only the conformance with existing objective design standards. While each Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) has an adopted Preservation Plan that has helped guide neighborhood changes, these plans are overwhelmingly subjective, and therefore provide little to no oversight of these types of streamlined projects.

Objective Design Standards (ODSs) are clear, measurable, and verifiable regulations that can be used to shape development projects and “[involve] no personal or subjective judgment by a public official and is uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark or criterion…” (Gov. Code § 66300(a)(7)). Some elements of Los Angeles’s zoning code are already objective, such as the maximum height limits, specified street setbacks, or regulations on fence heights. Others are subjective, for example: “new construction should complement the historic fabric.”

Therefore, Objective Design Standards for HPOZ’s are being developed to ensure that new development in historic neighborhoods are sensitive and compatible.

The ODSs in HPOZs will apply to the following eligible project types:

• New multi-family residential infill (including eligible streamlined affordable housing projects)
• New mixed-use infill
• New subdivision and small lot projects
• New ADUs

The existing preservation plans will continue to regulate new single family homes, additions and commercial/institutional projects.

In 2025, the City’s Office of Historic Resources (OHR) was awarded a Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) REAP 2.0 grant to create Objective Design Standards. In November 2025, Architectural Resources Group (ARG) was contracted as the consultant to focus on standards for new residential infill, mixed-used infill projects, and ADUs within HPOZs. The REAP 2.0 grant deadline for this project is December 2026.

At the 2026 Neighborhoods Conference, the first public workshop and listening session was held. This was followed by two virtual workshops in spring and summer. In June, the draft Objective Design Standards were released for review and comment.

In summer of 2026, the Conservancy worked with stakeholders and the Office of Historic Resources to respond to and improve the draft Objective Design Standards. The Conservancy was in agreement with the HPOZ stakeholders that the draft standards do not meet the goals of the effort. Our comment letter for that draft can be accessed here.

In October 2026, updated standards were released. The new standards can be reviewed at the resources section of the project webpage. The Conservancy found the revised standards addressed many of the issues of the first draft, but recommended further changes. Our most recent letter can be read here.

The Department of City Planning intends to seek Planning Commission approval in December 2026, as required by the grant funding the effort. A series of hearings and presentations are planned before this date, as listed below. Once approved by the Planning Commission, the Objective Design Standards would be transferred to the City Council for final approval in 2027.

IMPORTANT DATES:

• An informational webinar was held on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026.
• A virtual public hearing was held on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026.
• The public was invited to provide feedback on the draft through Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. 

COMING UP:

• An informational presentation will be held at the Cultural Heritage Commission (CHC) on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2026.
• The project will be presented to the City Planning Commission (CPC) on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2026.

Please submit written comments to planning.hpozods@lacity.org.