City Council approves Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District entitlements, with community benefits and monitoring requirements

The Los Angeles City Council on Sept. 4 approved the land-use entitlements, specific plan and development agreement that establish the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District (the proposed expansion around Staples Center), voting to adopt the Planning and Land Use Management Committee report as amended by the council.

The measure clears zoning changes, a new L.A. S.E.D. zone, provisions for up to 3,750,000 square feet of development in the district, a development agreement and a community benefits package negotiated with neighborhood groups, labor and developers. The council adopted an annual reporting requirement so the developer must report on the status of community-benefit commitments.

Why it matters: the project is intended to create new housing, parks, expanded entertainment and retail uses, and an environment intended to support a convention-center hotel that supporters say is needed to make the convention center competitive. Supporters argued the plan will bring construction jobs, permanent jobs and private investment to downtown; critics raised concerns about the environmental review and whether the promised hotel and convention-center expansion will occur.

Public comment at the meeting was extensive. Gene Hale, chairman of the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce,…