LA Already Facing Hurdles To Ambitious Land Bank Agenda

Law360 (August 1, 2022) Los Angeles County and its transportation agency are pursuing an ambitious plan to bank land now for affordable housing development later, and while some view those steps as essential to solving the area's housing affordability crisis, others are already lining up in court to challenge them.

The county in mid-June approved a new master plan, a piece of which includes buying land along the Los Angeles River to be used for affordable housing, and it has allocated $50 million in seed funds for the land bank. Separately, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board of directors in late June voted to move forward with a separate land banking initiative for properties along the Gold Line, one of several light rail lines in the county.

Rick Friess, a partner at Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP, told Law360 that L.A. County's land banking initiatives have "the feel of good planning."

"The land banking is identifying places where affordable housing would make sense in the future," Friess said. "The basic idea is if you wait until all the infrastructure is in place, the land is going to be extremely valuable, and thus extremely expensive for the government to acquire." Read More (subscription required)