L.A. City Council forced to annul rejections of three housing developments

As part of its May 27 agenda, the Los Angeles City Council has voted to comply with judicial orders to vacate earlier actions denying applications to build housing at three sites in the San Fernando Valley.

The first, planned by Evolve Realty & Development at 7745 N. Wilbur Avenue in Reseda, calls for the construction of a six-story building featuring 151 low- and moderate-income apartments.

JZA Architecture is designing the contemporary low-rise development.

At issue was the project's use of the incentives and streamlining provisions afforded by Executive Directive 1. The initial iteration of ED1, as issued in December 2022, not precluded its use on properties on single-family zoned sites which have general plan land use designations to permit multifamily developments. The Wilbur Avenue project was submitted for approval while this version of the order was in effect, but had yet to secure an administrative compliance letter by the time a revised executive order was issued that prohibited its used on single-family sites.

The Planning Department issued a letter of ineligibility to the project applicant as a result of the new ED1. That determination was eventually appealed to the City Council, which voted to deny the project in 2024. Not long afterward, advocacy group YIMBY Law filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles seeking to compel the approval of the project, noting that the project enjoyed vesting rights under the Housing Crisis Act. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge agreed, and instructed the City Council to annul its denial of the project.

An administrative compliance letter for the Wilbur Avenue site was issued in early May 2025.

The second project, in which JZA principal Jeff Zbikowski is also the applicant under the entity Mamba 24, LLC, would rise from a site at 10900 Olinda Street in Sun Valley. Plans call for a three-story, 77-unit apartment building reserved for rent at below market rates.

Like the Wilbur Avenue site, the Sun Valley project had been submitted for approval under the original version of Executive Directive 1, but found itself blocked by staff citing the rules implemented by the second version. And like the Wilbur Avenue site, a lawsuit filed by YIMBY Law resulted in a Superior Court Judge ordering the City of Los Angeles to annul its denial of the applicant, which received its compliance letter in April 2025.

The final project, proposed by applicant Akhilesh Jha, is slated for a property at 13916 Polk Street in Sylmar. 

Jha has sought approval to build a 40-unit apartment building on the property, using provisions of state law to develop multifamily housing on a property which would otherwise be restricted to single-family dwellings. Planning staff had repeatedly blocked the proposal from moving forward, arguing that Jha should be required to seeking a general plan amendment and zone change in order to build apartment on the property.

As with the prior cases, a Superior Court Judge determined that the City of Los Angeles had violated protections offered to housing developments under state law, including vesting rights under SB 330.

Jha has made headlines for several battles against the City of Los Angeles relating to housing construction, including at sites in Woodland Hills and Harvard Heights.

Follow us on social media: 

Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn / Threads / Instagram / Bluesky