Local engineer-turned-real estate developer Akhilesh Jha is cooking up plans for another eldercare complex in the San Fernando Valley.

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission has voted to approve Jha's plans for a property at 5353 North Del Moreno Drive in Woodland Hills, where he would replace a single-family home with a three-story mixed-use building containing 71 residential units (ranging from 210 to 215 feet in size) above 1,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. No on-site automobile parking is proposed.

Jha is making use of a laundry list of density bonus incentives and waivers to permit a larger structure than otherwise allowed at this location. In exchange, eight units would be set aside for very low-income renters.

5353 N. Del Moreno DriveGoogle Maps

Surge Group is designing the building, according to plans included with the Planning Commission presentation.

Jha's current plans for the Del Moreno site have been dialed back to what he had initially proposed four years ago, when he fought a legal battle to build a seven-story mixed-use building on the property. While City officials repeatedly denied his attempts, a court decision allowed the project to move forward because while the is zoned for single-family uses, its underlying general plan land use designation allows for multifamily housing. While property owners can now utilize density allowed by the general plan, even when zoning disagrees, this was not the case prior to the adoption of AB 2334 in 2023.

While his plans have succeeded in court, Jha's recent pivot to senior housing has been a cause for concern with the City Planning Commission. In a recent hearing regarding a similar project in Sylmar, Commissioners acknowledged that his projects are allowed by state housing law, but questioned their viability and compliance with other regulations pertaining to senior housing. A recent staff presentation outlined the various requirements imposed on operators of eldercare facilities in California.

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