The Los Angeles City Planning Department released updated plans to reform the failed Baseline Mansionization Ordinance (BMO), but community leaders say that the new draft does not do enough to close loopholes that developers can use to their advantage.

The Miracle Mile attracted mansionization. The city released reforms this week that are aimed at preserving neighborhood character.

The city first approved the BMO in 2008 to limit height, setbacks and floor area ratio and preserve the character of neighborhoods around the city. But neighborhood and community councils and other organizations are still seeing a major influx of “McMansions.”

“Vulnerabilities in the regulations became more apparent,” the city’s planning department said in a release. The BMO was “not as effective at curtailing large-scale homes and construction impacts,” it continued.

Neighborhood councils and city leaders have been trying to close those loopholes that lead to “McMansions.”

A previous version of the BMO amendment was released in 2015. After a presentation and public hearing period was held in December, staff prepared the revised version of BMO amendment.

Nick Maricich, senior planner with the Department of City Planning, said the new draft “takes a different approach” but still addresses the issue of mansionization.

“The first draft was more focused on reducing floor area ratio as a strategy to address mansionization,” he said. “The newest draft, while also including reduction, it gets more into bulk and mass through some tools that shape where the building can go on a lot.”

But Shelley Wagers, with the group No More McMansions in Los Angeles, said the new draft raises concerns in terms of effectively closing loopholes and that it introduces a level of complexity that the group thinks can make the ordinance more difficult to understand, more difficult to enforce and “easier to game.”

Wagers said an exemption for attached garage space was eliminated from the first draft, but reinstated in the second draft for flat areas in L.A. That means someone can build 400 square feet of an attached garage and the city would not count it when calculating floor area ratio for a project, which Wagers said can lead to more intrusion.

“That basically means you have a 400-square foot loophole,” Wagers said.

She said the garage loophole is the most damaging and most strongly opposed. She said there are neighborhoods where it’s common to have a garage and that opponents to the loophole are not suggesting attached garages should be eliminated. They just believe garages should be calculated in the floor area ratio.

Wagers added that design bonuses for developers were also reinstated.

The new draft includes elements such as encroachment planes and requirements for sidewalls. Wagers said they are legitimate zoning tools, but introducing them at this stage could slow the process down.

“I think the many people who have campaigned long and hard for reform will be asking the city to get back to basics and get it done,” she said. “This draft still has good elements in it, but it goes off in the wrong direction.”

“The BMO has been a failure for eight years,” she added. “A lot of damage has been done. It was wrong the first time because the city was trying to appease the developers. This is our last best chance to get it right. We don’t want to make the same mistakes as before.”

The public is invited to learn more about the proposed amendment and testify at public hearings. Written comments may also be submitted directly to Niall Huffman at NeighborhoodConservation@lacity.org.

After the staff-level public hearings, the Planning Commission will consider the amendment at a subsequent public hearing and make a recommendation to the city council’s PLUM committee.