L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath has supported West Hollywood’s participation in the K Line Northern Extension since her time as a City Council member. (photo by Jon Viscott)

On April 6, the West Hollywood City Council unanimously approved starting the process to form an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District on April 6 that will help fund the Metro K Line Northern Extension. The subway line will one day tunnel through the city, and include three stops within the city limits on Santa Monica Boulevard.

While the vote moved the process to dedicate funding forward, city staff will return to the council to approve various specifics of the funding at later dates. During the discussion, the council sought to clarify the potential impact on West Hollywood’s cost responsibility and the timeline on groundbreaking. The timeline remains uncertain, though the city’s participation is expected to potentially speed up the process by decades. Among other details, it will take several years to finalize the partnership, specifics of the route.

City staff explained during the meeting that West Hollywood would determine the physical boundaries of the EIFD, and that from the day of its official formation it would freeze property taxes within the area. All growth in existing city and county property tax revenues from sales, major renovations, or redevelopment triggering reassessments frozen base within that frozen district would then be available to contribute to the EIFD, although the city itself could determine how much exactly they would contribute.

Cities throughout California participate in EIFDs for various projects, though some community members still expressed concerns about what the reduction of property taxes going into the city might have on West Hollywood’s general fund.

“We need to understand the exact mechanisms to pay those bond holders – taxes, assessments that flow through to property owners and renters, hotel taxes, business taxes… the questions still continue… what services will be cut?” resident Anita Goswami said. “And for transparency, I would ask that the models be made available, including the assumptions and projections and a consolidated timeline showing when we start paying, when we start riding, and when the payments are finished.”

“Every dollar of property tax growth diverted to the K Line for the next 75 years is $1 taken away from our general fund – money that currently pays for public safety, social services and rent stabilization protections, the things we love in this city,” resident Victor Omelchenko said. “I’m worried about revenue cannibalization.”

Mayor John Heilman clarified that these were all important questions to be asked in the future as the K Line process progresses. He also explained that property taxes collected by the city are a relatively small percentage of its overall revenue.

“I think the investment in rail is an investment in the community,” Heilman said. “So I understand the importance of all of the services that we currently provide, but providing this is an additional service that is going to provide so much more benefit to the community, and we should be actually thinking about it as a social service, because it provides people with transportation to get to work, to get to jobs, to not have the expense of a car. So, I understand concerns, but what we’re asked to do tonight is simply to begin the process – the process of going forth and having those community meetings, having the public information, addressing the concerns that have been raised.”

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, 3rd District, spoke in support of the EIFD, celebrating the approval of the K Line extension, which she was instrumental in advocating for as a former member of the West Hollywood City Council and as a voting member of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board.

“Last month’s [Metro board] vote was momentous. It was a major milestone in a project that the city of West Hollywood has been working on for decades, and West Hollywood has consistently said ‘yes’ to transit and all that comes with it,” Horvath said. “And way back in 2018 when I was still on this council, we adopted together a resolution that committed us to working on Metro’s early project delivery strategy. The northern extension of the K Line brings with it more than 10,000 well paid union jobs, $9.7 billion of labor income and connections to more than 125,000 jobs within walking distance of stations.”

In relation to the Metro’s potential impact on Senate Bill 79, which would allow large-scale housing developments to be built with a half mile of major transit stops, Heilman proposed a separate item for future discussion of the city’s approach to SB 79. In a 2-3 vote, the motion failed, with only Heilman and Meister supporting.

“[We would have] a discussion of whether we want to, how we want to address SB 79,” Heilman said. “Do we want to do what some other cities have done, which is to delay implementation, limit the areas where it would be applicable? I think that that’s what members of the public are asking us.”

“The majority of this council supported sending the support letter for SB 79, so I think having a conversation is setting the public up for a different outcome than it’s already expected,” Councilman John Erickson said.

Resident Kelly Pilarski’s comments encapsulated many residents’ excitement over the future of the Metro K Line.

“I love this city, and I am so excited for the K Line to come to West Hollywood. This is a critical opportunity to accelerate the sustainable infrastructure of our community that we have advocated for in droves. Thank you to staff for all of your efforts. The future of clean air is really what I’m looking forward to. As we are all acutely aware, construction costs are rising, project timelines are tightening and the gap between planned improvements and available funding continues to widen. This is a great opportunity for us to close the gap without increasing the tax burden on residents. I think that there is some room for improvement … for public outreach and helping all of the residents kind of understand what this EIFD does and how it works.”