EPS provides rigorous analysis and insightful solutions to address complex challenges in real estate development, land use policy, and local government finance. We are motivated by the role our work can play in shaping places where people live and we strive to create high-quality urban environments that advance the principles of diversity, resiliency, and shared prosperity.
EPS offers a wealth of experience, robust technical expertise, and the ability to offer insightful solutions to address the challenges and opportunities of urban development.
On August 26th, the West Hollywood City Council approved a development agreement for a proposed project at 8850 Sunset Boulevard. The 11-story, mixed-use project requested modifications to the City’s zoning code that triggered the City’s Public Benefits Policy. The City of West Hollywood engaged Economic & Planning Systems, Inc. (EPS) to analyze the project’s public benefits obligation. EPS valued the requested zoning modification to inform City negotiations around the terms of a project development agreement. The approved agreement will provide a variety of public benefits, including an upfront payment of $2 million to the City, as well a hotel tax add-on that will result in $3 million for the City over 20 years. The project will also provide several on-site community benefits, including a publicly accessible terrace and a music history gallery. Furthermore, the project will generate City revenue from proposed static and digital billboards planned for the site, which were analyzed separately under the City’s Sunset Boulevard Off-Site Signage Policy.
EPS previously worked as part of a team of consultants to assist the City in creating the Economic Valuation Tool that forms the backbone of the Public Benefits Policy. The tool estimates the value enhancement of a requested zoning modification by calculating the difference in residual land value between the proposed project and a hypothetical baseline project that could be built under existing zoning. EPS has advised on similar public benefits programs and policies in Redwood City, Sunnyvale, and Cupertino, as well as helped negotiate community benefits for individual projects in dozens of California jurisdictions. 8850 Sunset was the first project to be analyzed under this new policy in West Hollywood, and EPS looks forward to supporting the City in using the tool to evaluate future projects.
The California Coastal Commission formally certified the County of Los Angeles’s updated habitat impact mitigation fee for the Santa Monica Mountains at their August 9th, 2024 meeting. The updated fee had previously been adopted by the County Board of Supervisors in April. The fee update is based on technical work completed by EPS in partnership with Jodi McGraw Consulting. The habitat mitigation fee is charged to new development projects in the Santa Monica Mountains that impact certain sensitive ecological resource areas and is used to compensate for these impacts through the acquisition and preservation of habitat land elsewhere in the Santa Monica Mountains. The County’s previous habitat mitigation fee had been set by the Coastal Commission in 2014, and the County engaged the EPS team to calculate a fee amount that was better aligned with current and local costs for habitat acquisition and management. EPS has a long-time practice area in open space economics and has provided economic and financial analysis for habitat conservation plans and habitat mitigation fee programs throughout the State and County. EPS appreciates the opportunity to support the County of Los Angeles in furthering its habitat preservation and conservation goals.
