Substandard Hillside Limited Street

A Substandard Hillside Limited Street, abbreviated SHLS, is a hillside street that fails to meet the minimum dimensions of a Standard Hillside Limited Street: it is less than 36 feet in total width or paved to a roadway width of less than 28 feet, as determined by the Bureau of Engineering. The classification is one of the highest-leverage facts about a hillside lot, because an SHLS designation typically triggers a cascade of changes to setback, height, grading, fire protection, parking, and discretionary review.

SHLS definition at LAMC §12.03. The cascade of rule changes lives across §12.21 C.10 in the Baseline Hillside Ordinance: front-yard rule at (a)(2), envelope-height front-line cap at (d)(5), grading reduction at (f)(2)(i), fire sprinklers at (h), additional parking at (g)(2), and the discretionary review trigger at (i)(2) when the roadway is less than 20 feet wide. The Zoning Administrator approval pathway for street-related deviations runs through §12.24 X.28. PC/STR/Corr.Lst.107A Part III.D and PC/STR/Corr.Lst.20A Part II.K.12.a are the plan-check expressions of the rule.

A correction that the project does not address the SHLS classification on the cover sheet, that the 5-foot minimum front yard is not provided, that the 24-foot height limit measured from the street centerline within 20 feet of the front lot line is exceeded, that by-right grading exceeds the 75-percent reduction, that fire sprinklers are not specified, that additional parking is not provided where RFA exceeds 2,400 square feet, or that a §12.24 X.28 ZA approval has not been obtained where the roadway-width threshold triggers it.

Failing to obtain or verify the Bureau of Engineering classification before drawing. The SHLS classification is not always obvious from the street’s appearance: a paved hillside street may look fine and still be substandard by the dimensional test. Designing under the assumption that the classification will turn out favorable, then discovering at submittal that the SHLS designation applies and the project does not meet the cascade of consequent rules, is one of the more expensive sequence errors in LA hillside work.

The SHLS designation may not prevent the project, but it could change substantially what the project looks like and the approval pathway it follows. Discovering the classification mid-plan-check could force a redesign of the front massing, the upper-floor setback, the grading plan, the parking layout, and the fire-protection scope simultaneously. The street-classification question typically belongs at the first feasibility meeting on any hillside lot, not at submittal.

Maximum Envelope Height under the Baseline Hillside Ordinance (because the 24-foot front-line cap is one of the SHLS cascade consequences), Prevailing Setback (because the 5-foot floor with prevailing-setback overlay is the SHLS front-yard rule), Yards and Setbacks (where ZA reduction under §12.24 X.28 may further modify the rule), and Slope Band Analysis (where SHLS frontage interacts with grading limits).