Inglewood officials this week kicked off the formal environmental review process for a sweeping update to the city’s general plan, a document that will guide growth through 2050 and could bring six-story mixed-use buildings to stretches of Centinela Avenue, La Brea Avenue and downtown. The plan, branded Next Level Inglewood, has been in the works since 2025 and is scheduled for adoption in spring 2027.
The city officially opened a 30-day public review period on Tuesday for the Notice of Preparation of a Program Environmental Impact Report, according to the City of Inglewood. Public comments will be accepted through October 15, and a scoping meeting on the update is set for October 1 from 6 to 8 pm at Inglewood City Hall’s Community Room A. The environmental review is a required step under state law before the plan can move forward, and it follows years of community input, including a draft land use plan that went before the Inglewood City Council on August 11 after incorporating feedback from open houses and the General Plan Advisory Committee.
A Comprehensive Rewrite, Not Just a Zoning Tweak
As Urbanize LA reports, the update includes revisions to the land use element aimed at bringing zoning rules into consistency with current conditions, particularly around Hollywood Park and the city’s major commercial corridors. The general plan update spans nine total elements, including circulation, conservation, economic development, environmental justice, housing, land use, noise, open space and safety, according to the city. It’s organized around 12 focus areas citywide, per Urbanize LA’s reporting.
This marks the city’s first comprehensive overhaul of its Land Use Element since 1980, a document that has only been amended piecemeal since then — in 1986, in 2009 to accommodate the Hollywood Park mixed-use project, and again in 2016. Inglewood has since experienced the arrival of SoFi Stadium and Intuit Dome, transformations the current framework was never built to fully address.
Where the Density Would Land
Under the proposal, zone changes would allow strip malls, parking lots and other underused sites near downtown to be redeveloped into mixed-use buildings combining housing and neighborhood-serving retail. In northern Inglewood, along focus areas near Centinela Avenue and La Brea Avenue, proposed buildings would range from three to six stories, with base densities of up to 100 residential units per acre, according to Urbanize LA…