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As the Winter Olympics get underway in Italy, Los Angeles officials are ramping up construction efforts for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to allow some temporary projects deemed necessary for the Games to bypass zoning and city approvals, Bisnow reported. The vote also enables some permanent projects to be exempted from zoning regulations if the council individually signs off on them. The types of structures that could be built under the new ordinance remain unclear.
The 2028 Games were advertised as a “no-build” Olympics that utilized facilities across Greater Los Angeles for events, though that no longer appears to be the case.
“Many elements and activities of the 2028 Games will require building and developments, including but not limited to the buildout or improvements to temporary and permanent venues, training facilities, security perimeters, broadcast and media centers, transit infrastructure, live sites and fan zones, and associated structures,” Council member Traci Park said in a motion supporting the legislation.
Part of the ordinance includes an amendment from Council member Nithya Raman requiring the Los Angeles Department of City Planning to create clear criteria that temporary projects would need to meet to be made permanent following the events. The amended ordinance also calls for the creation of quarterly reports of applications for temporary projects so that council members can review them and track any new developments in their districts. These projects would receive approval in 14 days.
“It puts the onus on us to get ourselves organized and really make it easy for people to put up these structures and everything that’s going to need to go into the Games,” Council member Katy Yaroslavsky said.
Besides being initially billed as a “no-build” Olympics, the 2028 Games were also touted as “no-cost” to taxpayers, though the city and governing organization LA28 are finalizing an agreement that outlines just how much the Olympics will actually cost the public. Discussions are ongoing despite an October 2025 deadline.
“Los Angeles faces multiple fiscal hazards that many current leaders negotiating this and other Olympics agreements, will not be around to face,” civil rights attorney Connie Rice told Mayor Karen Bass and other city leaders last fall, per Bisnow. “The city cannot afford an additional $1.5 billion hit in 2028 because city officials inadequately protected taxpayers in 2025.” The city is already projecting a budget shortfall of $1 billion not counting Olympic costs.