Los Angeles adopts new fast-food limits

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- New fast-food restaurants in South Los Angeles will be banned within a half mile of existing ones under an ordinance approved Wednesday by the City Council.

The law includes other restrictions on stand-alone eateries, the Los Angeles Times reported. They include guidelines on landscaping, trash storage and other aesthetic issues.

Similar limits are in place in other LA neighborhoods. The council imposed a moratorium two years ago in southern Los Angeles.

The goal of the restrictions is to encourage the development of stand-alone restaurants and grocery stores.

"For a community to thrive, it is important to have balance, a full variety of food, retail and service providers," said Councilman Bernard C. Parks, one of the sponsors of the ordinance.

The ordinance includes exemptions for fast-food restaurants in mixed-use developments and shopping malls and for existing restaurants planning to expand.