It's back to the drawing board for city planners who've been working on Mayor Villaraigosa's much-touted affordable housing plan. While officials were supposed to present an outline of the plan to the City Council this month, they're now saying they have to rethink the terms of the “mixed-income ordinance,” reports the Downtown News.

What's the hold up? A judge's recent ruling that an existing low-income housing requirement — which is similar to the citywide law bring drafted by city officials — is illegal.

Fearing that other developers with take a cue from real estate pitbull Geoff Palmer, who successfully sued the city over its demand that 15% of his latest downtown Italian-style behemoth be priced below market rate, city planners say they have no choice but to retool the new ordinance.

“We can't do what the City Council had intended to do,” city planner Jane Blumenfeld told the Downtown News.

Which means affordable housing advocates will have to wait even longer for the mayor to follow through on his plan to provide for low-income renters.

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