The measure is designed to give LA's nearly 4 million residents more power in decisions that would effect their respective neighborhoods, especially when it comes to new commercial real estate projects. The plan calls for the creation of up to 20 neighborhood groups over the next 12 months and as many as 100 in the next five years.

Though the new organizations won't have the power to approve or reject development projects, their recommendations are expected to greatly influence how their local City Council representative votes on any given proposal. That's because the City Council itself typically turns down development proposals that don't have the support of the council member who reps the district in which the project would rise.

Many builders have argued against the creation of neighborhood councils, saying that such a plan may give too much power to NIMBYs and torpedo plans to build affordable housing and other types of sorely needed projects. The measure approved by the LA City Council was sent to Mayor Richard Riordan today, and one of his aides tells GlobeSt.com that he'll make a decision to sign the ordinance or reject it "in the next week or so."

Riordan was a driving force behind the neighborhood-council concept when it was created a few years ago. But his support of the idea has waned in recent months, in part because the City Council says more bureaucratic oversight will be needed to ensure that the process works.