Council, Planning Commission Set Themes for Future

By Jorge Casuso

May 2 -- A unique city with a strong sense of community, rich in amenities, diverse, safe, friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists with beautiful boulevards and different modes of transit, where traffic and parking work, growth is balanced and policies are environmentally conscious.

Those were the emerging themes accepted by the City Council and Planning Commission last week during a joint session to receive a report on the status of the City's update of its land use element, which will dictate development for years to come.

The 12 themes discussed last Tuesday were culled from interviews and surveys of more than 2,500 residents, including children, conducted at festivals and markets, neighborhood meetings and special workshops.

“It’s everything that everybody could possibly want,” said Council member Bobby Shriver, adding that the City must now determine “what’s impossible.”

"It was a healthy discussion," Mayor Pam O'Connor said after the meeting. "There are going to be competing demands. These are themes that have been emerging."

O'Connor, however, noted that based on the staff report that summarized the community input, "Nobody in Santa Monica ever works. It (the report) needed more on work and businesses."

That concern was echoed by Santa Monica’s business leaders, who argued that the themes ignored key economic issues facing the city and that key "stakeholders" did not have adequate input.

"Emergent themes seem to ignore the economic and its effect on Santa Monica," said Chamber of Commerce head Kathy Dodson. "The chamber has offered meetings. So far we don't think these stakeholders have been given a stake in the process."

The chamber would like to see an analysis of City revenues generated from business related taxes, job creation for residents, the types of industries in the city and trends towards expansion.

The chamber would also like City staff to study the impacts of the health care and tourism industries, two of the city’s key economic engines.

"We do have concerns about the process so far," said Chris Harding, a land use attorney who was speaking on behalf of the chamber. "If you had spoken to stakeholders, you'd have themes that aren't in there."

“Small businesses don’t seem to be represented, or employees who don’t live here but spend half their working hours here,” said John Warfel, a member of the Bayside District board, which runs the Downtown.

Council member Kevin McKewon added a few missing items to the list –- including the Santa Monica airport and “architectural aesthetics.”

“The urban designer doesn’t have her name attached to the document,” McKeown said, referring to the staff report. “Diversity includes the notion of architecture as well.”

City officials noted that the public process has not ended, and that there will be time for other voices to be heard.

“This is not the end of the public outreach,” said interim Planning Director Andy Agle. “We’ll involve others in moving forward.

The next phase –- which will focus on opportunities and challenges –- will address many of the economic issues brought up by business leaders, Agle said.

“There will be a lot of analysis,” he said, including “analysis of trends” and “economic enhancement resources.”

Among the themes missing from the report, several speakers said, were art, education and child care.

In addition to ignoring key business issues, Council member Herb Katz argued, the staff report did not give an adequate update of the current General Plan, which was approved in 1984.

“It seems we’re starting over,” Katz said. “Instead of using ‘84 as a benchmark, many of the themes were already addressed. Why are we starting over?”

“It’s been twenty years,” Agle responded. “The community has changed. We have new members of the community... This is a new process that will result in a new plan.”

But Katz’s concern was echoed by other business leaders.

“Read the old land use element,” said architect David Hibbert. “Its mission and philosophy and how its been implemented is quite extraordinary.

“Its description of the future is a description of the present,” Hibbert said, adding that “there’s no vision” in the current plan, which focused “on residents and five hundred kids.”

Katz also questioned the wording of one of the themes, which stated that “existing height limits should be maintained, and high-rises are not appropriate in any part of Santa Monica.

“That’s a conclusion” Katz said. “That’s not just a theme, that’s a definite conclusion. Why would it be here this early?”

“It’s something we heard very consistently,” Agle responded, “and it wouldn’t make sense to exclude something that important.”

Speakers and members of the public both questioned how staff arranged the themes, which were not ranked in order of importance.

Agle explained that “after a vast array of input,” staff asked, “What are the common elements, and how (do) they fit together into broader themes?”

But some civic leaders felt the report treated Santa Monica as an island and ignored the broader context.

“What happens to our neighbors happens to us,” Warfel said. The themes “are very localized and ignore what’s going to happen to us regardless of what we have to do.

“Unless we enclose our borders, we’re going to have to be dealing with the traffic that comes through,” Warfel said.

After the discussion, the Planning Commission recommended that the council accept the emerging themes, and study areas that did not emerge from the public discussion, including health, education and small business issues, arts and culture and regional issues.

The council accepted the recommendation and added several other areas to be studied as well, including preservation of existing affordable housing, continued improvement of city services, open space, child care and universal access/mobility.

The council also requested information on options for Airport planning -- including residual land issues -- and directed staff to provide an opportunity for the public to provide input.

Katz’s efforts to change the wording on height limits failed.

“Monkeying with language is inappropriate,” said Council member Richard Bloom.

“If we don’t mess with it now,” Katz responded, “we’re never going to get to mess with it.”