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By Jorge Casuso
August 14 -- The shape
of a major development across
from City Hall and the future
makeup of the Planning Commission
could be determined Tuesday
night, when the City Council
tackles the Civic Center Village
project and three open seats
on one of Santa Monica’s
most powerful boards.
The proposal to build 325 residential
units at the Civic Center will
return to the council two months
after angry slow-growth activists
denounced the tall cluster of
buildings slated for land the
City purchased from RAND nearly
a decade ago.
The developer, Related Companies
of California, will present
a revised plan that increases
the height of a proposed residential
building next to the Viceroy
Hotel on the corner of Pico
Boulevard and Main Street in
order to scale down the complexes
clustered near Olympic Boulevard.
“The proposal makes the
Viceroy side taller, and the
others more airy,” said
Joan Ling, executive director
of Community Corporation, which
is partnering with Related to
develop and manage the 160 affordable
units proposed for the site.
In addition to adding pathways
and making the development “less
solid, the new proposal eliminates
the building overhangs council
members worried made the development
seem more looming and oppressive.
The public testimony at the
June 19 council meeting pitted
City officials -- including
the Planning and Housing commissions
and the Architectural Review
Board -- who enthusiastically
endorse the proposed project,
and activists who have called
for a halt to all major development
until the City finishes updating
its General Plan.
The three Planning Commission
appointments the council is
scheduled to make Tuesday could
play a crucial role in the ongoing
effort to update to the City’s
Land Use and Circulation Element
(LUCE) of the General Plan,
which will be the new blueprint
for how Santa Monica will develop
over the next two decades.
With council members missing
during the summer sessions --
including a meeting that had
to be cancelled for lack of
a quorum -- the long-awaited
appointments have been help
up for months.
The appointments come after
a major sea change that saw
the commission shift from one
controlled by slow-growth activists,
to one that is more moderate
when it comes to growth and
more development friendly.
While Terry O’Day is
expected to be reappointed to
a second term, Commissioner
Darrell Clarke -- who chaired
the old slow-growth commission
– is unlikely to win an
unusual bid for a third four-year
term, which requires five council
votes.
So far, at least two council
members have privately said
they will not vote to grant
Clarke a third term, and two
others are unlikely to back
his bid.
That would leave two open seats
and a field of strong candidates
that includes two members of Santa
Monica’s Sustainable City
Task Force -- Dennis Woods and
Jim Ries -- and Gleam Davis, a
well-known education activist
who has run for the School Board
and City Council.
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