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By Anita Varghese
Staff Writer
August 22 -- Santa
Monica residents are beginning
to question the benefits of
the City’s development-related
public input process one week
after the City Council gave
its conceptual approval for
the Civic Center Village and
the Planning Commission recommended
negotiations begin to redevelop
Village Trailer Park.
Residents say the City should
place a moratorium on new development
projects until the Land Use
and Circulation Elements (LUCE)
public input process is complete
and guidelines are prepared
for the Planning Commission
and City Council to review.
Estimates as to when the LUCE
process may enter its final
stages range from two to five
years.
“The developers are doing
their best to get ahead of the
LUCE process,” said Ellen
Brennan, a Santa Monica resident
who is a vocal supporter of
a moratorium. “It is the
nature of developers to get
their projects done ahead of
any restrictions that may be
in LUCE.”
Brennan is not alone. Representatives
from the Santa Monica Coalition
for a Livable City (SMCLC),
Friends of Sunset Park, North
of Montana Association, Ocean
Park Association, Pico Neighborhood
Association and Wilshire Montana
Neighborhood Association recently
met with City officials to discuss
a building moratorium.
The community activists allege
the City is approving projects
based on an outdated General
Plan which does not take into
account all of the building
that has gone on in the 23 years
since its adoption, all of the
current building going on throughout
Santa Monica or all of the permits
which have been filed or will
be filed in the next two years.
SMCLC Steering Committee member
Diana Gordon said the City has
also not adequately updated
its population estimate, which
has an important impact on LUCE
guidelines.
“One of the issues for
the General Plan revision is
how much our community should
grow,” Gordon said. “The
City asserts that Santa Monica’s
population has declined and/or
remained the same when viewed
over the past 20 years. (see
latest census data)
“But that ignores the
new and significant population
increase that has occurred since
the 2000 census,” Gordon
said. “The City has not
updated its population estimates
for 2006 or 2007, notwithstanding
all of the condo and mixed-use
projects approved in the past
18 months that have brought
more residents to Santa Monica.”
The coalition has filed two
Public Records Requests with
the city after informal emails
to obtain information fell on
deaf ears, Gordon said.
Information the coalition is
seeking includes “specific
traffic congestion and calibration
data,” new development
agreements and monitoring of
all development agreements and
demolition permits approved
over the past 2 1/2 years, according
to coalition officials.
Coalition officials also are
seeking information on all of
the residential and commercial
development that has occurred
since 2004, when they say a
new General Plan should have
been enacted.
Calls made to the Planning
and Community Development Department
and the City Manager’s
Office were not returned Tuesday.
Land use and circulation are
two key components of Santa
Monica’s General Plan,
a document that addresses issues
related to the physical development,
growth and conservation of City
resources.
The two elements were last
updated in 1984. City officials
believe now is the time to revisit
policies that would frame the
City’s land use, urban
design and transportation vision
for the next 20 years.
For two years, the council,
Planning Commission and Planning
and Community Development Department
have been holding public hearings
and workshops to gather input
from the public on a long list
of land use and circulation
issues.
Many residents say they have
stopped attending these meetings
and workshops because they believe
public input is futile if large-scale
development projects keep moving
forward under zoning ordinances
established nearly a quarter
century ago.
By the time the City Council
votes for new LUCE guidelines,
some areas of Santa Monica will
be developed with the types
of density and height that residents
repeatedly condemn, advocates
of a moratorium said.
They point to the Civic Center
Village concept plan, which
was recently approved by the
council and consists of 325
residential units, with one
of the condominium buildings
rising to 96 feet.
Redevelopment plans for the
Village Trailer Park include
240 market-rate condominiums
and a 109-unit rent-controlled
Single Room Occupancy (SRO)
apartment building.
The City Planning Division’s
current projects list is available
at http://santa-monica.org/planning/planningcomm/currentprojectsplanning.html
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