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By Jorge Casuso
July 30 -- The City
Council last week took steps
to scale down development in
Santa Monica’s industrial
zones, where more than 1,000
small residential units are
currently slated to be built.
The move came three days after
participants at a community
workshop weighed in on the future
of the city’s manufacturing
and light manufacturing and
studio districts, which make
up one of the last areas in
Santa Monica slated for development.
(see
story)
Under the council’s unanimous
direction, staff will return
with an ordinance that would
limit development to 7,500 square
feet and 15 units on larger
lots, and 7,500 square feet
and five units on smaller lots
in the manufacturing district.
“The character of these
districts could just be changed,”
said Council member Pam O’Connor.
“These are really critical
decisions. . . if we become
a bedroom community or remain
the city we have been.”
“If this thing gets botched,
it will be a real mess for a
long time,” said Council
member Bobby Shriver. “There’s
a tidal wave of money flooding
our area.”
Council member Ken Genser urged
even tighter building restrictions
for the once-thriving thriving
industrial area, which in the
past two decades has become
a Mecca for media companies
and high-end offices.
“We want to implement
meaningful zoning without hurting
small developers,” said
Genser, whose motion to limit
development to 5,000 square
feet and eight units failed.
Before the vote, community
activists urged the council
to impose a building moratorium
until the City finishes updating
the Land Use and Circulation
Element (LUCE) of the General
Plan, which will dictate development
for decades to come.
“I don’t consider
Santa Monica a city, and I don’t
like the New Yorkization of
Santa Monica,” said Susan
Harley, a member of the board
of Friends of Sunset Park. “I
don’t like all the canyons
going up. . . and the apartments
and the condos. I’m for
putting a halt to this.”
The council’s action
comes several months after NMS
Properties submitted plans to
build some 1,000 single-room
units in the industrial corridor,
bounded by Centinela Avenue,
the 10 Freeway, Lincoln Boulevard
and Colorado Avenue.
While the five proposed buildings
abide by the letter of a new
law to encourage affordable
housing, City officials worry
they will bypass public and
environmental review, are not
required to provide much parking
and open space and don’t
address a critical shortage
of affordable family housing.
In April, the council rushed
through an emergency ordinance
to dramatically slow permitting
for the projects, which take
advantage of height and density
bonuses. (see
story)
The ordinance -- which the
developer will likely challenge
in court -- require that the
projects undergo a potentially
lengthy and costly public process.
Santa Monica residents urged
the council to do everything
to halt the housing boom.
“Putting 300 people where
there used to be 30 people does
not help Santa Monica,”
said one member of the public
who testified Tuesday. “It’s
not Santa Monica. It’s
not what the people want.”
Tuesday’s vote comes
at a time when City planners
and members of the community
are forging a “vision”
for the industrial areas that
will be codified in the General
Plan, which has not been updated
in a quarter century.
At a five-hour workshop July
21, participants hammered out
a vision for the “Industrial
Lands” that included affordable
workforce housing, sustainable
transportation, public parks
and landscaping and a thriving
arts and entertainment sector.
“Whatever goes in there
will be there for 50 years or
longer,” Council member
Bob Holbrook said at the council
meeting last week. “So
we’ve got to get it right.”
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