Santa Monica City Council to Revisit LUCE

By Michael Aushenker
Lookout Staff

December 15, 2010 -- After taking pubic testimony and questioning staff, the Santa Monica City Council moved ahead with a plan that will guide the development of the beachside city for the next quarter century.

The council, which received the staff report on the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) just before the weekend, assured alarmed residents that they were not casting a vote but would take up the issue again on February 1.

The council asked Planning Director Eileen Forgarty to provide more concrete data on such priorities as traffic and congestion, neighborhood conservation, and community benefits the next time she meets with the Council.

“The teachers assigned a lot of homework over the weekend,” joked Councilman Kevin McKeown.

Implementation of LUCE will be coordinated with various city projects, such as the groundbreaking of Palisades Garden Walk and Town Square in 2012, and the Expo Light Rail, which has received $1.2 million in federal grants to complete stations at Bergamot Station, the Civic Center, and downtown by 2015.

LUCE planning director Eileen Fogarty expressed the finer points of the LUCE plan in terms of how it will address traffic and circulation, parking, and accommodating bicycles.

But while Mayor Pro Tem Gleam Davis called the plan “a wonderful road map,” she appeared frustrated after she asked Fogarty how other communities implemented similar plans and "how efficacious it was in terms of traffic.”

Fogarty, in her response, did not get into specifics regarding which communities she targeted in her comparison analysis.

“We have been looking far and wide for the most high-tech tools” was Forgarty’s broad response.

During public comment, residents expressed their dismay and alarm that the council was pushing forward with LUCE. They said they felt blindsided by the report.

“The more I hear about it, the more it seems like a land grab,” said resident Denise Burton, who publicly questioned the municipal politicians “how many [of the contractors involved in LUCE] contributed to your campaign funds?”

An upset Crystal Anderson said, “We are no longer a village,” and added that she was wary of some 2,000 additional parking spaces proposed by the LUCE plan.

“We’re really scrambling right now" to digest the 25-page staff report, said a Sunset Park representative.

“We’re frankly overwhelmed,” said Mary Marlowe of the Ocean Park Association, who could not coordinate all of her members over the holiday season.

“We need to network with the Urban Forest Task Force,” added Jerry Rubin, concerned about how upcoming congestion will affect the city’s tree life.

However, council members assured and reassured the room that they were not voting on anything just yet.

“We are simply asking if we’re on the right track with [this] plan,” said City Manager Rod Gould.

“This is a work plan and not a law that we’re approving,” Mayor Richard Bloom said.

The LUCE staff report is available at the city’s web site, smgov.net, and the Council encourages Santa Monica residents to read through it and provide feedback at numerous workshops scheduled through June 2011.

“We have been looking far and wide for the most high-tech tools." Eileen Fogarty

“The more I hear about it, the more it seems like a land grab.” Denise Burton