David Martin Named Acting Planning Director

By Ann K. Williams
Lookout Staff

June 21, 2011 – Assistant to the City Manager David Martin is stepping in as Santa Monica's Acting Director of Planning and Community Development, taking the place of Eileen Fogarty who has retired after heading the department for five years.

Martin will serve in this position while the city completes its recruitment process, which is underway, Assistant to the City Manager Kate Vernez told the Lookout Monday.

“David Martin has extensive experience and a broad knowledge base,” said Vernez, adding that he worked in the Department of Planning and Community Development on major projects between 1995 and 1999.

In 2009, Martin became Deputy Director of the department before he moved to the City Manager's office this January.

“What’s exciting is that we have a lot of projects coming up in the next few years that will create an even better connection between Downtown, Santa Monica Place and the Civic Center,” Martin told the Bayside Beat – Downtown Santa Monica, Inc.'s newsletter – in April.

“Everything is working together,” Martin said.

After graduating from Cal Poly Pomona with a degree in urban and regional planning, Martin went to work for the City of Santa Monica in 1987.

He helped plan projects including the Pico Streetscape and the Downtown Transit Mall and worked his way up to the position of Senior Planner before leaving the job in 1999.

Over the next decade, Martin worked for CIM Group – a private real estate development and management firm based in Hollywood – helping the company navigate the planning and permitting process for numerous projects from West Hollywood to Orange County.

At the same time, Martin served seven years as a Bayside District (now Downtown Santa Monica, Inc.) board member during discussions that led to the formation of Downtown’s Property Based Assessment District.

He returned to the City’s planning department in 2009 when staff was busy wrapping up the recent Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) which will serve as the blueprint to guide development and traffic management for the next 20 years. He helped put some finishing touches on the document before moving to the City Manager’s office.

There he worked with developers and planners, making sure their work went smoothly.

“My role is to be an ombudsman to the community.” Martin said in March. “If someone is doing a project and they run into some kind of log jam or hold up, I can figure out what the problem is and move them forward.”

When she announced her retirement in March, Fogarty said she plans to take advantage of opportunities to consult at a national level.

“Together we have seen the City successfully and creatively address its greatest planning challenge: how the community should look and function for the next quarter century,” Fogarty said.

Once the City has completed its national search, the City Manager will appoint Fogarty's permanent replacement.