By Jason Islas
Staff Writer

August 13, 2013 -- After a relatively quiet summer at City Hall, Santa Monica's City Councilmembers will roll up their sleeves for a two-day marathon session starting Tuesday.

Between vacations, flight delays and unforeseen scheduling conflicts, the Council didn't get much done in July, but it will have a full plate this month as it prepares to tackle the touchy issue -- among many others -- of height limits in the Downtown Specific Plan.

While that discussion alone could take several hours, the Council will also vote on whether to adopt the Bergamot Area Plan, look at a proposal for a new MINI auto dealership, make more than a dozen appointments to the City's boards and commissions and vote on several ordinances, including an extension of the City's moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries.

“We've had a lot of folks on vacation in July,” said Mayor Pam O'Connor, adding that on Tuesday and Wednesday, however, all seven members will be back on the dais. “We'll try to plow through.”

For that reason, the Council has blocked off two days to handle the backlog of City business.

“We have the option to continue any of the items to the next day,” said O'Connor. Anything that gets continued from Tuesday, however, will go at the top of the agenda for Wednesday's special meeting, she added.

While most of the Council's business this week can be filed under the designation of house cleaning, there will likely be a major discussion around the Downtown Specific Plan.

With three members absent from the dais, the Council voted in July to postpone a decision to set height standards in the draft plan so that staff could go forward with the State-mandated environmental impact report (EIR). (“Santa Monica Council Postpones Height Limit Decision,” July 11)

Much of the controversy surrounding the Plan focuses on eight “opportunity” sites in Downtown Santa Monica, identified as locations where planners could set taller height and greater density limits.

While staff recommends studying a height limits between 120 to 135 feet, three of the eight sites already have projects proposed for them that range from 195 to more than 300 feet.

Postponing the decision had at least one positive impact, O'Connor said.

“Frankly, the Planning Commission had a little more time to look at the downtown plan,” she said. The Planning Commission had discussed the Plan at length, but since the staff-recommended height limits were only announced at the Council's July meeting, the Commission hadn't had a chance to weigh-in on them.

Although less controversial, the Bergamot Area Plan discussion Tuesday could also generate a lengthy discussion.

After postponing a decision at its July 23 meeting, the Council will vote whether to adopt the 230-page plan to completely overhaul Santa Monica's 142.5-acre formerly industrial neighborhood.

While the Bergamot Area Plan has been well-received by the Planning Commission, some have argued that it doesn't go far enough to encourage parks in the neighborhood, home to two major housing developments, the East Village project at the site of the Village Trailer Park and the Bergamot Transit Village. (“Planning Commission Sends Bergamot Plan to Santa Monica City Council,” July 16)

The most time-consuming item on the agenda for Wednesday, assuming none of the items are continued from Tuesday, is likely to be proposal for a new MINI auto dealership at 14th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard, on a site that was once a gas station.

The preliminary designs for the project include a two-story showroom, 131 underground parking spaces and a small cafe on the street corner.

“Sometimes, a lot of things cluster together,” O'Connor said, but she hopes that the back-to-back meetings will be productive.

“The key is trying to keep things moving forward without rushing but also without dragging our feet,” she said.