April 28, 2026 -- The Planning Commission is advising the City Council to take a targeted approach to a controversial new State law that allows large housing developments in residential areas near major transit stops.
The recommendations the Council will take up Tuesday focus on "a two-track approach" to implementing SB 79 that adopts a "tailored" interim ordinance, while developing a more comprehensive plan to replace it.
Approved unanimously by the Commission on April 15, the plan would let SB 79 -- which overrides local zoning -- take effect within a quarter mile of Santa Monica's four major transit stops.
Buildings heights in those areas -- which include the Bundy/Expo light rail corridor that is far below the density allowed -- can be up to six stories under the new law.
While SB 79 allows five-story developments between ¼ and ½ mile of the stops, the Council should use an interim ordinance to protect select sites, especially single-family parcels in the Pico Neighborhood, the Commission advised.
"The exclusion list should be built deliberately, parcel by parcel where practicable," Planning Commission Chair Josh Hamilton wrote in a memo to the Council.
Development would take place on sites identified by staff that have "genuine development capacity without gentrification concerns," according to the memo.
The interim ordinance should also exclude all historic landmarks and historic districts "as of the date of adoption."
The Commission also recommended that staff begin work on a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) alternative plan "that shifts density toward the commercial zones and away" from single family neighborhoods.
The recommendations are based on an analysis by planning staff that found "Santa Monica’s existing zoning -- particularly in the commercial corridors -- already meets or exceeds SB 79 standards across much of the buffer area."
As a result, "the practical impact of the statute falls unevenly," changing little on some parcels, while potentially driving "substantial intensification" into areas near major transit stops.
The Council -- which voted along with only four other California cities to support SB 79 -- will take up the recommendations one month after the Los Angeles City Council adopted a strategy to delay the impacts of the new law.
The LA Council -- which voted along with 130 other California cities to oppose the law -- upzoned 55 single-family and low-density areas, including in West LA, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Pushed by homeowners, the zoning to implement SB 79 allows for 4 to 16-unit buildings up to four stories tall, adding little density, according to the March 24 article.
"SB 79 allows local governments to develop alternate plans to maintain local control of density near transit stops," the Times wrote, adding that the plan adopted by the LA City Council would delay SB 79 until 2030.