S A N TA M O N I C A
REFLECTING THE CONCERNS OF THE COMMUNITY smmirror.com 50
INSIDE RENT CONTROL PUSHBACK ON COSTA-HAWKINS ACTION
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June 29 – July 6, 2018 Volume XX, Issue
DEVELOPMENT WARS HEAT UP Ballot initiative would reduce the City’s power over development. By Sam Catanzaro Photo: Jennifer Eden.
Participants enjoying the 2017 parade.
July 4 Parade Gears Up
By Jennifer Eden
Preparations are well underway for the very popular Ocean Park Associations’ 12th annual Fourth of July Parade on Main Street. A mainstay on many residents’ calendars, this year’s event will take the traditional route from Pico down Main and winding through to the beach. This year, “diversity” is the event’s theme. “With the imaginative participation of our businesses, non-for-profits, clubs and individual groups, this is going to be a fun one,” said Jeff Jarow, OPA Vice President and Chair of the Parade. “Now in its 12th year, we’re proud to have the parade return as one of the events that truly brings all walks of life from our community together – a trait unique to Santa Monica as a diverse city.” Thousands are expected to line Main Street, Wednesday July 4 from 9.30 a.m. when the parade kicks off from the assembly point at the Civic Center. The theme of “Bringing Communities Together” is aimed at celebrating diversity, with parade organizers calling on “local residents,
service and family groups, along with businesses, to participate, volunteer and cheer on the parade as it marches down Main Street.” The parade theme is also reflected in this year’s diversity of its participants, according to the organizers. Local historian “Mr. Ocean Park History” Richard Orton; Riley Gerlach, a 4th grader at Roosevelt Elementary who won the 2018 Miss Amazing California Pageant and was crowned the “Pre-Teen Queen”, representing Santa Monica at the pageant that provides opportunities for girls and women with disabilities to build confidence and self-esteem in a supportive environment; State Senator and born-and-raised Santa Monican Ben Allen; former Mayors including Judy Abdo, Assemblymember Richard Bloom, Ruth Goldway, Paul Rosenstein, Nat Trives and Denny Zane; and businesses and residents from all neighborhoods will be represented. “I hope to see your family out enjoying the patriotic festivities that Wednesday morning!” Jarow exclaimed. For more information or to take part and volunteer head to: santamonicaparade.com.
New Chamber Faces
By Jennifer Eden
New faces graced the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce’s 93rd Annual Installation Dinner stage, June 13, as a new board was announced and the yearly pre-
sentation of awards took place. According to organizers, this year’s Chamber theme is “Taking Business To New Heights,” with the evening featuring extended network-
CHAMBER, see page 9
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Santa Monica voters will be asked in November to choose how much control Santa Monica City Council has over new developments under a voter initiative approved by the Council on Tuesday, June 26. The initiative would require a supermajority approval by City Council for any projects within either the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) or Downtown Community Plan (DCP) that would exceed the existing height or floor area ratio limits specified in the City’s zoning code. Exempt from this supermajority requirement would be 100 percent Affordable Housing Projects and developments on property owned by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified District (SMMUSD). “This is to let the community affirm along with the council that having worked for years and years on LUCE and the Zoning Code that we will stick to that plan,” said Councilmember Kevin McKeown. “Most of the developments that have caused great consternation in our community were passed on 4-3 votes. If we can avoid that for 10 years I think it is worth doing. And I think it certainly worth giving the voters of Santa Monica an opportunity to vote on this proposal.” The LUCE and the DCP govern maximum height and density for new developments in the city. Currently, any project that exceeds these limits has to be approved by City Council by a simple majority. If approved by voters in 2018, the supermajority requirement in this proposal would reduce the City’s ability to approve large development projects until the initiative’s expiration on November 6, 2028. City Council approved the initiative by a 4-2 margin, with Mayor Pro Tem Gleam Davis and Councilmember Terry O’Day voting in opposition. Both expressed concern about how the proposal, if passed by voters, would impact the City’s Charter.
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Photos: Sam Catanzaro.
The DoubleTree hotel is on property that is part of SMMUSD.
The supermajority approval would not be required for developments that would occur on SMMUSD property.
“Our charter is the effective constitution for this city. You don’t put pilot programs or experiments in your constitution,” Davis said. “Reaching into the future and affecting future Councils’ ability to take action is not appropriate.” Both O’Day and Gleam also expressed concern that the initiative would needlessly make development a topic in the 2018 election. “Every couple of years, some nonsensical election-year political manipulations around development show up and this is the latest one. This really I think is nonsensical because it has no place in the City Charter. Nowhere else do you find something like this and we are really going out on a limb on this one,” O’Day said. In addition to exemptions for 100 percent Affordable Housing Projects and projects on SMMUSD property, a supermajority vote would not be required for certain projects around Bergamot Station, Providence St. John’s Health Center, Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center and the Civic Center. A vote
DEVELOPMENT, see page 9
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