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Santa Monica Daily Press THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2015
Volume 14 Issue 169
ROD GOULD’S NEW JOB SEE PAGE 4
Residocracy may seek ballot initiative, not Zoning Ordinance referendum BY DAVID MARK SIMPSON Daily Press Staff Writer
CITY HALL The city’s biggest users of the word “referendum” are weighing their options in the calm before the storm that is the time between the first and second reading of the updated Zoning Ordinance. Residocracy, which successfully used a referendum to derail the Hines development project last year and has publicized two pre-referendum online petitions opposing development projects, may seek a development-limiting ballot initiative, rather than a referendum, in response to the ordinance. “I’m glad to see that we’re moving in a direction where policy is starting to shift toward resident concerns,” the group’s founder Armen Melkonians said of some changes council majority made to
SOFTBALL:
Samohi advances to quarterfinals BY JEFFREY I. GOODMAN Daily Press Staff Writer
DIRT-O-SAURUS
Matthew Hall editor@smdp.com
Downtown Santa Monica has removed the lawn from the popular dinosaur statues and will replace the turf with drought tolerant landscaping as part of the ongoing effort to save water.
the ordinance. “They’re being addressed, but this is also a slow path to that. I think they could have done a lot more. They’re making a shift in the right direction and so we just need to see what happens for the future.” Without Residocracy, he doesn’t think council would have done away with activity centers, which were meant to encourage high-density development around transit hubs, or Tier 3 limits, which allow taller and denser development. “We are seriously considering something like an initiative that would limit development, maybe tie up some loose ends in the Zoning Ordinance, and let the voters vote on that,” Melkonians said of Residocracy’s planned response. He would not give specifics but SEE VOTE PAGE 9
Fourth and Arizona project proposes more office, parking, fewer apartments, hotel rooms
SAMOHI The Santa Monica High
BY DAVID MARK SIMPSON
softball team has won 120 conference games in a row, but that fact is temporarily trivial as the program works toward a different goal: defending its section title. The Vikings extended their postseason with a 5-1 win over AnaheimLoara on the road Tuesday in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs. The victory vaulted Samohi into Thursday’s quarterfinals against Torrance on the road at 3:15 p.m. at Wilson Park. It’s been a wild ride for the Vikings (19-12), who struggled
Daily Press Staff Writer
DOWNTOWN The most recent iteration of a proposed 148-foot-tall development planned for a plot of public land at Fourth Street and Arizona Avenue has more office space but fewer hotel rooms and housing units than the version presented to City Council in 2013. The project will go to Planning Commission for comment on Wednesday. In 2013, Metro Pacific Capital beat out other developers — scoring a right to negotiate exclusively
SEE PLAYOFFS PAGE 8
SEE DEVELOPMENT PAGE 9
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