ITEM 6-D
City Council Meeting 6-23-92 Santa Monica, California
STAFF REPORT
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Attorney
SUBJECT: Ordinance Extending the Citywide Moratorium on
Non-Residential and Hotel Development
At its meeting on June 9, 1992, the City Council introduced
for first reading an ordinance extending the Citywide moratorium
on non-residential and hotel development. The ordinance is now
presented to the City Council for adoption.
RECOMMENDATION
It is respectfully requested that the accompanying ordinance
be adopted.
Prepared By: Robert M. Myers, City Attorney
ORDINANCE NUMBER (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA EXTENDING THE CITYWIDE
MORATORIUM ON NON-RESIDENTIAL AND HOTEL DEVELOPMENT
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Findings and Purpose. The City Council finds
and declares:
(a) In recent years, the pace of non-residential
development in the City has accelerated dramatically, adversely
affecting the capacity and quality of the City's street and
highway system, the jobs/housing balance within the City, and the
quality of life in the community, including environmental quality
and neighborhood character.
(b) In 1987, a building permit was issued for only one
non-residential project totaling 1,014,546 square feet. In 1988,
building permits were issued for twenty-three (23)
non-residential projects totaling 2,835,940 square feet. In
1989, discretionary planning approvals were granted for 17
non-residential projects totaling 1,077,402 square feet. In
1990, discretionary planning approvals were granted for 13
non-residential projects totaling 776,987 square feet. In
addition, of the 17 discretionary projects approved in 1989, nine
(9) of the projects, totaling 577,910 square feet, have not yet
been issued building permits and begun construction.
(c) Since the non-residential development moratorium was
initially adopted by the City Council in May 1989, and through
November 1990, a total of 203,308 square feet of non-residential,
non-discretionary development has been approved under the
provisions of the moratorium ordinance.
(d) Based on population and employment projections, the
Environmental Impact Report on the City's Land Use and
Circulation Element, adopted on October 23, 1984, projected that
there would be a demand for an additional 5,800,000 square feet
of non-residential development by the year 2000. As of 1989,
development in the City has already exceeded the projected amount
of development for the year 2000.
(e) A review of recent Initial Studies and Environmental
Impact Reports prepared for the City reveals that there are at
least thirteen intersections in the City where the existing level
of service ("LOS") falls below "D". These reports further reveal
that with the impact of approved and proposed projects within and
outside the City, the future level of service of at least
thirty-three (33) intersections across the City is projected to
fall below LOS "D".
(f) According to the City of Los Angeles, the existing
capacity of the Hyperion Treatment Plant, where wastewater from
the City of Santa Monica's public sewer system is treated and
disposed of, is operating at or near its current full capacity,
necessitating regulation of the rate of wastewater increase
handled by the City's sewer system. The urgency of the
wastewater treatment and disposal problem is illustrated by the
adoption or Ordinance Number 1451 (CCS) on July 26, 1988.
(g) The pace of non-residential development has far
outstripped the pace of residential development in the City,
further increasing the imbalance between the number of jobs in
the City and the availability of housing for persons employed in
the City.
(h) Although revisions to the Zoning Ordinance lowered
heights and floor area ratios in most non-residential districts,
these reductions do not control the rate, location or character
of development in those areas, and do not adequately address the
infrastructural and environmental problems currently facing the
City.
(i) According to the Environmental Impact Report on the
Zoning Ordinance, there is a maximum theoretical capacity of
between 62,924,000 and 75,916,000 square feet for office
commercial, and industrial development in the City. The maximum
build-out potential needs to be re-examined as do the mechanisms
for limiting and mitigating the impacts of that build-out on the
City's infrastructure.
(j) The increase in development activity in the City poses
a threat to the public health, safety and welfare of the
residents.
(k) The City's zoning, planning, subdivision, and building
regulations require review as they pertain to the non-residential
development activity within the City in order to ensure that
development is consistent with the public health, safety and
welfare.
(l) Following the initiation or Ordinance Number 1481 (CCS)
creating a ten month and fifteen day moratorium, three public
workshops were held to help familiarize and involve the public
with issues to be addressed as part of a Citywide growth
management strategy. In addition, three reports were released, a
background report which discussed the existing condition of the
City, a fiscal analysis which discussed the fiscal impact of new
development on the City, and a Citywide Traffic Study which
analyzed the operation of the City's street system.
(m) Since the initiation of Ordinance Number 1512 (CCS)
extending the moratorium for an additional ten months and fifteen
days, a draft Growth Management Strategy Implementation Plan was
released which proposed a plan to control the rate, intensity,
and types of uses in new commercial development projects.
Following two Planning Commission public hearings and one meeting
for Commission discussion and deliberation, the Commission
recommended that the strategy be pursued in greater depth and
that a comprehensive plan to manage growth in the City, rather
than a plan directed primarily at controlling the pace of
commercial development, be prepared.
(n) Following the initiation of Ordinance Number 1570 (CCS)
extending the moratorium for one year, a study session was held
with the Planning Commission and City Council to compare and
evaluate traffic methodologies. On May 14, 1991, the City
Council directed staff to use the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM)
delay approach to analyzing intersection capacities and traffic
flow rates in the City for all future traffic studies. The HCM
methodology requires extensive field work gathering information
on queue lengths, lane widths, percentage of heavy vehicles and
presence of pedestrians and/or bicyclists. For these reasons,
the HCM methodology is much more labor and data intensive than
the previously used Critical Movement Analysis (CMA) approach.
The one year moratorium work program schedule was based upon
using the CMA methodology. Using the HCM approach and
incorporating July/August summer counts required an extension of
the Commercial Moratorium and the Moratorium Work Program, as
acknowledged by Council on May 14, 1991.
(o) Since the initiation of Ordinance 1610 (CCS) extending
the moratorium for six months, a Citywide Master Environmental
Assessment has been prepared and reviewed by both the Planning
Commission and the City Council. In addition, preparation of an
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is underway which will analyze
eleven commercial development alternatives, including an
evaluation of the impact associated with the rezoning of portions
of the C5 and M1 districts to residential uses. The EIR will
include an analysis of the fiscal impacts of altering the City's
existing development standards. This analysis cannot be
completed without the use of the City's Fiscal Impacts of New
Development (FIND) study. Due to delays in completing FIND, the
Commercial Development Alternatives EIR will be delayed by six
months. To provide sufficient time for public review and public
hearings on the EIR, as well as Council consideration of new
commercial development standards for the City, the moratorium
must be extended six months.
(p) Expiration of the ordinance would pose a current and
immediate threat to the public health, safety and welfare of the
residents as set forth in these findings, and the approval of
additional subdivisions, use permits, variances, building
permits, or any other applicable entitlement for use which is
required in order to comply with a zoning ordinance would result
in a threat to public health, safety, or welfare.
SECTION 2. Moratorium.
(a) Subject to the exemptions set forth in Section 3 of
this Ordinance, a moratorium is hereby placed on the acceptance
for processing of any applications for approval of tentative
tract maps, tentative parcel maps, administrative approvals,
development review permits, conditional use permits, or any other
City permits for the erection, construction, moving, conversion
of, and excavation and grading for, any non-residential building
or structure, including any hotel or motel, in the City of Santa
Monica.
(b) Subject to the exemptions set forth in Section 3 of
this Ordinance, the Planning Commission and City staff are hereby
directed to disapprove all applications filed after May 2, 1989,
for approval of tentative tract maps, tentative parcel maps,
administrative approvals, development review permits, conditional
use permits, or any other City permits for the erection,
construction, moving, conversion of, and excavation and grading
for any non-residential building or structure, including any
hotel or motel, in the City of Santa Monica.
SECTION 3. Exemptions. The following applications are
exempt from the provisions of Section 2 of this Ordinance:
(a) Applications for approval of permits involving proposed
developments of structures or uses for governmental, educational,
or public recreational purposes on land owned, operated or
controlled by the City of Santa Monica, Santa Monica College, the
Santa Monica School District, or the State of California and
applications for approval of permits involving development on
land owned, operated, or controlled by the City of Santa Monica
and intended for development of 415 Pacific Coast Highway, the
pier, parking for the pier, or an aquarium.
(b) Applications for approval of permits for proposed
developments in the Third Street Mall Specific Plan Area and in
the Hospital Specific Plan Area.
(c) Applications for approval of permits for proposed
developments that fall at or below the following square feet of
floor area for the district in which the development is located:
C-2 Neighborhood Commercial 7,000
C-3 Downtown 15,000
C3C Downtown Overlay 15,000
C-4 Highway Commercial 12,000
C-5 Special Office 15,000
C-6 Boulevard Commercial 15,000
CM Main Street 7,000
CP Commercial Professional 11,000
M1 Industrial Conservation 15,000
BCD Broadway Commercial 11,000
RVC Residential-Visitor Commercial
The Promenade 7,000
All other parts of the District 15,000
For purposes of calculating floor area as it relates to this
ordinance, covered at grade and above grade parking shall be
exempt from the floor area calculation.
To the extent that a project contains both residential and
non-residential components, this moratorium applies only to the
non-residential component of such project. A project that
contains both residential and non-residential components may
proceed with an application only if the square footage of the
non-residential portion of the project falls below the threshold
set forth in this subsection.
The reductions in square footage made on February 26, 1991,
shall apply to any project for which an application was filed on
or after February 27, 1991.
(d) Applications for approval of permits involving proposed
developments for which development agreement applications have
been filed on or before May 2, 1989 and proposed developments for
which development review applications have been filed and deemed
complete on or before May 2, 1989.
(i) An application shall be deemed complete for
purposes of this Ordinance within fifteen (15) days for
subdivision maps and parcel maps, and thirty (30) days for all
other permits, after the Planning Division receives a
substantially complete application together with all information,
reports, drawings, plans, filing fees, and any other materials
and documents required by the appropriate application forms
supplied by the City. If, within the specified time period, the
Planning Division fails to advise the applicant in writing that
his or her application is incomplete and to specify all
additional information required to complete that application, the
application shall automatically be deemed complete. An
application is "substantially complete" if the missing
information is supplied within two (2) working days of the City's
request.
(ii) If an application for approval of a proposed
development has been deemed complete by the City on or before May
2, 1989, an amended application for the same project shall be
deemed complete as of May 2, 1989, so long as the Planning
Director determines that the changes to the project do not
increase the size or substantially alter the scope of the
proposed project. This Section shall not apply for purposes of
deeming an application complete under the Permit Streamlining
Act.
(e) Applications for approval of permits involving the
erection, construction, enlargement, demolition, or moving of,
and excavation and grading for, projects which have been granted
development permits by the Planning Commission or Planning
Division on or before May 2, 1989.
(f) For applications involving the demolition and
replacement of existing single purpose, single tenant,
neighborhood serving grocery stores and pharmacies, only the net
new floor area to be added shall be subject to the floor area
limitations contained in Section 3 (c) of this Ordinance.
Demolition and replacement of the existing floor area shall be
exempt from the square footage limitations.
(g) Applications for approval of a proposed single purpose,
single tenant grocery store, at or below 25,000 square feet, so
long as they apply for and receive a development review permit.
SECTION 4. This Ordinance shall be of no further force and
effect as of February 26, 1993.
SECTION 5. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal
Code or appendices thereto inconsistent with the provisions of
this ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no
further, are hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 6. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or
phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or
unconstitutional by a decision of any court of any competent
jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby
declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each and
every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the Ordinance would be subsequently declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 7. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall
attest to the passage of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall
cause the same to be published once in the official newspaper
within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become
effective 30 days from the date of adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
ROBERT M. MYERS
CITY ATTORNEY
Adopted and approved this __th day of _______, 1992.
Mayor
I hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. ___ (CCS)
was duly and regularly introduced at a meeting of the City
Council on the 9th day of June 1992; that the said Ordinance was
thereafter duly adopted at a meeting of the City Council on the
__th day of ________ 1992 by the following Council vote:
Ayes: Councilmembers:
Noes: Councilmembers:
Abstain: Councilmembers:
Absent: Councilmembers:
ATTEST:
City Clerk