ITEM 8-A
City Council Meeting 12-15-92 Santa Monica, California
STAFF REPORT
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Attorney
SUBJECT: Ordinance Establishing Parking Requirements
for Changes of Use from Residential to
Commercial or Industrial Uses on an Interim
Basis and Declaring the Presence of
an Emergency
At its meeting on November 17, 1992, the City Council, in
the context of discussing the interpretation of current parking
requirements, requested an interim ordinance establishing parking
requirements for changes of use from residential to commercial or
industrial uses. In response to this direction, two versions of
the ordinance have been prepared. The ordinance attached as
Exhibit "A" would apply to all project approvals after the
effective date, December 15, 1992. The ordinance attached as
Exhibit "B" would exempt pending applications.
RECOMMENDATION
It is respectfully recommended that the City Council adopt
either the ordinance attached as Exhibit "A," or the ordinance
attached as Exhibit "B".
PREPARED BY: Joseph Lawrence, Acting City Attorney
Mary H. Strobel, Deputy City Attorney
ORDINANCE NUMBER ____
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA ESTABLISHING PARKING
REQUIREMENTS FOR CHANGES OF USE FROM
RESIDENTIAL TO COMMERCIAL OR INDUSTRIAL USES
ON AN INTERIM BASIS AND DECLARING
THE PRESENCE OF AN EMERGENCY
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) Numerous existing commercial and industrial uses in
the City do not provide parking in the amount required by the
City's current zoning standards (hereinafter "code parking")
because such uses predate the current zoning ordinance and
constitute legal non-conforming uses, which results in a lack of
parking for commercial and industrial uses.
(b) The City has initiated the process to amend Part
9.04.10.08 of the Zoning Ordinance concerning off-street parking
requirements (hereinafter "Parking Amendments") to provide, among
other things, that projects which involve changes of use from
residential to commercial or industrial uses provide code parking
for the entire parcel. The Planning Commission of the City of
Santa Monica adopted a Resolution of Intention regarding the
Parking Amendments on November 4, 1992, and a public hearing
concerning the Parking Amendments is scheduled for January 6,
1992 before the Planning Commission. A public hearing before the
City Council will also be held before the Parking Amendments may
be adopted.
(c) If the City receives and approves applications for
changes of use from residential to commercial or industrial uses
in which this parking policy is implicated before adoption of the
Parking Amendments, such actions would exacerbate existing
parking scarcity unless an interim ordinance is adopted to
prevent such approvals.
(d) There is a shortage of residential housing in the City
which poses a current and immediate threat to the public health,
safety and welfare of the residents. Approval of projects which
involve changes of use from residential to commercial or
industrial uses without requiring that code parking be provided
for the entire parcel encourages the change of use from
residential to other uses, thereby exacerbating the current lack
of residential housing.
(e) If the City receives and approves applications for
changes of use from residential to commercial or industrial uses
in which this parking policy is implicated before adoption of the
Parking Amendments, such actions would exacerbate existing
residential housing scarcity unless an interim ordinance is
adopted to prevent such approvals.
(f) The potential for the approval of projects which
involve a change of use from residential uses to commercial or
industrial use without requiring code parking for the entire
parcel poses a current and immediate threat to the public health,
safety, and welfare of the residents, and the approval of permits
for such development would result in a threat to public health,
safety, and welfare by exacerbating the existing parking and
residential housing scarcity in the City.
SECTION 2. Interim Zoning.
The Planning Commission and City staff are directed
to disapprove all requests for the issuance of building permits
and tentative maps, tentative parcel maps, administrative
approvals, development review permits, conditional use permits,
or any other City permits for projects which involve a change of
use from residential use to commercial or industrial use unless
parking spaces in the amount specified in Section 9.04.10.08.040
of the Zoning Ordinance are provided for the entire parcel.
SECTION 3. Applicability.
This ordinance shall apply to any project approval after
its effective date.
SECTION 4. This Ordinance shall be of no further force and
effect 45 days from its adoption, unless prior to that date,
after a public hearing, noticed pursuant to Santa Monica
Municipal Code Section 9.04.20.22.050, the City Council, by
majority vote, extends the interim ordinance for an additional 10
months and 15 days.
SECTION 5. This ordinance is declared to be an urgency
measure adopted pursuant to the provisions of Section
9.04.20.16.060 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code and Section 615
of the Santa Monica City Charter. It is necessary for preserving
the public peace, health and safety, and the urgency for its
adoption is set forth in the findings above.
SECTION 6. 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 7. 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 8. 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 upon adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
__________________________________
JOSEPH LAWRENCE
Acting City Attorney