City Council Meeting 8-28-07 Santa Monica, California

ORDINANCE NUMBER (CCS)

(City Council Series)

AN INTERIM ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA MONICA MODIFYING THE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS IN THE LIGHT MANUFACTURING STUDIO DISTRICT (LMSD) AND THE INDUSTRIAL CONSERVATION (M1) ZONING DISTRICTS TO ONLY AUTHORIZE DEVELOPMENT THAT DOES NOT EXCEED SEVENTY-FIVE HUNDRED SQUARE FEET OR FIFTEEN UNITS IN THE LMSD OR FIVE UNITS IN THE M1 UNLESS THE DEVELOPMENT IS UNDERTAKEN PURSUANT TO A DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT OR IS A CITY PROJECT, TO REQUIRE A DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT TO AUTHORIZE CHANGES OF USE ON PARCELS IN THE LMSD THAT EXCEED 32,000 SQUARE FEET AND ON PARCLES IN THE M1 THAT EXCEED 15,000 SQUARE FEET, AND TO ESTABLISH EXCEPTIONS AND DECLARING THE PRESENCE OF AN EMERGENCY

THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Findings and Purpose. The City Council finds and declares:

(a) Santa Monica is a small, extremely dense, older, coastal city consisting of just 8 square miles of land bordered on one side by the Pacific Ocean and on three sides by the megalopolis of Los Angeles.

(b) Approximately 87,000 people live in the City, on weekdays there are about 300,000 present in the City, and on weekends and holidays the number of persons in the City soars to between 500,000 and 1 million.

(c) Santa Monica’s population density, eleven thousand two hundred persons per square mile, is the second highest among neighboring and nearby jurisdictions and is the densest among coastal communities in Los Angeles County.

(d) Santa Monica has been fully built out for over 50 years, much of its development having occurred during, and immediately after World War II; the facts that the City is built out and already very dense make land use planning a vital and difficult challenge.

(e) In the last 25 years, land values within the City have soared due, in large part, to the land’s scarcity and prime location, the excellent climate, and to the desirability of living and working in a community which offers a vast array of urban amenities and services, a unique sense of community, pedestrian-oriented scale, and economic and social diversity.

(f) In the past ten years, escalating land values, economic prosperity, and changes in state law have fueled a massive increase in development which has significantly altered the physical and social landscape of the City and necessitated that land use planning be undertaken with the utmost care to promote and protect the City’s welfare.

(g) In July of 2004, the City began preparing a new Land Use and Circulation Element of the General Plan (LUCE) and a comprehensive revision of the City’s Zoning Ordinance, a massive project, crucial to the community’s long-term welfare, which remains ongoing at this time.

(h) The work on the LUCE update has included numerous public hearings and participation by thousands of residents, business owners, and visitors. Participants have repeatedly articulated the goal that the City should carefully monitor future development – particularly large-scale development – to ensure that Santa Monica remains a livable city.

(i) In these public hearings, the City’s manufacturing and industrial area has been a critical focus and residents have raised concerns about the current development trends within this area.

(j) The City’s current Land Use Element provides that this area, known as the Industrial Conservation District, “should continue in its role as a valuable location for industrial ‘incubator’ uses, existing manufacturing, and loft space for the performing and visual arts. In recognition of the need for some artists to reside in their studios, consideration should be given to this mixed use on a case by case basis. Allowable intensity should be the lowest in the City consistent with current building intensity, to protect the area from speculation.”

(k) Land Use Element Objective 1.9 addressing the Industrial Conservation District provides: “Preserve existing and accommodate future industrial and manufacturing use, particularly to provide employment for the low-skill and entry-level segment of the Santa Monica workforce.”

(l) The City’s industrial area is comprised of two zoning districts – the Light Manufacturing Studio (LMSD) District and the Industrial Conservation (M1) District.

(m) These districts comprise a significant portion of the City – over 400 centrally located acres.

(n) The area serves as a vital economic engine for the City because of the many studios and manufacturers located there.

(o) Because the industrial zoned lands were planned for industrial use and consequently, this area does not provide the public infrastructure – streets, sidewalks, open space, and other amenities – necessary for a significant number of people to both live and work there.

(p) Instead, the street grid and parcel size in these industrial areas reflect the industrial pattern of development that supports large industrial uses, with few sidewalks, limited bike paths, few parks, and limited open space.

(q) The current land uses include studio post production, construction support services, automobile related uses, warehouse/storage, distribution facilities, private schools, major utilities, bus and city yards, and limited housing.

(r) These districts also have a substantial amount of entertainment related uses included film, radio, TV, visual arts, photography, performing arts, and design services and publishing.

(s) As reflected by the current Land Use Element, the City’s intent for the industrial area is to provide opportunities for light industrial uses and post production work with limited discretionary opportunities for artist housing. It has also long been envisioned as the principle location of the proposed light rail system.

(t) The City’s Land Use Element did not and does not envision that the industrial zones’ existing large blocks would be redeveloped into a dense residential neighborhood.

(u) Until the past year, this area has been developed according to this vision. For instance, over the past seven years, the industrial area had approximately 100,000 square feet of production development, 40,000 square feet of office commercial, 30,000 square feet of industrial, 60,000 square feet of auto related development, and 170 residential units.

(v) However, this pattern has recently changed; and the City is currently experiencing a dramatic increase in application submittals for large, dense developments that lack significant amenities for the residents and virtually no services to support the housing use.

(w) Within the past year alone, the City has received applications for over 1,000 housing units in or immediately adjacent to the City’s industrial area.

(x) At the same time, community input has demonstrated significant interest in preserving and enhancing the residents’ quality of life and the city’s economic health through a variety of means. These include opportunities for industrial uses and support businesses, improving traffic conditions through the development of the light rail, significantly revising the existing traffic grid, creating usable open space, supporting housing at strategic locations and at appropriate scales and densities, and transforming large blocks into a more pedestrian scaled environment, ensuring the city’s economic diversity.

(y) Continued piecemeal development of the industrial area will significantly constrain the City’s opportunity to adequately plan for the future. It will likely yield large, dense blocks of a single residential type without adequate infrastructure, amenities and services, with a lack of adequate roadway structure, lack of neighborhood environment, increasing conflict between housing and existing uses, and increased speculative development pressure.

(z) The City has previously established 7,500 square feet as a development threshold that preserves the scale and character of existing neighborhoods and protects residents’ quality of life and the environment.

(aa) Since 1998, the average new housing project has contained fifteen units, excluding two atypically large projects.

(bb) Failure to reduce the development review threshold would pose an immediate threat to the existing character of the LMSD and M1 Zoning Districts. Adjusting the development standards as provided in this Ordinance would ensure that quality of life, the environment, and the efficacy of the ongoing planning process are preserved. Because existing educational uses are consistent with the desire to maintain cultural uses as well as the purpose of existing LMSD and M1 zoning, these uses should remain subject to the existing Development Review Permit process which includes public hearing, environmental, and public review.

(cc) Adoption of this ordinance would not prohibit any uses currently authorized in the LMSD and M1 Districts.

(dd) Adoption of this ordinance would also not materially alter the City’s substantial incentives for residential or mixed use development in non-residential zoning districts. These incentives would be preserved in local law and policy. For example, residential development in all of the City’s commercial districts would remain authorized. Thus, residential development could still occur in over 80% of the City.

(ee) As detailed above and in the July 24, and August 28, 2007 City Council staff reports, there exists a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare should this interim ordinance not be adopted, and piecemeal development of this area continue with large, dense blocks of a single type of development without adequate infrastructure, amenities and services. The continued development of projects inconsistent with contemplated changes to the City’s Land Use and Circulation Element and the City’s Zoning Ordinance and the approval or issuance of zoning permits, subdivision maps, building permits, or other any land use permit authorized by the City’s current Zoning Ordinance would result in a threat to public health, safety and welfare.

(ff) The City’s Land Use and Circulation Elements and Zoning Ordinance requires review and revision as it pertains to the development standards for development projects in the LMSD and M1 Zoning Districts in the City. That process is underway. Pending completion of this review and revision, it is necessary on an interim basis to modify the Zoning Ordinance as set forth in Section 2 of this Ordinance:

SECTION 2. Interim Zoning Regulations.

The issuance of permits for new development or the expansion of an existing development in the LMSD and M1 Zoning Districts in the City that does not comply with the interim zoning standards set forth in Section 3 of this Ordinance is hereby prohibited. Notwithstanding any provision of the City’s Zoning Ordinance to the contrary, no zoning permits or approvals, subdivision maps, building permits, or other land use permit shall be approved or issued in the LMSD and M1 Zoning Districts in the City, except as described in Section 3 below during the pendency of this Ordinance or any extension thereof.

SECTION 3. Interim Zoning Standards.

Notwithstanding the development standards specified in Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 9.04.08.35.050 and Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 9.04.08.34.060, the following development standards shall apply:

(a) Except for City projects and projects developed pursuant to a development agreement adopted in accordance with Santa Monica Municipal Code Chapter 9.48, a development project or the expansion of an existing development shall not exceed seven thousand five hundred (7500) square feet of floor area, or fifteen (15) dwelling units, artist studio units, or single room occupancy units in the LMSD, excluding density bonus units, or five (5) dwelling units, artist studio units, or single room occupancy units in the M1, excluding density bonus units.

(b) Except for City projects and projects developed pursuant to a development agreement adopted in accordance with Santa Monica Municipal Code Chapter 9.48, no change of use shall be authorized on parcels in the LMSD that exceed 32,000 square feet and on parcels in the M1 that exceed 15,000 square feet. However, no development agreement shall be required for a change of use within an existing multi-tenant property unless the Director of Planning and Community Development makes a written determination that the change of use will constitute a substantial change in the mode or character of operation of the property as a whole. Factors to be considered by the Director include, but are not limited to, occupancy, hours of operation, intensity of use, traffic, noise, odor, or other impacts.

(c) Public or private schools existing before September 1988 shall not be subject to these interim zoning standards, but shall remain subject to the property development standards of Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 9.04.08.35.050 and Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 9.04.08.34.060.

(d) Auto dealerships shall not be subject to these interim zoning standards but shall remain subject to the property development standards in Ordinance Number 2186 (CCS).

SECTION 4. This ordinance shall apply to any application for a development project that is determined complete on or after August 28, 2007.

SECTION 5. This ordinance shall be of no further force or effect sixty days after its effective date, 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 this interim ordinance.

SECTION 6. This Ordinance is declared to be an urgency measure adopted pursuant to the provision Section 615 of the Santa Monica City Charter. As set forth in the findings above, this Ordinance is necessary for preserving the public peace, health, and safety.

SECTION 7. The Council finds that the adoption and implementation of this ordinance are exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to CEQA Guidelines sections 15061(c)(3) and 15183.

SECTION 8. 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, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary to effect the provisions of this Ordinance.

SECTION 9. 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 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 10. 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 its adoption.

APPROVED AS TO FORM:

_________________________

MARSHA JONES MOUTRIE

City Attorney