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f:\atty\muni\laws\mjm\promenade moratorium-2. wpd
City Council Meeting 11-27-2001
Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER Z~ (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN INTERIM ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCil OF THE CITY OF SANTA
MONICA ESTABLISHING A MORATORIUM ON THE DEVELOPMENT,
CONVERSION, CONSOLIDATION OR EXPANSION OF COMMERCIAL USES
ON THE THIRD STREET PROMENADE; DECLARING
THE PRESENCE OF AN EMERGENCY
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOllOWS:
SECTION 1. Findinas and Puroose. The City Council finds and declares:
(a) In 1965, the City Council sought to revitalize its downtown business district by
closing three blocks of Third Street to vehicular traffic in order to create a pedestrian
shopping mall pursuant to the Pedestrian Mall Act.
(b )The Third Street Mall did not attract shoppers; and, as a result, retail businesses
on the mall failed, and the downtown business district continued to decline.
(c) In 1986, the City Council again acted to save its downtown by adopting the Third
Street Mall Specific Plan to provide a framework for reviving the Third Street Mall and
surrounding areas.
(d) The Specific Plan made diversity the foundation of the mall's future, mandating
a mixture of uses and activities sufficient to ensure that the mall would attract a diverse
group of residents and visitors.
(e) Thereafter, the City embarked upon a substantial effort to transform the
moribund Third Street Mall into a new kind of public space which would serve as a
community gathering place, attract visitors from near and far and define the City's
municipal character. The redesign included numerous improvements to the pedestrian
street: retail pavilions, landscaping, water elements, public benches, street lamps, and
topiary dinosaur sculptures in the central landscaped area of each block. The area was
also renamed the Third Street Promenade.
(f) This space was, from the time of its conception, distinguished from other
shopping areas, by the carefully planned and unusual mix of opportunities it afforded,
including street performers, sidewalk dining, cinema, bookstores, special events, clothing
stores, specialty shops, and night clubs.
(g) As conceived, the Third Street Promenade was not simply a shopping mall; it
was a place to go for entertainment, company, relaxation, strolling; a place where one
could one could watch jugglers and dancers, dine outdoors, argue politics, listen to music,
browse a bookshop, take in a movie and more.
(h) Moreover, the Third Street Promenade was planned as a gathering place for
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groups.
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(i) The plan succeeded, and the Third Street Promenade became a resounding
success as a favored destination for local residents, Southern Californians and
international travelers alike.
U) As such, it became, and still is, an engine which drives Santa Monica's economy.
However, this success has had its costs.
(k) With the influx of visitors to the Third Street Promenade have come significant
traffic and parking problems.
(I) At present, these problems are being addressed by a downtown parking task
force; however, the problem is significant and the options are limited because the area is
very small, has been built out for decades and features a mixture of uses, including
residential, which is inconsistent with simply building larger and larger parking structures.
(m) Also, maintaining the delicate balance of entertainment, restaurants and retail
which is the foundation of the Third Street Promenade's success has been an ongoing
challenge.
(n) Over the years, market forces have threatened the mix many times; and the City
has responded to preserve the Third Street Promenade's unique character through the
adoption of laws and polices which promote the general welfare by maintaining the
Promenade's eclectic character.
(0) In 1996, the City revised the Third Street Mall Specific Plan through the adoption
of the Bayside District Specific Plan. A critical objective of this plan remained to "[a]ttract
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daytime and evening hours. To this end the specific plan established a ten-year projection
and plan for the controlled growth of retail outlets on the Third Street Promenade.
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(p) However, the actual growth of retail has far outstripped the planned growth to
the point that the ten year projection is already met, just five years into the planning period.
(q) Today, there is already approximately 530,000 square feet of retail on the Third
Street Promenade and more is on the way.
(r) The massive influx of retail establishments has displaced restaurants.
(s) Five restaurants have been lost in the last two years and four more are at or
nearing the end of their leases.
(t) As reflected by these changes, the balance of uses on the Third Street
Promenade is once again threatened; this time by a loss of restaurants and influx of
additional retail which, if left unchecked, threatens to deprive the Third Street Promenade
of its unique character and vitality by transforming it into a standard shopping mall.
(u) The influx of retail not only impacts the mix of establishment located on the Third
Street Promenade. it also exacerbates parking and traffic problems.
(v) Residents and visitors who come to the Third Street Promenade for dining and
entertainment, as well as shopping, stay for many hours. In contrast, persons who are
simply shopping, stay for shorter periods of time. The result is more people making more
trips and thereby placing ever increasing demands on the City's strained traffic and parking
capacities.
(w) These increased demands degrade the quality of residents' lives and the
desirability of the Third Street Promenade and the City as destinations and thereby
threaten the City's welfare.
(x) Moreover, they are exacerbated by a sharp decline in the state and national
economies which is occurring at the same time.
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(y) Accordingly, in order to preserve the City's economic and social welfare, the City
Council must act in order to protect the vitality of the Third Street Promenade by ensuring
the best possible mix of restaurants, retail and entertainment.
(z) How best to accomplish this end is a complex question which will require
detailed study, including a review of the specific plan.
(aa) For the reasons described above, the City Council finds that there is a current
and immediate threat to the public health, safety or welfare and that a moratorium on the
conversion of restaurants to retail on the Third Street Promenade is necessary to ensure
that the character of the Promenade is preserved during the study period and that the City
remains able to ensure that best possible mix of restaurants, retail and entertainment is
achieved. The approval of additional permits related to such conversions on the Third
Street Promenade pending the City's completion of its review of its land use policies and
regulations would result in a threat to the public health, safety, or welfare since these
changes threaten the quality of residents' lives and the desirability of the Third Street
Promenade and the City as a destination. Consequently, this ordinance establishes a
forty-five day moratorium on this type of commercial activity up to and including January
11, 2002 to provide the City sufficient time to further evaluate and undertake appropriate
actions to address these impacts.
SECTION 2. Moratorium.
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acceptance for processing of applications for approval of tentative tract maps, tentative
parcel maps, administrative approvals, development review permits, conditional use
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permits, zoning conformance determinations, business licenses, and building permits
related to the change of use from restaurant to any other use on the Third Street
Promenade.
(b) Subject to Section 3 of this Ordinance, all applications which have not been
deemed complete as of November 27, 2001, for approval of tentative tract maps, tentative
parcel maps, administrative approvals. development review permits, conditional use
permits, zoning conformance determinations, business iicenses, and building permits
related to the change of use from restaurant to any other use of commercial property
located on the Third Street Promenade shall be disapproved.
(c) For purposes of this Ordinance, "Third Street Promenade" shall be defined as
Third Street between the southeasterly line of Wilshire Boulevard and the northwesterly
line of Arizona Avenue, and between the southeasterly line of Arizona Avenue and the
northwesterly line of Santa Monica Boulevard and between the southeasterly line of Santa
Monica Boulevard and the northwesterly line of Broadway.
SECTION 3. Vested Rights. This Ordinance shall not be applicable if an owner can
establish a vested right to develop or operate commercial property otherwise prohibited by
Section 2 of this Ordinance.
SECTION 4. This ordinance is declared to be an urgency measure adopted
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in the findings above, this ordinance is necessary for preserving the public peace, health,
safety, and welfare.
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SECTION 5, This Ordinance shall be of no further force and effect after forty-five
days from the date of its adoption, January 11, 2002, 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. 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 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 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.
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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
its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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State of California )
County of Los Angeles) ss.
City of Santa Monica )
Adopted and approved this 27th day of November, 2001.
I, Maria M. Stewart, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby certify that the
foregoing Ordinance No. 2030 (CCS) had it's introduction and adoption at the Santa
Monica City Council meeting on Nover:nber 27,2001 by the following vote:
Ayes:
Council members: Holbrook, O'Connor, Genser, Katz, Mayor Pro
Tern Bloom
Noes:
Council members: McKeown, Feinstein
Abstain: Council members: None
Absent: Council members: None
ATTEST:
~ ~. ~,.....A-
Maria M. Stewart, City lerk