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CjED:CPD:
COUNCIL MEETING: February 13, 1990
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Santa Monica, California
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: Ordinance Extending the citywide Moratorium on
Non-Residential and Hotel Development
INTRODUCTION
This report reviews progress to date on the City's Growth
Management strategy, outlines the futurl;a direction of the
project, and recommends that the City Council approve an
ordinance continuing the moratorium on non-residential and hotel
development for an additional ten months and 15 days.
BACKGROUND
On May 23, 1989, in response to a rapid rate of non-residential
growth, traffic congestion, and sewage capacity constraints, the
City council adopted Ordinance Number 1481 creating a citywide
moratorium on non-residential and hotel development. The
moratorium included all non-residential development exceeding 75%
of existing site review thresholds. Exemptions to the moratorium
included: school property development, development in the Third
street Mall and Hospital Specific Plan Areas, and development for
which development agreement applications had already been filed.
The moratorium affected all applications filed after May 2, 1989.
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In addition to the moratorium, the city council approved a work
program to review the Cityl s land use policies and develop a
strategy to manage growth. The work program included numerous
public workshops, four maj or reports, and a list of specific
issues to be addressed, including the following:
o Review of commercial development standards such as heights
and FARis;
o Identifying new opportunities for residential development,
including possible rezoning of areas currently designated
for other uses, and creating new mixed use districts;
o Re-examination of development review criteria;
o Re-examination of methodology for calculating Levels of
Service;
o Incentives to encourage cultural and housing opportunities
in the City's downtown;
o Incorporation of the updated Main street Ordinance;
o Further study of the proposed commercial Allotment Program.
Originally staff had hoped to complete all of the policy work by
early April, 1990. However, due to delays in the completion of
background material, such as the citywide Traffic study, and an
increase in an already heavy Planning Division and Planning
Commission workload from such Council initiated projects as the
North of wilshire Rezoning study, amendments to the Landmark IS
Ordinance, the Historic Resources Survey and associated public
notification, revisions to the Housing Element, and various
environmental impact reports, the project has been delayed.
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PROGRESS TO DATE
since the initiation of the non-residential development
moratorium in May, 1989, three public workshops have been held, a
draft and final background data report and fiscal analysis has
been published, and formulation of alternatives has begun.
The first public workshop, held on July 15, 1989, focused upon
community issues and concerns about growth. This workshop helped
staff to identify topics to be addressed in the Existing
Conditions Report and to surface goals for growth management.
At the second public workshop on August 24, 1989, staff presented
a slide-show summarizing key findings from the draft Existing
Condi tions Report. Topics included recent land use pOlicy,
population, employment and land use growth trends, housing needs,
and infrastructure constraints. Based upon public input at this
workshop, the existing conditions report was expanded and
revised, and a final version was pUbliShed in November, 1989.
since traffic is one of the major issues that concerns the
community, the December 13, 1989 public workshop focused
exclusively on the results of the Citywide Traffic study. The
Traffic study is currently being reviewed based upon comments at
this workshop.
The final component of the Existing Conditions Report, the Fiscal
Impact Analysis, was published at the end of January. This
addendum to the main report examines the relationship between new
development and the City's fiscal well-being.
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Now that the existing conditions phase of the project is
complete, staff has begun formulating growth management
alternatives. In March, staff plans to present these
alternatives at a public workshop before the Planning Commission.
FUTURE DIRECTION
staff anticipates that it will take approximately twelve months
to complete the next phase of the Growth Management strategy.
During this time, the main tasks will include preparation of
alternatives, selection of a preferred alternative, and
environmental analysis.
staff is beginning the process of developing alternative growth
management strategies. In order to maximiz,a the City's options,
a wide range of approaches are being studied. At the conclusion
of this process, staff will present the alternatives to the
Planning commission and City Council for discussion.
Once the alternatives have been reviewed by the City Council, the
environmental review process will be started. Hearings before
the Planning Commission and City Council would follow completion
of the EIR.
EXTENSION OF THE MORATORIUM
In order to complete the process initiated in May of 1989, staff
recommends continuing the non-residential building moratorium for
an additional ten months and 15 days. This extension will take
the project through the environmental review process. After the
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environmental review phase, it will take additional time to
complete the public hearing and adoption process.
BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT
The recomrnenda tions contained in this report do not have any
budgetary impacts.
RECOMMENDATION
staff recommends that the City Council:
l} Conduct a public hearing on the proposed extension of the
non-residential and hotel development moratorium ordinance;
2} Introduce the accompanying ordinance for first reading.
Prepare by:
Paul Berlant, Planning Director
Suzanne Frick, Principal Planner
John Read, Associate Planner
Amanda Schacther, Associate Planner
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CA:RMM:lld584/hpc
City Council Meeting 2-13-90
Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER
(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. As of
May 10, 1989, planning approvals have been granted for twelve
(12) non-residential projects totaling 436,304 square feet and
there are thirty-one (31) non-residential projects pending
Planning Commission review totaling 3,467,689 square feet. In
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addition, planning approvals have been granted for four (4) more
non-residential projects totaling 302,296 square feet in 1987,
and for nine (9) more non-residential projects totaling 235,681
square feet in 1988 for which building permits have not yet been
issued.
(c) Based on population and employment proj ections , the
Environmental Impact Report on the City's Land Use and
Circulation Element, adopted on October 23, 1983, 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.
(d) 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 "0".
e e) 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 of Ordinance Number 1451 (CCS) on July 26, 1988.
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(f) 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.
(g) 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.
(h) 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.
(i) The increase in development activity in the city
poses a threat to the public health, safety and welfare of the
residents.
(j)
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.
(k) Since the initiation of Ordinance Number 1481 (CCS)~
creating a ten month and fifteen day moratorium, three public ,
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workshops have been held to help familiarize and involve the
public with issues to be addressed as part of a citywide growth
management strategy. A background report, fiscal analysis and
citywide Traffic study have been published and alternative growth
management strategies are in the process of being developed.
Pending completion of this process, it is necessary to extend the
interim control measures currently in effect so as to preserve
the existing character of the city and prevent any further
worsening of the traffic situation, jobs/housing imbalance, and
environmental quality, and will not further stress the existing
infrastructure.
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,
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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 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.
(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 8,000
C-3 Downtown 22,000
C3C Downtown Overlay 22,000
C-4 Highway Commercial 18,000
C-5 Special Office 22,000
C-6 Boulevard Commercial 22,000
CM Main Street 11,000
CP Commercial Professional 16,000
Ml Industrial Conservation 22,000
BCD Broadway Commercial 16,000
RVC Residential-Visitor
Commercial
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The Promenade
11,000
All other parts of
the District
22,000
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.
(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
II substantially
complete"
if
the
missing
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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.
SECTION 4. This Ordinance shall be of no further force and
effect ten months and fifteen days from its effective date.
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 affect 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
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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 upon adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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ROBERT M. MYERS U
city Attorney
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