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City Council Meeting:
Agenda Item: ~-~
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Eileen Fogarty, Planning & Community Development
Subject: Endorsement of Planning Principles for the Industrial Areas and
Consideration of Transportation Strategies in the Land Use and
Circulation Element Update Process
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. endorse "Industrial Lands Principles" as developed through the community
outreach process and summarized in this report; and
2. comment on the concepts presented at the first Transportation Workshop and
endorse general approach for development of Principles for the next
Transportation workshop.
Executive Summary
The Industrial Lands are well situated to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the
future transit stations to create neighborhoods near transit with workforce housing and
adjacencies to local, walkable services that will reduce auto trips. Many of the
community's desirable objectives for creative arts and incubator space, open space,
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sustainability and preservation can be advanced as the area is planned. These
considerations will be overlaid within the context of the desired urban fabric, massing
and scale, with particular attention to transitions between the adjacent residential areas.
An underlying assumption is that the City's industrial and related. employment-base
would be protected. The Principles considered by the community at the second
Industrial Lands workshop will be presented to Council in a supplemental report after
the workshop.
The Transportation workshop held on October 6~h engaged the public in a thoughtful
discussion regarding causes of traffic congestion, effective opportunities for action, and
measurement of the City's transportation system performance. The workshop was well-
attended with 140 actively engaged community members. Some of the key points for
Council discussion include:
• Different congestion types and locations require different solutions.
• Santa Monica should identify and incorporate proactive tools for managing future
regional congestion.
• Transportation Demand Management should be considered for major employers and
implemented on a "district" basis. Such measures can significantly reduce employee
auto trips associated with existing and new employment centers.
• Smarter parking management strategies that can have a major impact on specific
types of congestion by reducing the amount of vehicles and time spent searching for
a parking space should be introduced city wide.
• Planning for bicycles, transit and pedestrians needs to be further expanded and
integrated into the City's street fabric.
• New street classifications should be established to assure transit, auto, pedestrian
and bicycle continuity, connectivity and appropriateness to land use context.
• Greater connectivity in vehicular and pedestrian routes should be provided,
particularly where circulation patterns are not consistent with the City pattern.
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• Santa Monica would benefit from transportation performance measures that reflect
the largest goals of the city: that is, to balance congestion management with other
goals, including economic viability, quality of life and ecological sustainability.
Discussion
Background
The Principles for the City's new Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) are
gradually being formed through a series of interactive community workshops. The
intent is to continue developing principles through a series of workshops this fall and
winter and to develop a Draft LUCE concept plan for review by the public in late spring.
To date, the City has held three Neighborhood Preservation and Placemaking
workshops, one community-wide Placemaking workshop, two Industrial Lands
workshops and one Transportation workshop. Future workshops will address the City's
economic and housing diversity and the City's boulevards and commercial areas. A
number of smaller work sessions will address the Main Street, Montana and Downtown
areas as well as meetings with the city's major employers.
This report is intended to accomplish two objectives. First, the City held its second
Industrial Lands workshop on October 25th, where draft Industrial Lands Principles were
presented to the community for their comment and feedback. Since that meeting will
occur after the writing of this report, a supplemental report will be provided to
summarize community response to the Principles presented. It is intended that the
Council will review and potentially adopt Industrial Lands Principles at the October 30th
meeting
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A second purpose of this report is to share the initial concepts presented at the
Transportation workshop held October 6th to get feedback and direction from Council
concerning the development of these concepts. A second Transportation and Parking
workshop, to be held this winter, will share the draft Principles with the community for
their consideration and comment.
Industrial Lands Principles
The workshop participants reviewed proposed Principles for the "industrial lands" area
of the City, generally bounded by Centinela Avenue on the east, the I-10 Freeway on
the south, Lincoln Boulevard on the west and Colorado Avenue/Broadway on the north
as indicated in Exhibit A. This area contains the current LMSD (Light Manufacturing
and Studio District) and the M1 (Industrial Conservation District). The discussion
focused on three types areas envisioned for Santa Monica's future over the next 20
years.
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Exhibit A
Industrial Lands
• Traditional Industrial: There was strong support for preserving and fostering the
City's traditional industry as an important part of the City's economy and job base.
Maintaining this type of district will continue to provide lower cost opportunities for
small and incubator businesses. A recommended principle was to restrict housing in
this area to ensure future industrial land availability and create other small business
opportunities.
• Creative Arts/ Transit Neighborhoods: The two special opportunity areas adjacent
to the proposed transit stations in the vicinity of Memorial Park and Bergamot Station
were visualized as future creative arts neighborhoods. The areas would encourage
workforce housing convenient to neighborhood services within a walkable range to
reduce auto trips. A mix of arts and entertainment uses would be encouraged to
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create vitality throughout the week and into the evening hours. The Bergamot arts
center would be preserved and enhanced, servicing as a key focal point for the area.
• Mixed Use/ Creative Arts/ Industrial: Other areas would foster a variety of uses
including creative arts, industrial uses and housing. The primary use would be
creative arts with a range of housing types to be incentivized, including housing for
singles, families and seniors. There would be a special emphasis on affordable
workforce housing. Neighborhood and business serving retail would be encouraged
in specific locations to promote walking. Opportunities for new and sustainable
green industries would be fostered. Street-front commercial and industrial uses
would be encouraged along the light rail alignment.
Other principles proposed for the Industrial areas were general to the entire area and
were topical in nature. These included:
• Urban Design Principles for the Industrial Lands:
- Maintain and create fine-grained streetscape fabric
- Assure that buildings are appropriately scaled to their surroundings and the City.
- Assure that buildings are well designed and contribute to the "public benefit"
- Assure that buildings face and engage the street (the public realm) and are
compatible with the pedestrian scaled streetscape
- Establish overlay zones to assure compatibility of new construction with adjacent
residential neighborhoods and historic buildings
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• Open Space/ Park /Recreation Principles for Industrial Lands:
- Create a "Freeway Forest"
- Require green or open space public benefit with new major development
- Connect parks and open space with pedestrian and bike routes
• Transportation Principles for Industrial Lands:
- Focus "change areas" along transit routes
- Breakdown the I-10 Freeway barrier
- Provide goods and services within walking distance to reduce vehicle trips
- Move towards jobs/housing balance through mixed-use development that
includes workforce housing, extends the hours of transit use and mixes the
direction of peak hour travel
- Provide north-south Big Blue Bus transit connections to the light rail stations
• Parking Principles for Industrial Lands:
- Consider shared parking facilities for commercial development through a parking
district and capitalize on the diversity of uses (fewer spaces required)
- Consider reducing parking requirements near transit stations
- Consider maximum parking ratios
Several overarching implementation principles are key to the success of these
principles, including: (1) Consideration for coordination and timing with the development
of the light rail transit system; and (2) the need for the preparation of Specific or Area
Plans to provide more detailed guidance for the areas.
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Transportation Workshop
The October 6th workshop was the first comprehensive forum on the topic of
transportation in the LUCE community outreach effort. The workshop provided a forum
for the community to better understand the transportation issues facing the City and
also to become more knowledgeable about the opportunities for action. The format
included a series of presentations and interactive discussions with the 140 community
members participating.
The workshop proactively engaged the community in approaches to address congestion
and the quality of life within the City as related to the transportation system. Future
congestion is largely a result of regional factors that surround the City of Santa Monica
and there is no single approach that is going to address it. Rather, a range of strategies
knit together based on a comprehensive plan is proposed. The strategies include the
following considerations:
• Physical Measures: This includes connectivity of the grid system and ensuring
desirable facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists.
• Land Use Context and Connections: This includes opportunities created along
transit routes, and the light rail in particular. It also includes encouraging
services within walking distance of residential and employment nodes.
• Investment in Connectivity: This could include additional cross-town bus
service, encouragement of for car sharing programs at strategic locations and
provision of bike stations at major transit hubs.
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• Employment Demand Management Measures: This could include measures
that enhance the City's current program to significantly reduce auto trips.
• Address Specific Sources of Congestions: Some of the sources of
congestion internal to the City can be addressed at the source and these include
congestion related to employment, school drop-off and pick-up and special
events.
The workshop explored an approach for the City street system that would define each
street by a typology and would include consideration for the broader livable community
goals of the city to accommodate transit, walkers and bicyclists in additional to
automobiles. The workshop also presented a system of performance measures that
assess the quality of service for all modes including transit, auto, bicycle and
pedestrians.
Current Traffic
Identified Areas of Congestion and Level of Service maps for the entire City in the
morning and evening peak hours (Exhibits B-1 and B-2) indicated that congestion is
concentrated in certain areas. Much of the congestion is periodic, limited and localized
in the downtown, near freeway ramps, related to events or the beach, to parking
searches, specific intersection issues or school drop-off and pick-up. Five primary
sources of congestion, with solutions and recommendations offered for each were
identified (Exhibit C contains the full list of recommendations.)
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Exhibit B-1: Intersection Level of Service - AM Peak
Exhibit B-2: Intersection Level of Service - PM Peak
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1. Freeway Traffic: A key factor of traffic congestion is the backups relating to access
and egress to the I-10 Freeway. Short of congestion pricing, Santa Monica's options
to reduce the problem are very limited. The best approach is to locate this type of
congestion in areas of the city where it has the least impact. By "metering" traffic
coming on and off the freeway, Santa Monica can limit the number of cars that can
back up into the neighborhoods.
2. Employment: Employment is a large contributor to AM and PM peak traffic. It is
easier to create a modal shift for employment trips, i.e. reduce the number of single
occupancy vehicles, compared to other types of trips. Aggressive transportation
demand management (TDM) employer-based programs can significantly reduce
amount of traffic -Water Garden (as Development Agreement condition) reduced
trips by 50%. Other measures suggested for consideration in addressing work-
based trips are: parking cash-out requirements, universal transit passes, focusing
office space near transit; use of parking as management tool, personalized travel
information (i.e. "Travel Choice" programs that provide direct, personalized commute
options and incentives), incentives for existing employers and identify new funding
sources to help cover the cost of these programs (e.g. impact fees, public benefit
requirements, parking taxes, congestion pricing.)
3. School: School related traffic is a significant contributor to AM congestion (as much
as 25%) since it is concentrated in spot locations, with multiple turning movements,
double parking and other hazardous maneuvers. Walking and biking to school can
be encouraged as ways to reduce congestion and improve student fitness. Safe
Routes to Schools program have been proven to be very effective in that they
address both the physical aspects of safety and classroom activities to promote
safety and awareness. It was suggest that acity-wide Safe Routes to Schools
program could be developed. Also suggested were walking school buses for
elementary grades and universal transit passes for middle school-aged children and
older.
4. Beach: Santa Monica is one of the few places where the freeway takes you directly
to the beach. The parking is scattered in many locations, with motorists turning and
queuing for spaces. Expanding real-time parking information to include changeable
message signs to direct motorists approaching the beach to the closest available
parking was suggested. City staff recently obtained a grant from Metro for this
purpose. Another suggestion is to use variable pricing to manage demand. This
recommendation was implemented as part of the Coastal Circulation study a number
of years ago, but it may be time to assess and adjust the pricing again.
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5. Santa Monica Residents: Santa Monica residents own fewer cars and drive less
than typical for the region, and this is especially true for the mixed use
neighborhoods near transit. Santa Monica residents can walk to more services than
just about anywhere else in Los Angeles County. The measures that reinforce these
factors are related to land use decisions and the suggestions included:
• Promoting local retail by supporting mixed, local-serving, unique retail.
Locating services within walking distances reinforces the Placemaking
Principles developed in the previous workshops.
• Any new residential opportunity should be focused near retail corridors and
transit -and in Santa Monica these are currently the same. In the future the
Expo Light Rail will provide expanded options.
Additional suggestions to address resident needs included the expansion of residential
car share programs and unbundling residential parking costs.
Regional Growth
Santa Monica will need tools to manage the impacts of the tremendous amount of
projected regional growth. Effective, proactive traffic management requires a holistic
approach that focuses on many smaller changes as opposed to one major solution to
address traffic congestion.
Infrastructure -Great Streets
It is essential to expand our focus to a variety of transportation modes since no one
solution is going provide all the answers. One of Santa Monica's strengths is its
investment in all modes of transportation, as there are still many opportunities for
improvement. The general direction for further improvement could include:
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• Walking: Identify areas for sidewalks improvements, including the addition of
missing links, areas in need of widening and prioritized streetscape improvement
projects.
• Biking: Santa Monica has the future makings of a great biking city because of the
topography, size and climate. Three key elements are necessary: (1) provide a
connected bike network; (2) provide safe, sheltered places to park bikes; and (3)
encourage a supportive culture that treats cycling as an ever day activity.
suggestions included.
• Transit: Santa Monica has an important advantage in managing its own successful
transit system. Implementation of signal priority for four rapid buses bus routes
within the City is funded and underway as part of the City's signal upgrade program
(the City has received a grant from Metro for this and is implementing this
improvement sin Phases 2 and 3 of the City's Advance Signal Traffic Management
Program). Another resource is real-time bus arrival information at bus stops (note:
BBB is in the process of implementing this in the downtown and its busiest bus
stops.) Most significant is the incredible opportunity that the Expo light rail will bring,
preferably with three stations at Bergamot, 17th Street and downtown.
Measuring Success
The transportation system is ultimately a means of supporting the larger goal of
accessibility. Typical measures that address intersection delay (known as "level of
service" analysis) do not address other transportation modes, the person capacity of the
system and factors such as the average speed in a corridor. There are a number ways
to think about defining success of the City's transportation system.
Street Typologies: Part of the LUCE plan will be the creation of new street typologies
that identify land use context that transportation needs to support and the importance of
each street for the modal network. A neighborhood commercial district street has
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different needs and priorities than one of the boulevards or a neighborhood residential
street.
Quality of Service: Quality of service can then be used as a better indicator of how
well the transportation system works for. the community rather than level of service
Measurements can be developed to assess each mode. Examples of the types of
measures that could be used
• Transit: The measures could include frequency, hours of service, reliability,
capacity and travel speed by line, quadrant or some other factor.
• Automobile: The measure could include travel time between specific points and
the steadiness of the speed.
• Pedestrians: The measure could include perceived safety, quality of the
environment (sidewalk, land use adjacencies, greenery, level of traffic),
frequency of protected crossings.
• Bicycle: A bicycle compatibility index could be developed that would take into
consideration the roadway geometrics (number of lanes, width of lanes,
character of area); traffic operations data (speed, volumes, trucks, driveways);
and parking.
The workshop concluded with a discussion of how transportation serves the needs of
Santa Monica and the goals of our community. The Council-adopted goals for .the
Circulation Element were overlapped with the goals of the Sustainable City plan (Exhibit
D). This process enables the evaluation of transportation as a contributor to quality of
life beyond mobility, as a contributor of accessing goods, services and recreation rather
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than simply traveling quickly. Finally performance indicators that reflect the goals and
priorities of the community can be tracked over time, similar to the indicators
successfully used in the Sustainable City Plan. The idea that transportation can mean
walkable streets, vibrant retail districts and enjoyable access for people using all modes
resonated with most participants.
Transportation Workshop Follow-ua
Through a series of exercises, workshop participants identified locations where traffic is
perceived to be worse, locations where they thought inevitable freeway. on/off ramp
congestion should be concentrated, areas that should be relatively congestion-free, as
well as areas where some congestion is tolerable. Community members were receptive
to the strategies presented to reduce the need to drive and developed additional
strategies through their work in small groups. The output from the breakout groups is
being compiled by staff and will be presented at a follow-up transportation workshop this
winter.
Budaet/Financial Impact
The recommendations presented in this report do not have any budget or fiscal impacts.
Development
Forwarded to Council:
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Attachments:
Exhibit C: Measures for Consideration Presented at October 6 Transportation Workshop
Exhibit D: Potential Citywide Transportation Goals and Performance Measures
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EXHIBIT C:
MEASURES FOR CONSIDERATION
PRESENTED AT
OCTOBER 6 TRANSPORTATION WORKSHOP
Freeway Congestion
• Locate congestion where it has the least impact and keep it from spreading
• Identify local routes to avoid bottlenecks
• Smarter regional traffic management
• Create transportation alternatives that avoid congestion: Expo Line, Subway-to-
Sea, walking, biking
• Create and maintain local services to reduce Santa Monicans' need to drive long
distances
Employment/Shopping Congestion
• Create TDM program requirements: Adopt a trip reduction ordinance for all new
development that requires 30% fewer peak auto trips than typical (ITE rate)
• Parking cash-out requirement, allows employees/residents who don't drive to
take the cash value of the parking subsidy, use incentives to apply parking cash-
. out for existing businesses
• Universal Transit Pass Develop a joint universal pass program with Big Blue Bus
and MTA and require passes for all employees in new projects
• Focus any development near transit
Expo Stations
Downtown
o Rapid corridors
• Parking Management, manage parking to ensure adequate availability at all
times and reduce search traffic
• Adjust parking requirements to reflect trip reduction goals and use savings to
improve access by other modes
• Manage spillover into residential neighborhoods -and capture its value
• Price parking to discourage peak hour driving
• Personalized travel information programs reach out to commuters and provide
direct, personalized commute options and incentives
• Incentives for trip reductions for existing employers:
o Create Business .Improvement Districts or Community Benefit Districts and
provide matching funds
o Provide better city services for employers and districts that reduce trips -
streetscape projects, sidewalk cleaning, etc.
o Tiered pricing for programs, like universal transit passes
o Awards and advertising
o Tax incentives and impact fees
Identify new funding sources:
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o Development Impact Fee. Base on auto trips using URBEMIS (San
Joaquin County), but use to fund transit, TDM, etc (San Francisco)
o Public Benefits requirements
o Parking Impact Fee on new development
o Parking tax
o Congestion pricing (London, Stockholm, being pursued in San Francisco,
New York.)
School Congestion
• Develop Safe Routes to Schools Program
o Include traffic calming and other engineering investments
o Include classroom component
• Implement universal transit pass program for students including elementary,
middle, high schools and colleges
Beach Congestion
• Changeable message signs on major approaches to direct drivers to available
parking
• Variable pricing at beach parking lots -high enough in the summer so just a few
spaces are usually available, lower cost or free when demand is low
• Access management at beach parking lots to reduce turning and queuing
vehicles
Santa Monica Residents
• Promote Local Retail
o Support mixed, locally serving, unique retail
o Consider formula retail restrictions
o Monitor retail imbalances and establish moratoria on specific uses as
necessary
• Focus change around transit and retail: any new residential opportunity should
be focused near retail corridors and transit - in Santa Monica, these are the
same
• Residential Carshare Program
• Unbundle Residential Parking Costs, separate the cost of housing from the cost
of parking, particularly in rental housing
Pedestrian Recommendations
Develop Quality of Service standards and map
Complete missing sidewalk sections and widen where possible
Prioritize major streetscape improvement project
Bicycling Recommendations
• Incremental implementation of bike network
• Bike Station at Expo Line terminus
• Bicycle Boulevards
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Transit Recommendations
Support Expo Line and plan station locations at Bergamot Station, 17th St/SMC
and Downtown
Improve signal prioritization for buses on primary transit streets, especially
Wilshire, Santa Monica, Ocean Park, Main and Lincoln
Provide more real-time bus arrival information at bus stops
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EXHIBIT D:
Potential Citywide Transportation Goals and Performance Measures
The transportation system needs to support not just local mobility, but all of the City's
goals. In order to measure how well the transportation system supports these goals,
quantifiable performance measures are necessary.
The following chart draws from two sets of goals adopted by the City of Santa Monica.
It starts with the eight goals of the Sustainable City Plan. Under the Sustainable City
Plan's "Transportation" goal, the adopted goals of the General Plan's Transportation
Element are included.
Following each goal is a brief description of the key ways the transportation system
supports this goal and a potential way of measuring the degree to which transportation
is successful in doing so. The proposed performance measures were developed to:
• Draw from existing data already being collected by the City, or data that is readily
available
• Form the shortest possible list of measures that still capture the essence of the
goals
• Remain comprehensible to the public and elected officials, allowing for a simple
"dashboard" report on the transportation system's overall performance
Ado ted and Pro osed Goals Potential Measures
Environmental Responsibility: For a transportation .Total Vehicle Miles Traveled.
system that minimizes, and where possible elimina#es, .Per Capita Vehicle Miles
pollution, energy consumption, greenhouse gas Traveled.
emissions and vehicle congestion These measures closely correlate
with most of the environmental
im acts of trans ortation
Personal Health: Reduce rates of cardiovascular • Pedestrian and bicycle mode split,
disease and obesity through increased rates of walking including school trips
and bic clin articular) for school tri s
Personal Safety: See "Universal Safety" under .See below
Transportation, below.
..
Environmental Responsibility: See Resource .See above
Conservation, above
Community Care: For a transportation system that .Accessibility index for specific
links conveniently-placed land uses and amenities to locations across the city.
enable people to be health, to pursue fitness, cultural,
educational and commercial opportunities and
artici ate in the communit
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Ado ted and Pro osed Goals Potential Measures
Effective Transportation System: For everyone to .Mode split
get where they need to go comfortably, and where .Peak hour person capacity of
walking, bicycling and using transit replace as many specific corridors
auto trips as possible to reduce congestion and
maintain mobilit as travel demand rows
Local and Regional. Mobility: For people to be able to Peak hour person delay between
travel easily within Santa Monica and to and from specific points.
regional destinations in a way that preserves the quality .Motor vehicle speed and volume
of life in residential neighborhoods on specific non-arterial residential
streets
Universal Safety: For pedestrians, cyclists, transit- Rates, locations and causes of
riders and drivers to feel and be safe regardless of their transportation related injuries and
age or ability fatalities.
• Surveyed perception of travel
safety
Well Designed Spaces: For quality designed Citywide Pedestrian Quality of
pedestrian-oriented public spaces so people can travel Service analysis
quickly and comfortably, can enjoy the outdoors and .Accessibility Transition Plan
interact with other people Implementation
~- - ..
'Local Retail. Support locally serving retail within .Accessibility index (see
walking distance of most residents Community Care)
• Local retail district sales tax per
square foot for businesses under
-2,000 square feet
• Pedestrian Quality of Service (see
Well Desi ned S aces
Parking availability. Ensure adequate parking Ensure approximately 15% of
availability, particularly for retailers. spaces are available in all lots and
garages and on all blocks at all
times.
•.• ..
Special Streets. Ensure a high degree of use and • Average daily pedestrian use of
maintenance for Santa Monica's unique recreational designated streets, such as San
and ceremonial streets Vicente median, Oceanfront Walk,
Beach Bike Path, Palisades Park.
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Ado ted and Proposed Goals Potential Measures
Jobs/Housing Match. Locate employment to be • Percent of homes in Santa Monica
accessible via transit to housing units that match the affordable to Santa Monica
salary of the jobs provided workers
• Percent of homes in key transit
corridors affordable to Santa
Monica workers
Housing + Transportation Costs. Create more Rate of residential parking
housing opportunities by reducing the costs of unbundling
transportation for residents • Rate of transit pass program
utilization
..
Program Awareness. Santa Monicans should be • Rate of familiarity with
aware of their transportation choices. transportation options offered in
Santa Monica
~.
Equity. Ensure the costs and benefits of transportation • Ensure all other measures are
investments accrue equitably to Santa Monicans, met equitably across the city,
regardless of income, race, age or ability. especially locations with
concentrations of low income,
elderly, children and disabled
residents.
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Eileen P. Fogarty, Director Planning & Community Development
Subject: Workshop Follow-up on Land Use and Circulation Element Principles for
Industrial Area
Executive Summary
On October 25, 2007 the LUCE team held the second Industrial Lands Workshop with
approximately 120 members of the community in attendance. Developed from
community input received during Industrial Lands Workshop No. 1 held in July, 2007,
the second workshop explored Guiding Principles, a draft Land Use Diagram and
Concepts for two Opportunity Sites centered around proposed Exposition Line stations
at Memorial Park and .Bergamot Station. The community, working with facilitators at
nine breakout tables, provided the LUCE team with critique and input. on the principles,
the land use diagram and the opportunity site concepts. There was general community
support for all three components presented.
Discussion
Key to the LUCE process has been the identification of Guiding Principles: The Guiding
Principles are statements of intent that guide the continuing process of developing the
Plan. The Council has "endorsed" the Principles for the Neighborhood and
Placemaking Workshops. The Council's endorsements provide direction to the planning
team for the next steps of the planning process. The following Residential/Placemaking
Principles were identified as overarching principles that were identified in earlier
workshops and endorsed by the Council:
1
• Protect/Enhance Residential Neighborhoods (the residential neighborhoods create
Santa Monica's overall defining character):
• Provide neighborhood serving services at boulevard transit nodes w/in walking
distance;
• Create active/vital mixed-use "Places" with neighborhood services;
• Enhance the pedestrian environment: including walkways and lighting;
• Promote "Safe Routes to Schools Program."
Industrial Lands Draft Principles:
The draft Principles in Exhibit 1 below were developed based on the community input
provided at the first Industrial Lands Workshop in July. The list of draft Principles below
was provided to each of the attendees at the October 25t" workshop. Following a
presentation of the principles the community formed nine workgroups to discuss the
principles. In addition to the group discussion each of the attendees was encouraged
to fill out the form to provide input on the principles.
Overall the principles were well received by the community. An initial analysis of the 76
evaluation forms returned by the attendees indicates that of the 55 general principles 47
were strongly supported. Only one was not supported -Provide opportunities for auto
related industry. The principles that were modestly supported included:
• Limit housing in the industrial lands west of Memorial Park
• Maintain the commitment to the City owned mobile home park
• Capitalize on opportunities adjacent to transit stations
• Consider shared parking near transit stations
• Consider maximum parking requirements rather than minimum
• Price parking to maximize the efficiency and support land use goals
The latter three will be addressed in more detail at the upcoming community workshop
on parking policy planned for December.
2
Following Council's endorsement of Principals for the Industrial Areas, planning will
proceed to the next steps to analyze transportation/circulation considerations, conduct
market analysis to ensure a sound market for the proposals, conduct economic analysis
to ensure a sound basis for future real estate development, and assess capital and
operational funding requirements for proposed public initiatives.
Exhibit 1 -Industrial Lands Principles
Industrial Land Use Principles
• Maintain support for City's Industrial Lands as an important part of its economic and job base;
• Preserve the opportunities for appropriate large/small employers;
• Maintain the use, character and scale of the traditional M-1 zone for small and incubator
businesses;
• Limit housing in the industrial lands west of Memorial Park to ensure a future supply of industrial
land;
• Capitalize on Opportunities Adjacent to Transit Stations with focus of change on Opportunity
Sites 1 -Memorial Park & 2 Bergamot;
• Require Mixed-Use Commercial /Residential @ Transit Nodes to:
• Support Jobs/Housing Balance;
• Mix Direction of Peak Hour Travel;
• Extend Hrs/Days of Transit Use;
• Provide 18 hr/7 day activities
• Maintain/create the fine-grained city urban designed streetscape fabric;
• Assure that buildings are appropriately scaled to their surrounding & the city.
• Assure that buildings are well designed & contribute to the "public benefit" through the provision
of open space, enhanced landscape and/or public art
• Assure that buildings face & engage the street (the public realm) and are compatible with the
pedestrian scaled streetscape;
• Assure pedestrian scaled sidewalks &streetscapes:
• Adequate width;
• Landscaped;
• Lighting;
• Ground level building activities
• Assure mixed-use development at or near transit nodes to assure a vital, 18 hr/7 day
environment and transportation/parking diversification;
Urban Design Principles
• Maintain/create the fine-grained city urban designed streetscape fabric;
• Assure that buildings are appropriately scaled to their surrounding & the city.
• Assure that buildings are well designed & contribute to the "public benefit" through the provision
of open space, enhanced landscape and/or public art
• Assure that buildings face & engage the street (the public realm) and are compatible with the
pedestrian scaled streetscape;
• Assure pedestrian scaled sidewalks &streetscapes:
3
• Adequate width;
• Landscaped;
• Lighting;
• Ground level building activities
• Assure mixed-use development at or near transit nodes to assure a vital, 18 hr/7 day
environment and transportation/parking diversification;
• Create a pedestrian environment along Colorado Avenue and the LRT alignment;
• Establish overlay zones to assure protection and compatibility of new construction w/ adjacent
residential neighborhoods and historic building resources;
• Provide retail or other active retail along the ground floor of primary pedestrian streets.
Open Space/Park/Recreation Principles
• Provide Opportunities for New or Expansion of Public Open Space/Parks/Recreation space;
• Consider Bridging I-10 to create new park space. Study
environmental and health impacts due to auto emissions;
• Require public access green or open space with new major development;
• Connect parks and open space with pedestrian and bike routes;
• Create a "Freeway Forest" by increasing the number of trees and the tree canopy along the I-10
embankment;
• Create a "Green Streets" program to increase the amount and quality
of the landscaping on public streets;
Transportation Principle
• Focus "change areas" at strategic locations along transit routes and nodes;
• Provide greater connectivity and continuity for vehicles and pedestrians through the large blocks
- reduce the size of the grid;
• Break down the I-90 Freeway Barrier
• Provide goods/services w/in walking distance to reduce vehicle trips;
• Move toward jobs housing balance in the corridor through mixed-use development;
• Extends the hours of use of transit;
• Mixes direction of peak hour travel;
• Expand "Transit Demand Management" - on all projects -Consider TDM by district;
• Enhance Big Blue Bus transit connections and frequency to transit hubs and activity centers;
• Create new street priorities to assure vehicular, pedestrian & bike continuity/connectivity;
• Promote Concept of "Flex Cars & Flex Bikes"
Parking Principles
• Consider shared parking facilities for commercial development through a parking district;
• Capitalize upon the diversity of uses (fewer spaces required)
• Create centralized parking to eliminate on-grade parking lots;
• Consider reducing parking requirements near transit stations;
• Consider maximum parking requirements rather than minimum parking when development is
supported by transit;
• Potential to lower the cost of housing near transit centers
• Price parking to maximize efficiency and support land use goals;
Implementation Principles
• Develop Implementation Plan to assure coordination of transit systems
availability w/ new development;
• Prepare Specific/or Area Plans to provide more detailed guidance.
4
Sustainability Principles
• Santa Monica is committed to meeting its existing needs without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs;
• Santa Monica is committed to protecting, preserving and restoring the natural environment and
cultural resources;
• Santa Monica is committed to providing equal opportunities for all citizens;
• The City will lead by example and encourage other community stakeholders to use sustainable
principles to guide their decisions and actions;
• The City will act as a strong advocate for the development and implementation of model
programs and innovative approaches by regional, state and federal government that embody the
goals of sustainability;
• Partnerships among the City government, businesses, residents and all community stakeholders
will be utilized to achieve a sustainable community.
Land Use Districts
A preliminary designation of Land Use Districts was presented at the second workshop
along with two Opportunity Sites that were identified by the community at first workshop
in July.
Exhibit 2 -Proposed Land Use Districts
~: ° .
x
oiagramnatk ..
Go~eptual..
Sams
eg. a ....' r ~-l'l .i.'
-Work Force or; .~ :: ~~ ~~ AR1.1r:-'
,~
Afrortlabie HOUSig .. .. ., ' ~-.
• :. ~~'y ,
a . t~bt.'ZA 't,±
e~x.r u~~..r..,. <_„ ,rte _.... ..
~ { .,~1elgGt~St4fte4 4i1s t nonus xp eiuca.u
3.efntlaedll' w(Pnmw
5
The Land Use Diagram above (Exhibit 2) indicates three primary Land Use Districts in
addition to the two Opportunity Sites. The Traditional Industrial District is characterized
as being similar to the existing M-1 Zone with the intent of maintaining an area of the
City where small and incubator businesses could flourish. Residential uses with their
currently higher land values would be limited to ensure the maintaining an inventory of
lower priced industrial lands. The existing low Floor Area Ration (FAR) requirement of
1.0 is maintained along with a height limit of 30.' The Traditional Industrial Land w/
Housing Option District was presented as an area within the Traditional Industrial
District that could, with more study accommodate infill housing.
The Boulevard District is identified for the north side of Colorado and both sides of
Broadway to create active pedestrian streets and include ground level retail or active
pedestrian uses with two stories or residential or commercial use above
The Mixed-Use Creative Arts Infill District supports "loft" type uses relating to the
entertainment industry. While the "primary use" is the creative arts use, residential is
acceptable as a secondary use to support the joblhousing balance and to establish an
active area with 18hour/day/7 day /week activity. Within this district a Main Street
overlay is identified with the concept of developing a neighborhood serving commercial
district along Nebraska.
OPPORTUNITY 51TE 1
This area capitalizes on the potential for aMid-Town LRT station, the potential to
significantly expand Memorial Park and the opportunity to joint-venture with the
SMMUD. The following are the Principles for Opportunity Site 1
• Capitalize upon the potential Exposition LRT Midtown Station location; (Olympic
or Colorado)
• Create enhanced pedestrian environment connecting medical campuses and
Santa Monica College;
6
• Expand/enhance the park and open space;
• Consider expansion south and over the I-10,
• Capitalize on joint-use potential with SMMUSD School District
• Optimize land for park
and school district
facilities:
• Consider a demonstration
mixed-use Admin Bldg,
Small High School,
Retail, Commercial
with Work Force Housing;
Create amixed-use, vital, urban neighborhood surrounding the station and the
expanded park facilities:
• Seek a jobs housing balance;-
• Incorporate gathering places to support social interaction, community
events;
• Assure buildings that are appropriate scaled, well designed and provide
public benefit,
• Provide diversity of peak hour trips;
• Provide local serving retail to provide residential services within walking
distance and to provide mid-day services to workers;
• Create an 18 hour/day- 7 day/week active safe environment,•
• Provide for workforce housing to accommodate teachers/hospital
workers/public employees;
• Provide neighborhood serving retail
• Create a parking district to ensure "shared" commercial parking to:
• Capitalize on diversity of uses,
• Maintain the public control of parking policy.
• Reduce the parking requirements to reflect access to parking, recreation and
services;
• Require Transit Demand Management for institutional and commercial users to
spread the peak hour demand
A general land use strategy is documented in the following concept diagram:
7
Exhibit 3 -Opportunity Site 1
m:
1. Memorial Park'-Enlarge public ~'*'
park open space;
2. Fisher Lumber property. has
bought for City use;
3. JA:Venture with SMMSD per their MP;
.=Convert:SMMUSR property to'.park ;~
• Abantlon 16th Street
• Create mixed-use complex on the
Fisher Lumber site
• e.g. 2 stories of retail, district
offices,. commercial w/ 2 firs..
or workforce residential above
4. incorporate Exposition LRT .a.:
5. Support;mixed-use development on
parcelssurrountltng the-park ~.^.
• :west of 14~ up to 4atorles with
'
:upper floors residential
• North side of Colorado up to 3
stories w/ upper floors residential
• East side of 17~^ up to 3 stories w!
'
upper floors resideptial
6. Expantl Park over I-10 '' t.
~aae~sr
OPPORTUNITY SITE 2 -BERGAMOT PARK
lase parcels asthey become
bie -.integrate appropriate uses
ie park
sz
The following are the Principles for Opportunity Site 1
• Maintain and enhance the Bergamot Station
art & cultural core;
• Capitalize upon the Exposition LRT Station;
• Enhance the park and open space;
• Reduce the scale of the former railroad/
agricultural roadway grid to:
• Enhance the diversity of pedestrian routes
• Provide greater connectivity
• Require mixed-use development to:
• Seek a jobs housing balance
• Provide diversity of peak hour trips
• Provide local serving retail to provide residential services within walking
distance and to provide mid-day services to workers
• Enhance the pedestrian environment and connections to the surrounding areas;
• Require "shared" commercial parking through a parking district to
• Capitalize on diversity of uses,
• Maintain the public control of parking policy.
• Require Transit Demand Management on a district level to spread the peak hour
demand
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Exhibit 4 -Opportunity Site 2 Plan
'$~® Land Use 3 Circulation ElamenE
e°-^'~ RfpTtpN
t Noy 9 ,:° ......
This area of the City provides the opportunity for new development and new intensified
in-fill development around the proposed Bergamot LRT station. The intent is to
maintain the existing Bergamot Station area as the focus of arts community and to
capitalize on the redevelopment of the former Papermate property. The construction of
shared parking facilities provides the opportunity to consolidate parking and create new
infill development on the current on-grade parking lots. While the creative arts
commercial development would be the primary use, residential would be required as a
secondary use to insure that the area around the station is populated and supports an
active, vital 18/7 neighborhood.
There was general agreement that the light rail was a key element in the community's
future and that future areas of change should be tied to the area of the light rail or other
9
transit improvement areas. There was strong support for the Colorado Avenue
Exposition Line alignment v. the Olympic Boulevard alignment. While some individuals
expressed concern about an increase of density around the light rail stations, the vast
majority of the community in the breakout sessions supported the concept of mixed-use
at somewhat higher densities. The need to have a mix of housing and jobs was well
understood as well as the concept of shared parking which results in less parking and
continued public control over parking policy. Some questioned whether reduced
parking would still want to locate in these locations with less parking. The potential for
additional open space and recreation areas was well received along with the concept of
bridging over I-10, which was originally brought up by citizens in the initial Industrial
Workshop. Maintaining a strong presence of the arts in the industrial area was deemed
important.
Creative strategies were expressed by the community such as the Transfer of
Development Rights (TDR) which would allow small, valuable community businesses to
sell their development rights and remain economically whole. Some felt that the 1.0
FAR in the Traditional Industrial was not sufficient to encourage continued economic
activity over the twenty year period of the plan.
The principle of protecting and enhancing the existing neighborhoods was expressed
through concerns of residential parking being taken away and the need for residential
permit parking.
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Approved: Forwarded to Council: