SR-080527-8Cc7®
City of City °O~! 11J~ I ^ \Gp®~ 6
Santa Monica
City Council Meeting: May 27, 2008
Agenda Item: 8-C
To: Mayor and City Council
From: City Clerk, Director of Records and Election Services
Subject: Qualification of Initiative Petition for Proposed Ordinance Entitled
Residents' Initiative to Fight Traffic
Recommended Action
It is recommended that the City Council accept the qualified initiative petition for a
proposed ordinance entitled "Residents' Initiative to Fight Traffic," (RIFT) as verified by
the Los Angeles County Clerk/Registrar Recorder and do one of the following:
1. adopt the ordinance;
2. direct staff to return on June 10, 2008, with a resolution and ballot language
placing the measure on the November 4, 2008, municipal election ballot; or,
3. Council already having directed staff to conduct a study on the possible impacts
of the proposed measure, direct staff to return with the results of that study within
30 days.
Executive Summary
On January 16, 2008, a notice of intent to circulate a petition proposing an ordinance to
amend the Land Use Element of the General Plan to establish an annual limit on
commercial development in Santa Monica was filed with the City Clerk's office. A copy
of the text of the proposed ordinance, and the ballot title and summary as prepared by
the City Attorney, are attached as Exhibit A. The petition was subsequently circulated
and then submitted to the City Clerk's office on April 23, 2008, containing approximately
10,222 signatures.
Upon submittal of the petition, the City Clerk requested the Los Angeles County
Clerk/Registrar Recorder ("County Clerk") to verify the signatures submitted therein. In
order to qualify the measure for the November 2006 election, the petition needed a
minimum of 10% of the registered voter population at the time of publishing the notice of
intent to circulate the petition.
1
The registered voter population at the time of publishing was 58,571, and based on that
number, 5,857 valid signatures were needed for qualification. The County Clerk's Office
has verified that the petitions contain the minimum number of valid signatures required
to place the proposed ordinance on the ballot for a public vote (Exhibit B).
Discussion
The Election Code provides for Council to: adopt the ordinance as submitted at the
meeting at which the qualified petition is presented or within 10 days after it is
presented; or to submit the ordinance to the voters; or to order a report on the effects of
the proposed measure.
As to ordering a report on the proposed measure, State Elections Code provides in
Section 9212, in part, as follows:
9212. Report on effect of proposed initiative to legislative body.
(a) During the circulation of the petition, or before taking either action
described in subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 9214, or Section 9214, the legislative
body may refer the proposed initiative measure to any city agency or agencies for a
report on any or all of the following:
And also,
b) The report shall be presented to the legislative body within the time
prescribed by the legislative body, but no later than 30 days after the elections
official cerfi~es to the legislative body the sufficiency of the petition.
At the meeting of April 29, 2008, while the measure was being circulated, Council
directed staff to conduct economic and fiscal assessments for the proposed measure.
As provided for in Subsection 9212(b), Council may direct staff to return with the results
of the study no later than 30 days after accepting the qualified petition. If Council
chooses this option, when staff returns with said report on June 22, 2008, Council must
do one of the following: Adopt the ordinance, without alteration; or submit the
ordinance, without alteration, to the voters.
2
As noted above, Council also has the option at this time to either adopt the ordinance as
presented, with no changes, or approve a motion to place the measure on the ballot and
direct staff to return with a resolution approving the ballot language.
Budget/Financial Impact
If Council opts for adopting the ordinance, there will be no election-related costs. Costs
related to implementation and enforcement of the ordinance are unknown at this time.
Staff can provide this information at a subsequent meeting. If Council places the
measure on the November 4th ballot, the cost will be covered by the funds budgeted for
the municipal election:
Prepared by:
Maria M. Stewart, City Clerk
Attachments:
Exhibit A: Ballot Title and Summary and
Text of Proposed Ordinance
Exhibit B: Verification of Qualification of Petition
Approved:
Forwarded to Council:
Maria M. Stewart ~ ~. L,afvfont Ewell
Director, Records and Election Services Ci anager
3
The Residents! Initiative to Fight Traffic
January 16, 2008
To the Honorable Registrar of Voters of the City.of Santa Monica: We, the
undersigned, registered and quali£ed voters of the City of Santa Monica, hereby propose
an initiative measure to amend the Santa Monica General Plan. We petition you to
submit this measure to the City Council of the City of Santa Monica for adoption or
submission of the measure to the voters of the City of Santa Monica at the earliest
election for which it qualifies.
The measure provides as follows: ,
The Residents' Initiative to Fight Traffic
The people of the City of Santa Monica do hereby ordain as follows:
Section 1. Findings and Purse.
A. Santa Monica is only 8 square miles, yet it is one of the most densely populated and
traffic congested cities in Southern California. Excessive development and an explosion
of new office and commercial buildings have brought in too much traffic and threaten to
change the very nature of our beach community. For example:
• Between 1980 and 2007, our city witnessed an unprecedented expansion in
commercial development, adding more than 9,000,000 square feet of new office,
retail, and industrial space. This is the square footage equivalent of adding over
16 Santa Monica Place malls.
• This flood of development has negatively impacted our city, our neighborhoods,
and Santa Monica residents by increasing traffic congestion, parking problems,
pollution, and demands on our infrastructure.
• Commercial development typically generates at least three to four times the
amount of traffic as residential.
• The vision of the 1984 General Plan to promote commercial growth has been met
and exceeded by this unprecedented pace of development.
• Since 1995, growth in commercial space (office, retail, and industrial. uses such as
studio and post production facilities) has averaged 160,000 square feet per year,
the squaze footage equivalent of adding one new Santa Monica Place mall So our
city every three and a half yeazs.
• Growth is expected to continue at this pace for the next 20 years, adding
approximately 3,200,000 squaze feet of new commercial development, of the
square footage equivalent of almost six new Santa Monica Place malls, to our
already congested city.
e Continued unsustainable development at this level-will have dire impacts on
traffic and on Santa Monica residents' quality of life.
Page 1 of 9
B. This measure will put residents bank in control of our city by putting a reasonable,
common sense limit on future non-residential development. Specifically:
• This measure will cut Santa Monica's projected commercial growth in half.
• This measure exempts residential; schools, and other uses vital to the well being
of our community.
• By capping annual commercial development at a level that allows a reasonable
rate of growth, this measure will ensure that our city has the time to develop the
physical, economic, and social infrastructure to keep pace with development.
• -This measure will give our city the opportunity to create a competitive selection
process for potential commercial development; resulting in high-quality.projects
that best meet our community's goals and objectives.
• This measure will prevent the massive over-development of our neighborhoods
and ensure that residents have a'say in the future of our city.
Section 2. General Plan Amendments.
This initiative hereby amends Part.1.0 of the Land Use Element Objectives and Policies
of the Santa Monica General Plan adopted October 23, 1984, as amended through .
January 16, 2008, to add the following new policies immediately following Policy 1.1.1
on page 84:
Policy 1.1.2. The total amount of commercial development approved citywide each
calendar year shall be limited to 75,000 square feet of floor area as set forth below.
A. For the purposes of this policy, "commercial development" means a
building or portion of a building approved for any use other than
residential, parkirig, schools, child or adult day care facilities, hospitals,
rest homes, residential care facilities for the elderly, places of worship,
government facilities, orneighborhood-serving goods, services, or retail
uses that are located on the ground floor of an affordable housing
development in which one hundred percent.of the dwelling units are
designated for affordable housing in a manner approved by the City.
B. The annual limit on total commercial development approvals does not
apply to approval of any project that, pursuant to State law does not
require, or pursuant to the Santa Monica Municipal Code in effect January
16, 2008 would not have required, approval of either the Planning
Commission or the City Council
C. In calculating the amount of commercial development subject to the
annual limit:
1. Floor area shall be balculated in accordance with the standards set
forth in section 9.04.02.030.315 ofthe Santa Monica Municipal Code
in effect on January 16, 2008 excluding from such calculations any
Page 2 of 9
non=commercial development (e.g., parking and other uses excluded
from the meaning of the term as defined in paragraph A, above) or
commercial development otherwise not subject to the annual limit.
2. Projects subject to the annual limit that replace or remodel an existing
building may receive credit for some or all of the floor area of the
existing building based on the traffic generated by the new building in
comparison to the original building. The floor area subjee# to the
annual limit calculated.pursuant to paragraph C.1, above, shall be
reduced by an amount determined as follows:
i. Using the most recently available trip generation methodology
and data from the Institute of Traffic Engineers (ITE) or a
comparable source used by jurisdictions of comparable size to
Santa Monica, the City shall ascertain the number of vehicle
trips per week {on a gross basis without adjustments to trip
generation established by the ITE or other documentation)
associated with (a) the building to be remodeled or replaced
(based on the size, design, and primary use of the building for
the last two years) and (b) the new building (based on the
approved size, design, and all conditions of approval affecting
use of the building).. Each number shall be divided by the
square footage of the building to which it applies to ascertain,
for the purposes of this policy only, the projected trips per
square foot for each building.
ii. If the new building will generate the same or fewer trips per
square foot than the original building, then the-entire squaze
footage of the original building shall be subtracted from the
squaze footage of the new building for the purposes of
calculating the floor area of the building t#rat is subject to the
annual limit. For example, if a 5,000 square foot building is
replaced by a 7,500 square foot building and the new building
would generate the same amount of traffic per squaze foot as
the original building, then the floor area of the new building
contributing to the annual limit would be reduced to 2,500
square feet:
iii. If the new building will generate more trips per square foot
than the original building, then a portion of the square footage
of the original building shall be subtracted from the squaze
footage of the new building for the purposes of calculating. the
floor area of the building that is subject to the annual limit..
The portion to be subtracted shall be in proportion to the
difference in the number of trips per square foot between the
two buildings. For example, if a 5,000 square foot building
Page 3 of 9
with one trip per square foot is replaced by a 7,500 squaze foot
building with two trips per square foot, then half the square
footage of the original building (2,500 square feet) would be
subtracted from the squaze footage of the new building and the
area of the new building contributing to the annual limit would
be 5,000 squaze feet.
3. The annual limit for a given calendar year shall be adjusted upwazds
by the total square footage of projects approved after Januazy 1, 2008 ,
which have not been built and for which during the preceding calendar
yeaz the Planning Commission or City Council approval expired.
D. The city may borrow commercial development allocations from up to four
years in the future so that total commercial development approvals in a
single year may exceed 75,000 square feet of floor area. In such cases,
however, the average annual square footage approved over the following
four years must be reduced below 75,000 square feet so that the average
for the five-year period including the first year and'the four following
years may not exceed 75,000 squaze feet per year.
E. Under no circumstances shall the average square footage of commercial
development approved over any five-yeaz period exceed 75,000 squaze
feet per year. To ensure that the city benefits from this policy as quickly
as possible and to offset the effects of commercial development approvals
issued prior to the adoption of this policy, the initial five year period for
calculating the average annual square footage. shall begin January 1, 2008
such that the average square footage approved for the period January 1,
2008 through December 31, 2012 shall not exceed 75,000 square feet per
year.
Policy 1,1.3. A cornerstone principle of this General Plan is ensuring that development
is consistent with this General Plan and proceeds at a sustainable pace. In furtherance of
this central goal, the People of Santa Monica, by initiative measure, have adopted Policy
1.1.2 and this Policy 1.1.3.
A. The General Plan may be updated, amended, or reorganized, and
individual goals and policies maybe renumbered or reordered in the
course of ongoing updates of the General Plan in accordance with the
requirements of State law, but Policies 1.1.2 and 1.1.3 may not be
amended or repealed except by a vote of the people before December 31,
2023. After that date these policies maybe amended by the City Council
in accordance with applicable laws.
B. Nothing in this Policy or Policy 1.1.2 precludes. the City Council from
seeking voter approval for commercial development in excess of the limit
established in Policy 1.1.2.
Page 4 of 9
Section 3. Implementation.
A: Upon the effective date of this initiative, the provisions of Section 2 of the
initiative are hereby inserted into the Land Use Element Objectives and Policies of the '
Santa Monica Genera] Plan as an amendment thereto, except that if the four amendments
of the mandatory elements of the General Plan permitted by State law for any given
calendar year already have been utilized in the year in which the initiative becomes
effective, this General. Plan amendment shall be the first amendment inserted into the
Santa Monica General Plan on January 1 of the next year. When this General Plan
amendment is inserted into the Santa Monica General Plan, any provisions of the Santa
Monica Municipal Code that are inconsistent with this General Plan amendment shall not
be enforced in a manner inconsistent with this General Plan amendment.
B. ~ The date that the notice of intention to circulate this initiative measure was
submitted to the elections official of the City of Santa Monica is referenced herein as the
"submittal date," The Santa Monica General Plan in effect on the submittal date and the
General Plan as amended by this initiative comprise. an integrated, intemally consistent
and compatible statement of policies for the City of Santa Monica. In order to ensure that
nothing in this initiative measure would prevent the Santa Monica General Plan from
being an integrated, internally consistent and compatible statement of the policies of the
City, as required by State ]aw, and to ensure that the actions of the voters in enacting this
initiative aze given effect, any amendment to the General Plan that is adopted between the
submittal date and the date that the General Plan is amended by this initiative measure
shall, to the extent that such interim-enacted provision is inconsistent with the General
Plan provisions adopted by Section 2 of this initiative measure, be amended as soon as
possible and in the manner and time required by State law to ensure consistency between
the provisions adopted by this initiative and other elements of the Santa Monica General
Plan.
C. Policy 1.1.2 adopted by this initiative provides that for the purposes of calculating
floor area subject to the annual limit on commercial development, floor azea shall be
calculated in accordance with the standards set forth in section 9.04.02.030.315 of the
Santa Monica Municipal Code in effect on January 16, 2008. A copy of that section of
the Code is included in this measure as Attachment A for informational purposes. This
measure does not limit the ability of the City Council to amend the referenced section of
the Municipal Code; provided, however; that the initiative does require the city to use the
provisions of the Code as presented in the attachment in making the calculations required
by the initiative.
D. The City of Santa Monica is hereby authorized and directed to amend the Santa
Monica General Plan, all specific plans, the Santa Monica Zoning Ordinance, the Santa
Monica Zoning Map, and other ordinances and policies affected by tlils initiative as soon
as possible to ensure consistency between the policies adopted in this initiative and other
elements of the Santa Monica Gerferal Plan, all specific plans, the Santa Monica Zoning
Ordinance, the Santa Monica Zoning Map, and other city ordinances and policies.
Page 5 of 9
E. Except as provided in Section 4 of this initiative or as otherwise required by State
or Federal iaw, upon the date of insertion of the provisions of Section 2 of this initiative
into the Santa Monica General Plan, aI1 General Plan amendments, rezonings, specific
plans, tentative subdivision maps, parcel maps, conditional use permits, building permits
or other ministerial or discretionary entitlements for use not yet approved or issued shall
not be approved or issued unless consistent with the policies and provisions of this.
initiative.
Section 4. Exembtians for Certain Protects.
A. This initiative shall not apply to prohibit any development project or ongoing
activity that has obtained, as of the effective date of this initiative, a vested right pursuant
to State or local iaw.
B. This initiative shall not be interpreted to apply to any land or prohibit any use that,
under State or Federal law, is beyond the power of the local voters to affect by the
initiative power reserved to the people via the California Constitution.
C. This initiative shall not be interpreted or applied to preclude the approval of a
development protect that would cause the city to exceed the annual limit on commercial
development specified in Policy 1.1.2 of the General Plan if each of the following
conditions is satisfied: {i) the City Council, after considering all facts and applicable
legislafive and judicial authority in support of conforming to the annual cap, finds by at
least a 617 vote following a public hearing that the applications of Policy 1.1.2 would
constitute an' unconstitutional taking of the landowner's property and that the #aking
cannot be avoided by borrowing from future years as authorized by Policy 1.1.2; and {ii)
in approving the commercial development, the City Council allows additional
commercial development only to the extent necessary to avoid said unconstitutional
taking ofthe landowner's property. .
Section 5. Severability and Interoretation
This initiative shall be interpreted sp as to be consistent with all Federal and State laws, .
rules, and regulations: If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence,
clause, phrase, part, or portion of this initiative is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by
a final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction,, such decision shall not affect the
validity of the remaining portions of this initiative. The voters hereby declare that this
initiative, and each section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause,
phrase, part, or_portion thereof would have been adopted or passed even if one or more
sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, parts, or
portions are declared invalid or unconstitutional. If any provision of this initiative is held
invalid as applied to any person or circumstance, such invalidity shall not affect any
application of this initiative that can be given effect without the invalid application. This
initiative shall be broadly construed in order to achieve the purposes stated in this
initiative.
Page 6 of 9
Section 6. Amendment or Repeal.
Except as otherwise provided herein, this initiative maybe amended or repealed only by
the voters of the City of Santa Monica.
The circulators of the petition [ ] do (X] do not request that the measure be submitted
immediately to a vote of the people at a special election.
Page 7 of 9
Attachment A
Attachment A, attached for informational purposes, contains the true and accurate text of
section 9.04.02.030.315 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code in effect on January 16,
2008. Section 9.04.02.030.315 isreferenced in Sections 2 and 3 of this initiative.
9.04.02.030.315 Floor azea.
The total gross horizontal areas of all floors of a building, including usable
basements and all areas measured from the interior face of exterior walls, or a wall
separating two buildings excluding:
(a) Stairways and stairwells;
(b) Elevators, elevator equipment rooms and elevator shafts;
(c) Ramps to a subterranean or semi-subterranean parking structure or ramps
between floors of a packing structure provided the ramp does not accommodate parking;
(d) .Unenclosed decks, balconies and platforms not used for commercial or
restaurant activity;
(e) Courtyards, azcades, atria, paseos, wallcways and corridors open to the
outdoors whether or not covered by a roof provided they are not used for commercial or
restaurant activity;
{f) .The volume above interior courtyards, atria, paseos, wallcways and
corridors whether covered or not;
(g) Subterranean and semi-subterranean parking structures used exclusively
for parking and loading and unloading;
(h) At-grade parking not covered by a building, structure or roof;
(i) Loading docks open or covered by a roof or canopy, but otherwise
Unenclosed and used exclusively for loading and unloading;
(j) Mechanical equipment rooms, electrical rooms, telephone rooms, and
similar space, if located below grade;
(k) Enclosures constructed pursuant to Section 9.04.14.050(k) for outdoor
hoists inexistence on the adoption of Ordinance Number 1452 (CCS).
Floor area shall include those areas occupied by the following:
Page 8 of 9
(a) Restrooms, lounges, lobbies, kitchens, storage areas, and interior hallways
and corridors;
(b} The floor area of interior courtyards,. atria, paseos, vialkways and corridors
covered by a roof or skylight;
(c) Covered at-grade parking;
(d) Above grade pazking.
Floor azea devoted to covered at-grade parking shall be counted at two-thirds of
'the actual area if all of the following conditions are met:
(a) The floor devoted to parking does not exceed ten feet in height;
(b) There is at least one level of subterranean or semi-subterranean parking
provided on the parcel;
(c) The at-grade and above grade pazking levels are screened from view;
(d) There is no parking on the ground floor within forty feet of the $ont
property line;
(e) The design of the. parking levels is compatible with the design of the
building as determined by the Architectural Review Boazd.
Page 9 of 9
BALLOT MEASURE AMENDING THE LAND USE ELEMENT OF THE GENERAL
PLAN TO ESTABLISH AN ANNUAL LIMIT ON COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT
WITHIN SANTA MONICA UNTIL 2023
This measure would amend the Land Use Element of the City's General Plan to limit
commercial development in Santa Monica for the stated purpose of addressing traffic
congestion. The limit would be 75,000 square feet of floor area per calendar year. Floor
area would be calculated pursuant to local law in effect on January 16, 2008.
The measure specifies that the limit on commercial development would not apply to the
following uses: residential, parking, schools, child and senior day care facilities, hospitals
and other specified care facilities, places of worship, and government facilities.
Additionally, the limit is expressly made inapplicable to "neighborhood-serving goods,
services or retail uses" located on the ground floor of a housing development if 100% of
the dwelling units in the development are designated "affordable" by the City.
Additionally, the limit would be inapplicable to any project that does not require approval
of the Planning Commission or City Council under either state law or under local law in
effect on January 16, 2008. The measure includes exemptions for any project with a
vested right of development -and for any use beyond local voters' regulatory power. The
measure also states that an exemption would apply in any instance where six-sevenths of
the Council finds that applying the limit would cause an unconstitutional "taking" of the
owner's property.
Projects that are subject to the limit but replace or remodel existing buildings could
receive a "credit" for some or all of the existing building's floor area. This credit would
reflect the fact that the site already generates traffic. Availability of this credit would
depend upon a comparison of traffic to be generated by the new building and traffic
generated by the existing building. The measure establishes the formula for comparison.
The measure would authorize the City to exceed the limit in a given year by "borrowing"
from the next four years, but the yearly average for any five year period could not exceed
the limit.
The measure would remain in effect through 2023 unless amended or repealed by the
voters. The measure would require the City to make changes in local law and policy
necessary to effectuate the measure's provisions.
Prepared by: Mazsha Jones Moutrie, City Attorney
Santa Monica, California
January 22,.2008
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DEAN C. LOGAN
Acting Registrar-Recorder/County Cierk
May 14, 2008
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
REGISTRAR-RECORDER/COUNTY CLER6C
124001MPERfAL HWY. - P.O. BOX 1024, NORWALK, CALIFORNIA 90651-1024 -www.lavote.net
Ms. Maria M. Stewart, City Clerk
City of Santa Monica
1685 Main Street, Room 102
Santa Monica, California 90401
Dear Ms. Stewart,
We have completed the signature verification for the Ballot Measure Amending The Land
Use Element of The General Plan to Establish an Annual Limit on Commercial
Development Within Santa Monica Until 2023, which was submitted on April 23, 2008.
Number of signatures filed 10,262
Number of signatures verified 7,225
Number of signatures found sufficient 5,957
Number of signatures found not sufficient 1,268
Not sufficient because duplicate 76
Please call Raymond Oliande, Head of the Data Entry and Signature Verification
Section at (562) 462-2376 if you have any questions regarding the signature verification
of this petition.
Sincerely,
DEAN C. LOGA
Acting Registrar- ecorder/County Clerk
Enclosures
S:ECA W:11 Santa Monica 0a