O2338f:\atty\muni\laws\barry\construction rate program extensionORD1214102d
City Council Meeting 12-14-10 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER 2338 (ccs)
(City Council Series)
AN INTERIM ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA
MONICA EXTENDING INTERIM ORDINANCE NUMBER 2250 (CCS), INTERIM
ORDINANCE NUMBER 2256 (CCS), AND INTERIM ORDINANCE NUMBER 2279
(CCS) WHICH CLARIFIED THAT ONLY ONE NEW MULTI-FAMILY CONSTRUCTION
PROJECT IS ALLOWED WITHIN A FIVE HUNDRED FOOT RADIUS IN THE CITY'S
MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS AND ESTABLISHED THE MAXIMUM
LENGTH OF TIME THAT PROJECTS SUBJECT TO THE CONSTRUCTION RATE
PROGRAM CAN BE DELAYED
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) Santa Monica is a small, extremely dense, older coastal city consisting of just
8 square miles of land bordered on one side by the Pacific Ocean and on three sides by
the megalopolis of Los Angeles.
(b) Approximately, 90,000 people live in the City, on weekdays there are about
300,000 present in the City, and on weekends and holidays, the number of persons in
the City soars to between 500;000 and 1 million.
(c) Santa Monica has been fully built out for over 50 years, much of its
development having occurred during, and immediately after World War II.
(d) In recent years, ever-escalating land values, economic prosperity, and
changes in state law fueled a massive increase in development which significantly
altered the physical and social landscape of the City.
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(e) Throughout this period of rapid development, the City Council adopted a
series of laws relating to land use and housing which. were intended to strike and
restrike the balance between potentially conflicting municipal values and policies in
order to best protect the health, safety and welfare of Santa Monica residents, with one
of these measures being the construction rate program, detailed below.
(f) The City's 1998-2003 Housing Element Update Program 7.f required that the
City monitor the rate of development activity in multi-family residential districts so as to
ensure that rapid development did. not jeopardize the character of the neighborhoods.
and negatively impact the quality of life.
(g) This program further provided that if the rate or pattern of development
appeared to negatively affect the quality of life or character of neighborhoods, the City
Council should consider enacting a construction rate program.
(h) City staff monitored the rate of development activity in accordance with this
program and determined that the City Council should consider a construction rate
program.
(i) On March 7, 2000, the City Council adopted Ordinance Number 1966 (CCS)
which established a construction rate program to avert the negative impacts of
construction such as traffic circulation, noise, neighborhood aesthetics and pedestrian
enjoyment of City streets and to minimize the disruptive effects of the construction
process on -the neighborhood by limiting the number of projects in close proximity to
each other which can be constructed at any one time through regulating both the timing
and distribution of construction projects through the building permit approval process.
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Q) The constriction rate program imposed strong protections by allowing only
one construction project per block and providing that this construction project must not
be within a five hundred foot radius of another construction project.
(k) On April 11, 2000, the City Council adopted Ordinance Number 1969 (CCS)
extending Ordinahce Number 1966 (CCS) for eighteen months.
(I) On or about May 17, 2000, a lawsuit was filed against the City challenging the
construction rate program. Petitioners raised both constitutional and CEQA challenges.
(m) The City Council assessed the suit and decided to resolve the claims
through a settlement contingent upon adoption of a less restrictive ordinance which
would, in part, eliminate the requirement that one only construction project be allowed
per block, but would continue the radius restriction to only allow one single construction
project within a five hundred foot radius.
(n) The City Council adopted this ordinance, Ordinance Number 1984 (CCS),
which eliminated the block limitation and amended the radius restriction to provide only
one construction project shall be allowed within a five hundred foot radius of another
construction project.
(o) On October 9, 2001, the City Council adopted Ordinance Number 2022
(CCS) extending Ordinance Number 1966 (CCS) until November 11, 2002.
(p) On October 8, 2002, the City Council adopted a permanent ordinance,
Ordinance Number 2053 (CCS) which mirrored the interim ordinance.
(q) The basic prohibition of the construction rate program allows one project, but
only one, within a 500 foot radius of an existing permitted project. Other subsections
state a permit may not be issued for a project within 500 feet of an existing project and
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require that the project be placed on a waiting list if another building permit has been
issued. Consequently, notwithstanding Council's consistent intent from the inception of
the construction rate program to only allow one single construction project within a five
hundred foot radius, there is an ambiguity in the Zoning Ordinance whether only one or
two projects (but not three) may exist within a 500 foot radius.
(r) Prior to the adoption of the initial interim ordinance, staff received questions
about whether two particular projects conformed to the construction rate program.
These complaints triggered a review of the ordinance's ambiguity addressed herein.
(s) For these reasons, the City's zoning and planning regulations should be
revised to clarify how they pertain to the rate of construction to ensure that development
is consistent with the public health, safety, and welfare.
(t) Additionally, although rare, it is possible that a construction project subject
to the Construction Rate Program could fall within multiple radii of projects already
under construction, thereby delaying this construction project well beyond the maximum
fifteen month delay that can result from any individual construction project. Accordingly,
this interim ordinance provides that in no case shall a construction project subject to the
Construction Rate Program be delayed more than twenty-one months.
(u) Pending completion of these permanent revisions, in order to provide
clarification and otherwise protect the public health, safety, and welfare, it is necessary
on an interim .basis to clarify the current development standards as they relate to the
rate of construction in the City's multi-family districts.
(v) In response to this ambiguity, on February 26, 2008, the Council adopted
emergency Interim Ordinance Number 2250 (CCS) to reaffirm that only one new multi-
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family construction project is allowed within any five hundred foot radius. The City
Council extended Interim Ordinance Number 2250 (CCS) through the adoption of
Interim Ordinance Number 2256 (CCS) and Interim Ordinance Number 2279 (CCS).
However, Interim Ordinance Number 2279 (CCS) will expire on December 31, 2010
unless extended.
(w) The extension of the interim standards set forth in Interim Ordinance Number
2250 (CCS), Interim Ordinance Number 2256 (CCS), and Interim Ordinance 2279
(CCS) will eliminate confusion and will serve to prevent any further disruption caused by
increasing development in these districts while allowing development consistent with
these standards to occur.
(x) As described above, there exists a current and immediate threat to the public
safety, health, and welfare should the initial interim ordinance not be extended and
should development inconsistent with the contemplated clarification to the development
standards be allowed to occur. Allowing additional construction projects to proceed
inconsistent with the following proposed interim standards would result in a threat to
public .health, safety, or welfare. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt this interim
ordinance which extends Interim Ordinance Number .2250 (CCS), Interim Ordinance
Number 2256 (CCS), and Interim Ordinance Number 2279 (CCS) up to and including
December 31, 2012 to establish on an interim basis the following development
standards:
SECTION 2. Construction Rate Program.
(a) For projects involving the new construction or substantial
remodel of two or more dwelling units in all multi-family residential districts
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in the City for which a development application was deemed complete on
or after March 7, 2000, only one such construction project shall be allowed
within a five hundred foot radius. Except as provided in subsection (c) of
this Section, this restriction shall apply for fifteen months after issuance of
a building permit, after which time another project may begin construction
in the defined area. The multi-family residential districts in the City are:
R2R, R2, R3, R4, RVC, RMH, OP-Duplex, OP2, OP3, OP4, NW-Overlay,
BR Boulevard Residential R3 Overlay, R2B, and R3R.
(b) Building permits shall be provided on a first-come first-
served basis in accordance with the terms of this Section. No building
permit shall be issued by the Building and Safety Division unless the
requirements of subsections (c) and (d) of this Section have been
satisfied.
(c) .During the plan-check process, the Building and Safety
Division shall determine the status of other building permits for projects in
the area. A building permit shall not be issued when the Building Officer
determines that a building permit has been issued in the previous fifteen
months for any other project within a five hundred foot radius of the
subject property unless the owner of the previously permitted project has
formally relinquished the building permit for that project or obtained a
certificate of occupancy for the project.
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(d) If the Building Officer determines that another building
permit has been issued less than fifteen months prior to the date on which
the building permit has received all plan-check approvals and the
exceptions specified in subsections (c) and (e) do not apply, the Building
Officer shall place the project on a waiting list in order of the date and time
of day that the permit application received all plan-check approvals. The
life of other City approvals or permits necessary to commence the project
shall be automatically extended by the amount of time that a project
remains on the waiting list. The Building Officer shall approve the project
in accordance with the Uniform Technical Code in effect at the time of the
plan-check. However, in no case shall a project be placed on a waiting list
for a period that exceeds twenty-one months.
(e) The following projects shall be exempt from this Section:
(1) Affordable housing projects in which one hundred percent
of the units will be deed-restricted for very low, low, middle, and/or
moderate income housing.
(2) Structures identified by the Building and Safety Division as
unreinforced masonry construction and subject to City-mandated seismic
upgrading.
(3) Projects to be developed on a site that is vacant:
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(4) Projects to be developed oh a site in which either: (i) the
structures on the site are uninhabitable, not as a result of the owner's
failure to maintain the structure, or the property of which the structure is a
part, in good repair, and the structures cannot be rendered habitable in an
economically feasible manner or (ii) the current use of the property is not
otherwise economically viable. The City shall prepare an exemption
application form which delineates all submission requirements. An owner
shall not be required to file a project application with the exemption
application. City staff shall make a final determination whether a project
meets the requirements of this subdivision within ninety days after the
owner's exemption application for the project is deemed complete.
(5) Projects that include the retention and preservation of a
designated landmark building or contributing structure town adopted
Historic District.
(6) Projects that have received final building permits prior to the
effective date of Interim Ordinance No. 2250 (CCS).
(f) The Planning and Community Development Department
may develop administrative guidelines implementing this Section.
SECTION 3. This Ordinance shall be of no further force or effect after December
31, 2012 unless prior to that date, after a public hearing, noticed pursuant to Santa
Monica Municipal Code Section 9.04.20.22.050, the City Council, by majority vote,
extends this interim ordinance.
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SECTION 4. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices
thereto inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance, to the extent of such
inconsistencies and no further, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 5. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this
Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any
court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would
have passed this Ordinance and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase not declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion
of the ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 6. 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 thirty days after its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
~ /~ (~~` ., I 5^~// i% / ~/,fir
MAR HA JOt~I' ~ MOU RIB
City Attorney
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Approved and adopted this 14th day of December, 2010.
Rich rd Bloom, Mayor
State of California )
County of Los Angeles ) ss.
City of Santa Monica )
I, Maria M. Stewart, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby certify that
the foregoing Ordinance No. 2338 (CCS) had its introduction on December 7th,
2010, and was adopted at the Santa Monica City Council meeting held on
December 14, 2010, by the following vote:
Ayes: Council members: Holbrook, McKeown, O'Connor, O'Day, Shriver
Mayor Pro Tem Davis, Mayor Bloom
Noes: Council members: None
Abstain: Council members: None
Absent: Council members: None
A summary of Ordinance No. 2338 (CCS) was duly published pursuant to
California Government Code Section 40806.
ATTEST:
Maria M. Stewart, "ty Clerk