O2412City Council Meeting: November 13, 2012 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER 2412 (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA
MONICA PROHIBITING THE OPERATION OF A SINGLE - FAMILY
RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY FOR A COMMERCIAL PURPOSE INCLUDING,
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, AS AN EVENT FACILITY
WHEREAS, the City of Santa Monica is a small, older beach
community, which attracts visitors from around the world and includes some of
the most desirable and expensive real estate in the country;
WHEREAS, throughout its history, the City has attracted large numbers
of visitors who flock to the City, to enjoy the, beach and spectacular natural
setting in the day time, and the vast array of restaurants, bars, and clubs and
other entertainment opportunities at night; and
WHEREAS, the City is very densely populated: 92,000 residents in just
eight square miles. And, the workforce is much larger than the residential
population. Thus, though the residential population numbers approximately
92,000, on weekdays approximately 250,000 people are present within the
City. And, on weekends and holidays, this number swells to 500,000 or
more.
WHEREAS, traffic congestion and parking shortages pose significant problems
for residents; and
WHEREAS, given the present -day density of the City, the older infrastructure,
and the huge numbers of visitors, the City Council makes a substantial and ongoing
effort to balance residential and commercial interests and thereby protect residents'
health, safety and quality of life through various laws and policies that protect safety,
peace and quiet in residential neighborhoods, while also preserving the City's robust
visitor - serving economy; and
WHEREAS, the Council also strives, through the adoption of policies and laws, to
strike a balance that both respects individuals' rights, including their rights of privacy
and assembly; and, at the same time, protects the general welfare and common good
against endeavors undertaken for commercial gain that endanger the public peace and
residential tranquility; and
WHEREAS, from time to time, individuals undertake commercial enterprises that
are new to the City and require the re- striking of these balances; and
WHEREAS, one such new business involves "flipping" a residential property by
transforming it into an event facility. The home /facility is redecorated and furnished by
professional vendors who provide services and goods in return for the opportunity to
display and sell their talents and wares. The facility is then marketed as a fashionable
party and concert venue and held open for a series of large private events, nominally for
the benefit of charities. The events attract wealthy patrons, who are potential
purchasers of the home and the design services and goods showcased there. To
facilitate such purchases both those attending the events and "virtual visitors" can
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download a phone application that links them to information about the goods and
services and enables purchases of them; and
WHEREAS, the series of charity events is a marketing ploy, which exposes the
home and its contents to very large number of potential purchasers in a festive, party
setting, that is more like a large, exclusive nightclub than a traditional open house or a
furniture showroom; and
WHEREAS, the adverse impacts of this marketing scheme upon the
neighborhood are significant. They far exceed the impacts of selling a home through
traditional means, such as broker caravans and Sunday afternoon open houses
because of the timing, the large numbers of vehicles and party goers, the noise, and the
lights, among other things. The impacts also far exceed those of a homeowner hosting
an occasional large social or charitable event, in part because the scheme involves a
series of events in a relatively short period of time; and
WHEREAS, testimony and evidence presented to Council show that the impacts
include, but are not limited to: major influxes of traffic to residential streets; oversized
vehicles, such as stretch limousines and buses, blocking streets and driveways;
attendant impairments to residents' access to their own homes and to ingress and
egress by emergency personnel; loud music; bright, commercial lighting; front -yard
stage shows and banner signage; degradation of air quality resulting' from large
numbers of idling vehicles; damage to street trees caused by oversized vehicles; and
other disruptions to neighborhood tranquility, safety and aesthetics; and
WHEREAS, in addition to describing such nuisance conditions, residents also
testified to Council that they feared that their own and their families' safety was
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menaced by drunken event guests, disrespectful private security guards and dangerous
equipment left on the street. Moreover, residents testified that family members who are
very elderly or infirm might not be able, in the event of a medical emergency to receive
emergency medical care because the events caused gridlock on their street and
thereby made it impossible, in the event of an emergency, to travel to and from their
homes and receive emergency assistance.
WHEREAS, many of the streets in the neighborhoods that are most likely to
attract this type of commercial endeavor are very narrow and therefore particularly ill-
suited to safely accommodate repeated, large influxes of traffic and over -sized vehicles;
and
WHEREAS, the desirability of property in Santa Monica, the number of very large
and elegant homes, and the City's reputation as a night -time "hot spot ", and the
apparent profitability of this business model all indicate that this marketing scheme is
likely to proliferate unless it is prohibited; and
WHEREAS, neighborhood residents impacted by this new business have
demanded that the City Council protect the quietude and safety of their street; and
WHEREAS, neighbors and others, who host large social events and donate use
of their homes for charitable fund raisers, have expressed concern about the protection
of their constitutional rights to privacy and to conduct non - commercial assemblies of
their own choosing; and
WHEREAS, the City Council is mindful of the fact that property owners have the
legal right to freely buy and sell their land; and
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WHEREAS, the City Council intends that this ordinance will respect the legal
rights of all. It will not preclude marketing single - family residential real estate in Santa
Monica through standard means. Nor will it preclude large social gatherings, charitable
events or political fundraisers in residential neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, the ordinance is intended to preclude the operation of one particular
and specific type of marketing scheme that creates extreme nuisance conditions and
thereby degrades public welfare, safety and quality of life in residential neighborhoods
and is particularly likely to proliferate; and
NOW THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.08.800 is hereby added to
read as follows:
(a) Prohibition: No person shall operate a single family
residential property for a commercial purpose including, but
not limited to, as an event facility. No business license shall
be issued for such an operation. For purposes of this
section, an "event facility" is property that is utilized for
gatherings of more than 150 people at any one time.
(b) Penalties and Remedies:
(1) Any person violating this section shall be guilty of
a misdemeanor, which shall be punishable by a fine not to
exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per violation, or
imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding six
months, or both, or shall be guilty of an infraction, which
shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed Two Hundred
Fifty Dollars ($250.00).
(2) Any person violating this section may be subject to
administrative citation issued pursuant to Chapter 1.09 of
this Code;
(3) The City or any interested person may seek an
injunction or other relief to prevent or remedy violations of
this section;
(4) The remedies provided by this section are not
intended to be exclusive, and their specification here shall
not prevent the City any interested person from utilizing any
other remedies afforded by law.
SECTION 2. 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 3. 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 4. 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 immediately upon adoption.
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MAR HA J,' ES MO TRIE
City orn�
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Approved and adopted this 13th day of November, 2012.
Richard Bloom, Mayor
State of California )
County of Los Angeles ) ss.
City of Santa Monica )
I, Sarah P. Gorman, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby certify that
the foregoing Ordinance No. 2412 (CCS) had its introduction on October 23,
2012, and was adopted at the Santa Monica City Council meeting held on
November 13, 2012, by the following vote:
Ayes: Council members: Holbrook, McKeown, O'Connor,
Mayor Pro Tern Davis, Mayor Bloom
Noes: Council members: None
Absent: Council members: Shriver, O'Day
A summary of Ordinance No. 2412 (CCS) was duly published pursuant to
California Government Code Section 40806.
ATTEST:
Sarah P. Gorman, City Clerk