O2098
f:\atty\muni\laws\barry\promen-12d .wpd
Council Meeting 10-28-03 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER 2098 (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN INTERIM ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA
MONICA EXTENDING THE REQUIREMENT THAT NEW OR EXPANDED USES ON
THE THIRD STREET PROMENADE HAVE A PROMENADE FRONTAGE THAT DOES
NOT EXCEED FIFTY LINEAR FEET UNLESS A USE PERMIT IS OBTAINED AND
REQUIRING ANY REMAINING PROMENADE FRONTAGE WITHIN THE BUILDING
OR SITE TO PROVIDE A MINIMUM DEPTH OF FIFTY FEET
SECTION 1. Findings and Purpose. The City Council finds and declares
(a) In 1965, the City Council sought to revitalize its declining downtown business
district by closing three blocks of Third Street to vehicular traffic and creating a pedestrian
shopping mall pursuant to the Pedestrian Mall Act.
(b)The Third Street Mall failed. It did not attract shoppers; and, as a result,
businesses on the mall continued to founder, and the downtown business district continued
to decline.
(c) In 1986, the City Council again acted to revitalize the downtown by adopting a
specific plan for transforming the failing mall.
(d) The Specific Plan made variety the foundation of the mall's future, mandating
a diverse mixture of uses and activities appealing to residents and visitors alike.
(e) Pursuant to this plan, the City embarked upon a substantial effort to transform
the moribund Third Street Mall into an innovative public space which would serve as a
community gathering place, attract visitors from near and far and define the City's
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municipal character. The redesign included numerous improvements to the pedestrian
street: retail pavilions, landscaping, water elements, public benches, street lamps, and
topiary dinosaur sculptures in the central landscaped area of each block. The area was
renamed the Third Street Promenade.
(f) From the time of its conception, the Promenade was distinguished from other
shopping areas by the unusual and carefully balanced mix of opportunities it afforded,
including street performance, sidewalk dining, cinema, bookstores, special events, clothing
stores, specialty shops, and night clubs.
(g) Thus, the Third Street Promenade was conceived and created not simply as a
shopping mall; it was a place to go for entertainment, company, relaxation, strolling; a
place where one could watch jugglers and dancers, dine outdoors, argue politics, listen
to music, browse a bookshop, take in a movie and more.
(h) Moreover, the Third Street Promenade was planned as a gathering place for
all segments of society: children, the elderly, and people from all cultural and economic
groups.
(i) The plan succeeded: the Third Street Promenade flourished, becoming a
favored destination for local residents, Southern Californians and international travelers
alike.
U) As such, it became, and remains, an engine which drives Santa Monica's
economy.
(k) However, maintaining the delicate balance of entertainment, restaurants and
retail uses, which is the foundation ofthe Third Street Promenade's success, has been an
ongoing challenge.
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(I) Over the years, market forces have threatened the mix many times; and the City
has responded to preserve the Third Street Promenade's unique character through the
adoption of laws and polices which promote the general welfare by maintaining the
Promenade's eclectic character and diversity.
(m) In 1996, the City revised the Third Street Mall Specific Plan through the adoption
of the Bayside District Specific Plan. A critical objective of this plan remained to "[a]ttract
and accommodate a mix of uses" serving residents, visitors and tourists during both
daytime and evening hours. To this end, the specific plan established a ten-year
projection and plan for facilitating controlled growth of retail outlets on the Third Street
Promenade.
(n) In the ensuing years, retail growth far exceeded expectations. This trend
threatened to convert the Promenade into an ordinary shopping mall.
(0) Therefore, in November of 2001, the City Council adopted Ordinance Number
2030 (CCS) establishing a moratorium on new and expanded ground floor retail use. This
moratorium was extended by Ordinances Number 2032, 2062, and 2082 (CCS) for the
reasons detailed in the findings of these ordinances and for the reasons given here. The
findings of these moratorium ordinances describe the threat to the Promenade's viability
which the ordinances address.
(p) After adoption of Ordinance Number 2030 (CCS), the City Council established
a Promenade Uses Task Force to study the Promenade issues, to seek feedback and
input from the community, and to make recommendations to the City Council regarding
the appropriate mix of uses on the Promenade.
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(q) The Task Force met regularly between May 2002 and March 2003, considering
goals and objectives forthe Promenade and the Downtown, reviewing relevant City policies
and regulations, and conducting community workshops.
(r) The Task Force prepared a report and a series of recommendations for review
by the City Council.
(s) The Task Force report identified oversized retail uses as limiting opportunities
for a wide variety of storefronts. As the report explains, a mosaic of storefronts is critical
to the Promenade's vibrancy and vitality and enlivens and enriches its pedestrian-oriented
character. The absence of such variety would adversely effect these essential components
of the Promenade.
(t) The trend towards oversized uses is a significant threat to the diverse
atmosphere of the Promenade.
(u) On June 10, 2003, the City Council reviewed the recommendations of the
Promenade Uses Task Force and directed that staff return with an interim ordinance to
respond to the threat posed by oversized uses.
(v) For these reasons, the City's zoning and planning regulations should be revised
as they pertain to oversized uses on the Promenade.
(w) Pending completion of these permanent revisions, in order to protect the public
health, safety, and welfare, it is necessary on an interim basis to change current
development standards as they relate to oversized retail uses on the Promenade.
(x) In light of these concerns, the City Council adopted Ordinance Number 2096
(CCS) on September 23,2003 which limited the frontage of new or expanded uses on the
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Third Street Promenade to no more than 50 linear feet. However, that ordinance will expire
on December 22,2003 unless the proposed extension ordinance is adopted.
(y) As described above, there exists a current and immediate threat to the public
safety, health, and welfare should the interim ordinance not be adopted and oversized
retail uses not be allowed consistent with these proposed revisions. Therefore, the City
Council finds that the public health, safety and general welfare mandate the requirement
that new or expanded uses have a Promenade frontage that does not exceed fifty linear
feet unless a use permit is obtained and other related requirements be continued on an
interim basis. Consequently, this ordinance extends the provisions of Ordinance No. 2096
(CCS), with modifications, up to and including October 28, 2004. During this interim
period, the following development standards shall apply:
SECTION 1 Promenade Frontage Reauirements for New or Expanded
Uses
(a) Unless a use permit is obtained pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section, a
new or expanded use to be located on the Third Street Promenade shall only be issued
a business license or building permit if the Third Street Promenade frontage of the new or
expanded use would not exceed fifty (50) feet.
(b) A new or expanded use on the Third Street Promenade may exceed the fifty (50)
foot limitation established by subsection (a) of this Section if a use permit is obtained
pursuant to Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 9.04.20.11.010 et sec. and one of the
following additional findings of fact is made:
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(1) The proposed use is a cinema, theater, museum or cultural facility that adds to
the overall vitality and diversity of the Sayside District and the use cannot be
accommodated within a Third Street Promenade frontage of 50 feet or less.
(2) The proposed use adds to the diversity of the district by providing goods or
services that are not otherwise available in the Bayside District and the use cannot be
accommodated within a Third Street Promenade frontage of 50 feet or less.
(3) The conditions of the proposed site make it physically or practically infeasible for
the use to occupy a Third Street Promenade frontage of 50 feet or less.
(c) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b) of this Section, no business license or
building permit shall be issued for a new or expanded use if any remaining Promenade
frontage on the site or within the building containing the use has a depth of less than fifty
(50) feet unless a use permit authorizing the reduced depth is obtained pursuant to Santa
Monica Municipal Code Section 9.04.20.11.010 et sec.
(d) A new or expanded use shall also comply with the property development
standards for the Bayside District as set forth in the City's Zoning Ordinance except to the
extent inconsistent with this Section.
SECTION 2. This Ordinance shall apply to any business license or building permit
application filed after September 9, 2003.
SECTION 3. This Ordinance shall be of no further force or effect after October 28,
2004 unless prior to that date, after a public hearing, noticed pursuant to Santa Monica
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Municipal Code Section 9.04.20.22.050, the City Council, by majority vote, extends this
interim ordinance.
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
affect 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
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newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become effective thirty
(30) days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
~~
MARSHA JON TRIE
City Attorney
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Approved and adopted this 28th day of October, 2003.
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State of Califomia )
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. 2098 (CCS) had its introduction on October 14,2003, and was
adopted at the Santa Monica City Council meeting held on October 28, 2003, by the
following vote:
Council members: Mayor Bloom, Mayor Pro Tem McKeown, Feinstein,
Genser, Holbrook, O'Connor
Council members: None
Abstain: Council members: None
Absent: Council members: Katz
ATTEST:
~~.&..~
Maria M. Stewart, City Clerk
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