Last night, the new Santa Monica City Council unanimously passed a resolution instructing city staff to bring an ordinance for approval in early 2025 to streamline the public process for housing projects built in “non-residential zones” except the Bergamot Area.
If the final ordinance is passed, housing projects in these areas will go through an “administrative approval” that requires only a pair of public hearings, one before the project is formally submitted and one before the Architectural Review Board (ARB). If the project meets city code would only need the approval of the ARB and City Staff.
“The intent is not to take away opportunities for community engagement. It’s about providing more certainty to let investors, or whoever is funding the housing, to know that there’s less risk,” said Natalya Zernitskaya, one of the co-sponsors of the ordinance.
After this fall’s election, which saw four new city councilmembers elected who ran in-part on encouraging more housing production in the city to both meet state mandates and reduce the regional housing crisis. It was widely expected that the Council would move quickly and one week after they were sworn-in and seated on the dais they began to do just that. However, despite the unanimous vote, the motion wasn’t about its controversy.
As noted in an article in the Lookout, the new ordinance would restore rules created by the 2020 City Council but removed by the previous council. However, given the public comment, led by members of the previous Council, a casual observer might assume that the proposal was a wild departure from how a city should operate.
“It’s ironic that this item is on today’s agenda after this meeting began with a land acknowledgement,” said former Councilmember Christine Parra, drawing a parallel between land being stolen from indigenous populations as part of a global genocide and stakeholders only being given two chances to speak in a public hearing about new housing proposals. “Our new city council’s first item of business is to strip the opportunity of public participation from all Santa Monicans.”
Parra went on to note that many non-residential zones abut residential zones to argue that giving different rules for development in residential zones disenfranchises people that live in these areas.
The former Councilmember went on to close her commentary with a quick personal attack reminiscent of the types of discussion that marred the reputation of the council she served on.
“I would have expected this from Zwick,” she concluded, taking a shot at her former colleague Councilmember Jesse Zwick, “but not from the rest of you.”
Zwick, who co-authored the motion, responded by arguing the change has nothing to do with muzzling public comment but about making it easier and less expensive to build housing.
“This is about buildings that are already allowed in our current zoning code,” he began. “Under state law, we would have no power to deny these projects, even if we wanted to. It’s about making the process smoother and swifter.”
“It’s not an attempt to silence the public from weighing in on projects. There are state mandates for meetings for administratively approved projects. There are two meetings mandated.”
In the end, the motion passed unanimously 6-0. Newly sworn-in Councilmember Barry Hall was not present but Mayor Lana Negrete and Councilmembers Zernitskaya, Zwick, Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, and Caroline Torosis all voted in favor.
The final ordinance is expected to come to Council in April with other proposed ordinances impacting how the city implements its zoning code. The other ordinances would be drafted by city staff and then be vetted by the city’s planning commission.
