On Friday, the Santa Monica City Council met quickly to ratify a group of emergency rules put in place by City Manager David White in response to the wildfires that have ravaged the meeting.
Before the meeting, Councilmember Dan Hall praised city staff for its work responding the to emergency and quickly preparing the ordinance for Council.
“The swift action taken by the City Manager and City Attorney offices, our Emergency Operations Center, and our first responders throughout the past 48 hours has been terrific,” wrote Hall last week in response to a request from Next.
“We have felt informed and have shared out critical information with the community as it becomes available via the City’s social media, website, and our own networks.”
The ordinance was quickly passed and allows the City Manager flexibility in implementing the ordinance with a focus on short- and long-term recovery. The State of Emergency ordinance does the following:
- Schools and child care facilities displaced by the fire may operate in residential areas temporarily without obtaining a conditional use permit,
While all public schools in Santa Monica re-opened today, there are private schools that remain closed over air quality concerns or because of damage to their campuses. Wind conditions tomorrow and later in the week could also force the closure of schools temporarily should the fires become an issue again or air quality worsen.
- Preferred parking permit requirements are suspended for people providing housing for people evacuated or displaced by the fires;
- Enforcement of home-sharing and short-term rental restrictions is suspended for people providing housing for people evacuated or displaced by the fires;
- Prohibitions on price gouging for food, goods, services, housing and other items and services triggered by the ordinance and fires;
Price gouging has been a major concern in the wake of the wildfires, especially as families that have lost their homes seek a new place to live. Councilmember Carolyn Torosis shared a story from an email she received about an apartment building that had been holding units off the market suddenly putting units up for rent on Zillow for $6,500 a month.
- A curfew from sunrise to sunset while evacuation ordinances are in effect;
- A pause on evictions if the occupant (or pet) has been displaced as a result of the fire;
- Building permits for areas in evacuation zones are temporarily rescinded;
- Purchasing regulations are relaxed to allow for construction and rebuilding;
- Bed and breakfast and other hotels are allowed to allow rentals of more than 30 days to people impacted by the fires;
- Mutual aid is authorized;
- There is a prohibition on landscaping in evacuation areas.
More resources will be aimed at cracking down on price gouging as LA County is expected to approve similar rules at tomorrow’s Supervisors’ meeting.
Debate over the ordinance mostly centered on how best to expand the ordinance to help in recovery for businesses that have been displaced, nonprofits that would provide services and the best way to sunset the portion of the order related to short-term rentals. A separate discussion on how to expedite housing fixes and reconstruction will be considered at a future meeting.
At the start of the meeting, the Councilmembers praised the work of the city’s first responders for their work in the previous week.
“Thank you so much. We are all in debt to you. We are all in gratitude to you. I cannot thank you enough,” said an emotional Mayor Lana Negrete.
