(Every week, Next republishes a story from City Manager Oliver Chi’s newsletter.)
We wanted to let everyone know that our Community Development team will be hosting an informational community meeting this Tuesday, August 25, at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers, to provide details regarding the City’s approach to implementing Senate Bill 79.
There will be a virtual attendance option available also through the City’s SB 79 website. As a refresher, SB 79 is a new State law that took effect July 1 and establishes minimum guaranteed development standards for qualified housing projects within a half mile of specified transit stops. Those new guaranteed development standards apply locally around our Expo Line stations here in Santa Monica, along with three bus stop locations located Downtown.
Following months of careful work by our Planning Commission and City Council, the City has adopted a phased implementation approach, and Council has already introduced an ordinance temporarily excluding five of Santa Monica’s six transit-oriented development zones from SB 79 requirements.
The remaining zone (for the area around the Expo/Bundy station, whose half-mile radius reaches into our Pico Neighborhood) does not yet meet the State’s threshold to qualify for that exclusion. To address this particular issue, the City is considering strategic zoning ordinance amendments that would modify and slightly increase existing development standards above what current State law allows. The proposed adjustment would be overlaid on 89 R1-zoned parcels located north of the I-10 Freeway and east of Dorchester Avenue (see the graphic below).
If these proposed amendments are adopted, then the entire Expo / Bundy TOD zone would become eligible for temporary exclusion from SB 79 until 2030.
Our team in Community Development has received numerous requests for details about this proposed plan, and Tuesday’s meeting is designed to provide residents with details regarding the City’s proposed approach, and to answer questions and hear feedback from the community. Moving ahead, the full item is then set to return to Council for consideration on September 8.
More to come on this item shortly, and of course, please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions about this matter!
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