The Santa Monica City Council voted Tuesday to upzone 89 single-family parcels near the Expo/Bundy Station, a move intended to prevent new state housing law Senate Bill 79 from allowing significantly larger developments in the Pico neighborhood.
The parcels are in the area around Gandara Park and within a half-mile of the Expo/Bundy Station, making them subject to SB 79’s transit-oriented development requirements. The law requires cities to allow increased housing density near major transit stations unless they adopt a qualifying local exclusion.
The council also directed city staff to explore whether a smaller, more targeted group of parcels could accomplish the same goal of reducing SB 79’s impacts while reducing the number of properties affected.
Santa Monica has already changed zoning around its other Expo stations, but the Expo/Bundy area remained largely zoned for single-family homes.
Without a local exclusion, SB 79 could allow buildings up to 55 feet tall and substantially greater density than the current zoning permits. The ordinance approved Tuesday establishes a 28-foot height limit for the 89 parcels, which Planning Director Jing Yeo described as a “down-zoning” compared with what SB 79 could otherwise allow.
The city has already received three preliminary SB 79 applications, two of them in the Pico neighborhood.
Council Leaves Door Open to Smaller Area
Councilmember Ellis Raskin moved to approve the ordinance, arguing that the immediate change in development potential is relatively limited because state law already allow some increased development on single-family lots.
But, he said, the local ordinance prevents the much larger buildings that SB 79 could otherwise permit while giving the city time to develop a broader plan for transit-oriented development.
Mayor Caroline Torosis seconded the motion and added a direction for staff to study whether fewer parcels, including potentially non-contiguous properties, could be included in a future version of the ordinance.
“I would like to make a policy determination that we should upzone fewer parcels and assume the risk,” Torosis said.
Raskin accepted the amendment, while expressing skepticism that a non-contiguous zoning strategy would have a clear legal basis.
Councilmembers Lana Negrete and Natalya Zernitskaya voted against the ordinance.
Negrete said the council had not adequately considered the history of government decisions affecting the Pico neighborhood.
Zernitskaya objected to the direction to study a smaller group of parcels, saying, “I feel like it gives folks false hope that we’re going to be able to reduce the number of parcels impacted.”
Temporary Protection
The ordinance is not permanent. It will remain in effect until one year after Santa Monica adopts its Seventh Cycle Housing Element, which is currently expected around October 2030.
After that point, every parcel in a transit-oriented development zone will have to meet at least 50 percent of the development standards required by SB 79, even if the city adopts a local exclusion now.
A future alternative transit-oriented development plan could redistribute development capacity within a zone, but it could not eliminate the required capacity altogether.
The state Department of Housing and Community Development has not yet released the next round of regional housing needs allocations, adding another uncertainty to the city’s long-term planning.
The council also discussed whether certain uses, including day care facilities, could be carved out of the local zoning changes. HCD has indicated that SB 79 looks to a property’s underlying zoning standards when determining whether an exclusion qualifies, potentially leaving room for targeted exemptions. No such amendment was adopted Tuesday.
The council’s decision therefore gives Santa Monica a temporary way to limit the immediate effects of SB 79 in the Expo/Bundy area while staff explores whether a narrower approach can provide similar protections with fewer parcels affected.
The rest of the agenda –
The following is AI-generated based on a transcription of the meeting and a summary instructed to have an informative but neutral point of view. The full council agenda can be found here.
4H — 2134 Stewart Street parcel map: Approved ministerially, with two recusals. State law requires approval; the council cannot deny it. Staff directed to consult with residents on a preferential parking district.
11B — Annenberg Beach House grant: Council unanimously accepted $1 million from the Wallace Annenberg Legacy Foundation over three years to expand community access programming.
Consent calendar: Approved unanimously, with several items pulled for separate discussion.
