Planning Commission Rejects Second Major Housing Project in Manufacturing Zone

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

February 18 -- For now, at least, large-scale residential housing in the city's only area set aside for artists and light manufacturers will not get off the ground.

That was the message sent by the Planning Commission Wednesday when it unanimously shot down a 250-unit apartment complex at Olympic Boulevard and Stewart Street currently occupied by Santa Monica Studios.

The recommendation that the City Council forgo a development agreement until after the City completes its land use update comes after the commission and council turned down a similar project down the block on Stewart Street last year.

Several commissioners agreed after the meeting that giving any nod to the project -- a four-story, 255,000-square-foot building with ground floor retail -- could spark a sell off of property that would change the area forever.

"If this project went through, the residual land value in the area would skyrocket," said Planning Commissioner Gwynne Pugh in an interview after the meeting. "We needed to put the message out there that this type of development is not going to happen in this area."

Preserving Santa Monica's only area currently zoned for "light industry and creative spaces," Pugh said, is an important goal.

"We're becoming a City of high-end residential and high-end retail," said Pugh. "It's important to work to keep some of our diversity."

Several commissioners echoed Pugh's concerns, adding that it was not so much the size of the project that put them off, but that the project would significantly change the area before the City completed its main rezoning document, known as the Land Use Element.

"It is a very large project, but no one rejected it because of its massing," said Commission Chair Barbara Brown. "We wanted to wait to receive public input before we made a decision that could dramatically alter the area."

"We firmly need to resolve a housing imbalance in the city," said Commissioner Terry O'Day. "However, the applicant’s arguments were not compelling enough to open up the LMSD (Light Manufacturing Studio District) to this type of housing."

Other commissioners questioned the definition of the project -- slated for a 3.28-acre site that is home many small audio and video production and post-production companies -- as "mixed use."

"Mixed use isn't t 250,000 square feet with 5,000 square feet of retail," said Commissioner Julie Lopez Dad. "I'm very concerned about keeping manufacturing businesses in the area."

Last month, Sanford North America announced it would shut down its Paper Mate manufacturing plant across the street from the site of the proposed project.

The closure of the city’s last large manufacturing plant will result in the loss of 214 local jobs that will be phased out over the next nine months, according to Sanford officials.

In an effort to win commission approval developers had offered to construct new sidewalks, provide needed amenities to a local school and contribute money to a City arts fund.

Developers also agreed to implement a first-source hiring policy, which requires the developer and its contractors to hire low-income job applicants who reside near the job site.

The commission’s decision to reject the project comes six months after the City Council upheld the commission’s decision to deny a zoning code amendment that would pave the way for a 145-unit apartment complex on Stewart and Colorado Avenue.

The council agreed with the commission that granting the request by Colorado Creative Studios could change the entire character of the manufacturing zone, whose industrial buildings and studio housing has kept property values low enough to allow small businesses to flourish.

The council also agreed with the commission’s recommendation to stick with the current zoning for the manufacturing district -- roughly between Broadway and the10 Freeway from 20th to Centinela Avenue -- at least until the City completes an update of its land use element.

The process of updating the Land Use and Circulation Elements of the General Plan, which will dictate development for decades to come, began in last October. The Planning Commission and Staff will continue gathering information before it begins to discuss its findings in May.

Work on drafts begins in late November, with a finished document expected to come out in October 2006. This will then be translated into zoning ordinances that will give the plan its teeth.