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By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer
May 9 -- Since their ascendance in the 1950s, cars
have ruled the Los Angeles basin. But where to put them may
have become a speed bump on the way to finding a consensus
on how to reshape Santa Monica by 2025.
Nearly 150 people gathered with City planners at the Civic
Auditorium Monday to go through a laundry list of what they
want to see and not see as Santa Monica grows, part of an
ongoing redrawing of the City's more than 20-year-old General
Plan.
"This phase has been about the neighborhoods and where
the neighborhoods connect to the boulevards, how to make that
a better transition," said Planning Director Eileen Fogarty,
who for the past two months has met with residents of three
separate neighborhoods.
Monday was the first night to discuss the City at large,
and Fogarty hailed it as a success.
"Tonight, I heard general agreement on a direction,
and that is (that) this is a very special place," she
said. "Let's work street by street, rather than (on)
some grandiose plan.
“Let's go neighborhood by neighborhood, street by street,
business district by business district and really take what's
unique and special and build on this."
But if last night's meeting was any indication, there may
be bumps in the road ahead, at least when it comes to parking.
While the entire evening was civil and calm -- as patrons
weighed in on a host of issues by holding up green placards
in support, red in opposition and yellow if they were undecided
-- when it came to parking, residents and businesses began
to raise their voices.
"I feel the problem is parking," said Greg Morena,
whose family owns several businesses on Main Street and Downtown.
Morena argued that to keep customers shopping at local stores,
parking needs to be addressed.
"I can't emphasize how important those small businesses
are," said Morena, who attended the meeting with his
wife, Yummi.
Residents, largely from the Wilshire/Montana (Wilmont) area
in the north side of the city, argued that they, too, need
more parking in order to stop fighting with businesses and
retail shops for scarce spaces.
"Obviously this is great we are taking time to plan
for the future, because in Wilmont, we are victims of bad
planning in the past," said Jeanne Dodson, who chairs
the Wilshire/Montana group.
In her neighborhood, Dodson said, the situation is at a breaking
point for many.
"I just want to make sure the people who live here now
don’t get lost in the shuffle," she said.
After her comments, a smattering of retorts erupted, suggesting
that some fear adding parking will only contribute to the
city’s already congested streets, a reaction that registered
with Fogarty.
"Parking is the one area where I heard a real clear
difference of opinion," the planning director said.
"There's certainly a difference of perspectives, and
that's one area where you have people who want adequate parking
and then those who feel we have to make a move to make it
less congested," she said after the meeting.
Parking, Fogarty said, will be one of the main topics planners
will address before the City Council on June 19, when they
present a conceptual plan touching on several general issues.
While City planners were careful not to show a preference,
consultants for the City have suggested one option the community
could consider would be to limit traffic in some parts of
the City by perhaps cordoning off entire streets.
In addition to parking, there may be some deal making when
it comes to key issues such as citywide growth and development,
as well as some tradeoffs the community may have to consider,
said Fogarty.
"I think that's the biggest message of all this,"
she said. "If the city continues to evolve over the next
ten or 15 years, a city of this stature can define how they
want their buildings to look."
In exchange for allowing larger or taller developments, the
community could perhaps ask for more affordable or mixed-used
housing, increased landscaping or even a paseo, Fogarty said.
"That's the big message,” she said. “We
need to define what we want, how and what we're going to offer
as an incentive and what we're not going to (offer),"
she said.
Despite the disagreement on where to put cars, there was
plenty of consensus on other issues, Fogarty said.
"I think everybody has said we want walkability, we
want active retail," she said.
There were also clearly defined actions each neighborhood
would like to see the City take, Fogarty said.
"In addition to short-term actions, Pico would like
a neighborhood plan, Ocean Park an urban streetscape plan,
Wilshire wants a parking strategy, as well as what we heard
today," she said.
After the council weighs in on changes to the plan -- known
as the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) of the General
Plan -- City officials will then turn their attention to how
to handle Santa Monica's only remaining manufacturing district
along Olympic Boulevard.
Then in September, residents will begin tackling the broader
issues of workforce housing, affordability, sustainability
and economic modeling, Fogarty said.
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