By Jonathan Friedman
Lookout News

February 5, 2010 -- With seven significant projects totaling nearly 2 million square feet proposed for the eastern end of Santa Monica on and around Olympic Boulevard, some planning commissioners say the City needs to stop talking about proposals until Santa Monica’s development vision has been finalized.

The update to the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) of the City’s General Plan is at least a few months from adoption. When approved by the City Council, the document will set the vision for the next two decades of Santa Monica development.

At least two planning commissioners believe until the LUCE process is done, these projects should not continue to move through the pipeline.

“I just feel we’re really rushing into this without a cogent plan about how we’re going to go about this,” Commissioner Ted Winterer said during the presentation on Wednesday of Paseo Nebraska, a 357,000-square-foot mixed-use proposal.

The Paseo Nebraska presentation was done at a "float up" session in which commissioners were allowed to ask the developer questions and make comments, but no vote was taken.

Another float up session took place last week on the proposed Bergamot Transit Village Center, a nearly 1 million-square-foot proposal for a site located about a half mile from the Paseo Nebraska property.

Winterer and Commissioner Jay Johnson suggested waiting until after the LUCE was in effect before having any further float up sessions would serve the City well.

“Then we’re actually planning rather than shooting from the hip,” he said

Project owner NMS Properties is proposing 545 multi-family units and 80,000 square feet of commercial and office space for the site. The office space would be dedicated to the creative arts.

Since NMS is requesting variances from the City’s zoning laws, a development agreement is required. With a development agreement, NMS must offer some community benefits.

NMS says the community benefits include affordable housing and reduced car trips, since the project would be close to the future light rail station and people could live and work in the complex.

NMS also says the project would enhance the neighborhood through the creation of pedestrian paseos (small pedestrian streets) and other features.

The proposal was limited on many details. Jim Anderson, the chief operating officer at NMS, said there was a good reason for that.

“We haven’t fully baked this project on purpose,” Anderson said. We’re bringing this to you for your consideration … so that we can go back and bake this project more thoroughly.”

The commissioners had numerous criticisms for the project, including that it would create too much traffic. Also, they wanted more affordable housing units.

The proposal calls for 20 percent of the homes to be for moderate income persons (those earning the median household income) and that 60 percent be ” workforce units,” which City officials identified as being affordable to those making 130 to 150 percent of the median household income.

“The program they’ve presented is so far from what my understanding of our housing needs are, that it’s not compelling to me,” Commissioner Jason Parry said.

A similar discussion to one from last week took place about the large discrepancy between the number of workers in Santa Monica and the number of homes, especially those that are affordable to lower-income persons.

There were several public speakers at the meeting. None spoke positively about the proposal. One person called the development a “monstrosity” and another referred to it as “the slum by the sea.”

“It is simply too big,” said Zina Josephs, president of the neighborhood organization Friends of Sunset Park. “It is not consistent with current zoning.

"It does not provide meaningful sufficient benefit to the community to justify moving the proposal forward,” she said.