By Lookout Staff

February 17, 2010 -- For the third time in four weeks, the Planning Commission tonight will receive a “float-up” presentation on a proposed development agreement near Olympic Boulevard at the Eastern end of Santa Monica.

At 153,000 square feet, this commercial proposal for 1800 Stewart Street is the smallest of the three projects, but it is still a concern for slow-growth advocates as a traffic generator, especially when taking into consideration that there are five other development agreements proposed in the vicinity.

Agensys Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in the research and development of cancer pharmaceuticals, wants to construct a complex for research and development, office space and manufacturing.

The proposal calls for a 300-car surface parking lot. The development will reach 55 feet at its highest point.

According to a City staff report, this proposal complies with the draft Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) of the General Plan, the document being reviewed by City leaders that, when approved, will set the development vision for Santa Monica’s next two decades.

With a development agreement, the project owner must offer “community benefits.”

Agensys says its project’s benefits include the widening of the Stewart Street sidewalk from seven feet to 10 feet, a pedestrian pathway accessing the future Bergamot Station light rail station, a youth program to teach biotechnology and a potential shared parking district.

In a float-up session, the commissioners are allowed to ask questions and make comments, but no vote is taken. This year, the commission has reviewed float ups for the 357,000-square-foot Paseo Nebraska mixed-use project and the nearly 1 million-square-foot Bergamot Transit Village Center.

Some commissioners have said the float-up process should cease until the LUCE has been approved. (Planning Commissioners Want to halt Development Talk," February 5, 2010).

City Council member Kevin McKeown has also made that request. ("Multiple Development Agreements Confusing Public, McKeown Says," February 11, 2010)

Once a rarity, development agreements have become more commonplace. After approving only two development agreements between 2003 and 2008, one of them a small landmark project – the City Council approved a development agreement for a major development in 2008 and began negotiating three others. (Development Agreements on the Rise," August 13, 2008.)