By Jorge Casuso

February 6, 2025 -- The City Council on Tuesday is poised to further a pro-housing agenda that is picking up steam after four new Council members were sworn in two months ago.

The trio of discussion items on the agenda are among five measures Councilmembers have proposed in their first three full meetings that make it easier and faster to build housing.

The items comes after the newly seated Council directed staff to draft an ordinance that would allow large housing projects in non-residential neighborhoods to be swiftly approved ("Council Makes it Easier to Build Large Housing Projects," December 18, 2024).

On Tuesday, the Council will take up a discussion item to expedite issuing building permits for "non-structural commercial tenant improvements, single-family home improvements, and accessory dwelling units," commonly referred to as "granny flats."

The item directs staff to launch a pilot program that allows licensed professional who agree to self-certify that building plans are compliant to "bypass the normal plan review process."

Under the proposed program, permits would be approved in "one to five business days," according to the item placed on the agenda by Mayor Lana Negrete and Councilmembers Jesse Zwick and Caroline Torosis.

The program would facilitate Santa Monica's economic recovery and reduce "the workload on plan check professionals, allowing them to focus on the more complex projects that require their attention."

The Council on Tuesday also will take up a discussion item placed by Zwick and new Councilmember Ellis Raskin to adjust the Administrative Approval criteria for housing projects within the Bergamot Area Plan.

The adjustment would allow street and pathway requirements in the plan to be "interpreted liberally in favor of ensuring the production of new housing."

A third discussion item placed by Zwick and new Councilmember Natalya Zernitskaya directs staff to draft an ordinance that would extend the expiration dates on certain development and building permit applications.

Under the ordinance, development, land use or subdivision applications approved before January 6, 2025 would be extended two years beyond their current expiration dates.

All complete building permit applications would be extended one year beyond their current expiration dates.

The proposed actions come two weeks after an item on last Tuesday's agenda called for staff to draft an ordinance to remove the owner-occupancy requirement for lot splits and duplexes on single-family lots.

The ordinance would ensure that the zoning standard would not "preclude the construction" of two units of at least 1200 square feet each, excluding ADUs, and allow one roof deck per unit.