By Kevin Herrera
Daily Press Staff Writer

CITY HALL The sparks didn’t fly, no one seemed outraged and police officers weren’t called to escort anyone out of the City Council Chambers for being disruptive. Even the gadflies kept their comments to a minimum, making for a very mundane (and short!) City Council meeting Tuesday night.

The highlight of the night came with the arrival of Boy Scout Troop 223 from the Palisades. About 30 kids came to observe local government at its finest so that they could earn their communications badge.

Elected officials seemed determined to push through the fairly lightweight agenda, which included only a handful of items, the most notable a study session on the latest update and evaluation of the city’s homeless services network.

The atmosphere was in direct contrast to the last meeting, when the chambers were filled with former mayors, clergy and other community leaders who gathered to watch the swearing-in of new Santa Monica Police Chief Timothy Jackman.

There were plenty of empty seats Tuesday night as the council swiftly dispensed of the consent calendar, approving a series of contracts having to do with the maintenance of the Big Blue Bus fleet, the proper disposal of hazardous waste, the design of Reed Park improvements and lobbying in Washington, D.C. for transportation funding.

After about an hour and 15 minutes in closed session, in which the council evaluated the performance of City Manager Lamont Ewell, the meeting resumed. City staff gave a presentation on the Urban Institute’s findings on the system-wide evaluation of the city’s homeless services network. The evaluation was introduced at the last meeting, however, the council postponed intense discussion until they had more time to review the institute’s findings.

Discussion focused on the establishment of a community roundtable featuring various stakeholders, including the religious community, business owners, residents and the homeless.

The council instructed staff to come back at a later date with recommendations on how to set up the roundtable, which would focus on six issues: discussing and resolving conflicts and misunderstandings between stakeholders; looking at supportive housing solutions that include sober living and housing-first models; developing a better tracking system to keep tabs on homeless who receive help; finding better ways to engage the region and increase homeless services in other cities; developing a public education campaign that would inform residents and visitors about other ways to help the homeless instead of giving money directly to panhandlers; and how to continue with fair share legislation that would require other cities to provide services or face penalties.

Deputy Chief Phil Sanchez gave a presentation on the number of beds the new public safety facility has to house those arrested. In other communities, some homeless are allowed to sleep in cells that are not being used by the police department. Sanchez said that on any given night there are about 12 to 15 people in the jail, with a total of 108 cells.

The issue of homelessness is so complex that it can be overwhelming to tackle all at once. That was evident Tuesday night, as at least two council members seemed frustrated with the discussion’s lack of direction.

“Before we try to figure out what we should do to help these people, we should try to decide on how many we need to help and decide what is our ultimate goal,” said Councilman Bob Holbrook. “We have to bite the bullet and make a policy decision on how far are we willing to go before we start running around in circles. If we don’t set a goal of what we want to accomplish, how can we budget for it? I just think that is important.”

Councilman Bobby Shriver seemed upset, admitting as much after the discussion, that the item was seemingly cut short. Since it is the biggest problem facing the city, according to residents, Shriver said the council should have gone at least another hour and tackle more issues instead of just the roundtable concept.

“This is a daunting subject, but I think it is important to remember that these problems can be solved,” Shriver said. “This is a political problem and all of us have to keep bringing it up, emphasize it and not let people wiggle away by talking about other issues. That’s a challenge to everybody.”

Shriver’s colleagues agreed, however, one can only do so much in the time given.

“Certainly this is a vast real of policymaking …” Councilman Kevin McKeown said. “To do it right, we have to break it up into manageable policy chunks to deal with this effectively.”

The council will discuss the evaluation several times in the coming weeks as they look at requirements they want to place on service providers during the next, three-year funding cycle. Some of those requirements could include good neighbor agreements, providing services outside of Santa Monica, placing time limits on when services will be provided and using the “Project Homecoming” program, which helps homeless people get money for bus tickets so they can reunite with family in other cities or states.

In other action, the council gave a resident permission to move his bungalow seven feet forward even though it is located in the Third Street Historic District, with neighbors voicing concerns about the move destroying the character of the neighborhood. The council also approved a developer’s plan to build a public storage facility near Bergamot Station on Cloverfield Boulevard despite the Planning Commission’s objection because of a fear that the building would not make the area “pedestrian friendly” — something which could be important if the Exposition Light Rail line ever does make it to Santa Monica.

The developer said he wanted to put something “more sexy” there, however, he decided against it because the intersections near the property are highly congested and he knew that if he decided to put an office building there or apartments, he would be met with strong opposition.

“I think that if light rail comes in and if there is a station close by this property, I have a hunch the person who owns this property will develop something ... very pedestrian friendly,” Holbrook said. “I just think it makes sense that they would put something there that would work better.”

Since the area is zoned for uses such as public storage, the council had no choice but to uphold the appeal and grant a development permit for the facility.

The appeals lasted for nearly an hour. Once they were handled, the council moved swiftly, approving a series of ordinances having to deal with an exemption of affordable housing projects of 50 units or less from certain types of review and an increase in pension benefits for certain city employees.

What was perhaps the most important decision of the night came in the last 30 minutes, as the council approved a design and build contract for the public beach club at 415 PCH.

“This truly is a momentous occasion,” said Barbara Stinchfield, director of Community and Cultural Services.

Council adjourned the meeting around 10:45 p.m. in memory of Bong Soo Han, a well-known local martial arts instructor, and Dan Kanan, a long-time Santa Monica resident who volunteered at the YMCA.

The Council’s next meeting will be held on Feb. 6.

kevinh@smdp.com