By Ron Goldman Fellow, American Institute of Architects Santa Monica
One example Editor: In response to Eileen Fogarty’s Aug. 8 article, I read with great interest and ever greater doubt, her statement regarding a “No new net trips policy as a basis for traffic management” in our city. Doubt because the Transportation Management Department was blind enough to approve a single lane, 2-way driveway at the intersection of 17th and Montana, which requires that only eastbound traffic have access to this property, which in turn means that west, south, or north bound traffic must circulate through adjacent residential streets, creating numerous unnecessary additional trips. This coupled with the deletion of curbside parking and a 20 percent driveway ramp inhospitable to visitors will cause still additional roaming throughout the neighborhood in pursuit of the holy parking space. What kind of “no new net trips” policy is this? Purely smoke and mirrors. If Transportation Management doesn’t have the sense to manage this policy on a.4 acre site, how can we trust they can or will manage traffic on a city-wide scale? And apparently the planning department in overseeing and allowing this is not traveling far behind. If Fogarty looked within her own department, she would find many of these problems are unnecessarily created and she will realize why there is a “rift” in the community.
The specific case I refer to is at the north east corner of 17th and Montana.
Ms. Fogarty talks further of “committing to public process and community participation… stressing the importance of a transparent process.” In our case, the neighborhood had to claw and scratch for nine months to secure reports and hearing notices that we are entitled to have with a planning staff that frankly didn’t have the time of day for us. Maybe the department is understaffed, but this is no excuse.
It took prodding by the neighborhood, not staff, for the developer to change his application three times, but he is still forcing problems offsite. It took nine months to convince staff to get a supplemental traffic report — and lo and behold, the outside consultant confirmed there are significant traffic issues. But again the department’s answer — don’t solve these problems onsite (which can easily be done), but instead put up signage, delete parking spaces, create a non-sensical loading area, and force people to circulate through the surrounding neighborhood in order to access a single lane, 20 percent access ramp — all of which will result in substantial public safety and parking issues, along with increased congestion in the contiguous bus loading zone, bicycle lane, and driving lanes.
Fogarty also states the importance of “establishing a high bar for public benefits as well as compatibility in scale, setting, and transitions to residential neighborhoods,” none of which exist here. In fact, the city is approving a project with significant density and parking bonuses for this developer in exchange for even more significant public safety and design problems negatively impacting our neighborhood. This of course makes no sense.
Fogarty should have asked months ago for a meeting with the neighbors to understand the problems, all of which could have been avoided and are relatively easily fixed, but not by a planning staff that has been indifferent and even disdainful to the public. She needs to change the culture of her department. If she doesn’t fix her own house, then all the apple pie and motherhood in LUCE is a huge waste of time and resources.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 12, 2008. Read the original PDF.