But some residents say it excludes their input on projects
It could be a lot easier to build affordable housing in Santa Monica, now that developers are excused from many of the loopholes other projects face.
The Santa Monica City Council voted Tuesday to lower the square footage of a housing development that would necessitate a public review process before the city’s planning commission. But, the council exempted affordable housing developers from the change.
Now housing developers of projects that are over 7,500 square feet must go before the city’s planning commission.
Affordable housing developers proposing projects with less than 50 units are exempted from the higher level of public review. As long as their projects strictly meet the city’s zoning and building codes, their developments would be approved through the city’s planning department.
Market rate housing developers can qualify for the same exemptions if they dedicate 10 percent of their project’s units for very low-income residents or 20 percent of their units for low-to-moderate income residents.
Those qualifying developers would also be spared from having to prepare time consuming and costly Environmental Impact Reports, which officials say are sometimes used by residents to scuttle a proposed project.
383,“This community’s support for affordable housing is deep-rooted,” said Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown. “And this will make it easier to build affordable housing.”
However, more than 20 residents who live near a proposed 44-unit affordable housing development near the intersection of Main and Pacific streets told the city council they believe the exemptions will stifle community input on projects and result in development that harms neighborhoods.
They said even a relatively small 50-unit affordable housing development can stick out in a neighborhood of one-and-two story buildings, and the added residents can have a substantial impact on traffic congestion.
“I’m concerned this takes public process away for affordable housing developers,” said Tricia Halloran. “I’m not sure why it’s needed. If anything, affordable housing developers should be held more accountable to the public, not less.”
City officials said while there will be less public review of affordable housing projects under the exemptions, proposed developments would still have to go before the city’s Architectural Review Board, which tweaks projects to ensure they fit stylistically with the neighborhood.
Deputy City Attorney Barry Rosenbaum said decisions made by the ARB can still be appealed to the city’s planning commission. However, that commission would be forced to only judge projects based on the same criteria used by the ARB. And projects cannot be appealed to the city council under the exemption.
Mayor Mike Feinstein said the affordable housing exemption is necessary because the state has made it difficult for the city to retain affordable housing by undoing rent control laws and making it impossible for the city to force market rate housing developers to build on-site affordable housing.
“It would be nice to have equal review,” he said, “but the state has undermined everything for us.”
“It would be nice to have equal review, but the state has undermined everything for us.” — — MIKE FEINSTEIN Santa Monica Mayor
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 15, 2002. Read the original PDF.