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# •CELLAR W/OVER 200 WINES In the ‘NO’? Neighbors seek more participation
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/cellar-w-over-200-wines-in-the-no-neighbors-seek-more-participation/
- Published: 2006-04-25T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T23:55:37.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Montana, #archive-import, Homelessness

*By ELIZABETH RIEL Special to the Daily Press*

(Editor’s note: “In the Hood” is a regular column written by residents who represent organized neighborhood groups throughout Santa Monica. Published each Wednesday in the Daily Press, residents will cover the pressing issues facing their neighborhoods and call upon their neighbors to get involved. They’ll sometimes scrutinize policies and actions of local government, or bring to light a subject that needs attention in their respective environs.) Overdevelopment downtown. Traffic congestion and shortage of parking. Overbuilt houses. Loss of trees and green space.

Those are the top concerns of residents who live North of Montana, according to a recent neighborhood-wide survey sponsored by the North of Montana Association (NOMA).

NOMA is a nonprofit volunteer group of residents working to improve life in the neighborhood and in Santa Monica. The boundaries of NOMA are Montana Avenue, Ocean Avenue, the northern city limits, and 26th Street, an area comprising approximately 5,200 residences.

A survey consisting of 21 questions about the overall quality of life in the neighborhood and in Santa Monica in general was sent to each residence within the neighborhood boundaries. NOMA board members were pleased to get a response rate of nearly 400 completed surveys — approximately 7 percent.

“Although NOMA was founded in 1998, it’s been a while since we surveyed the entire neighborhood on issues that matter to them,” said Mark Armour, NOMA co-chair. “The results of this survey provide us with good insight on where NOMA should focus its efforts and how we can better represent and bring our neighborhood together.”

Questions asked on the survey included: What do you like/dislike about living North of Montana?

Do you support selling residential parking permits to Montana business employees?

What would be your preferred option for dealing with the lack of parking on Montana?

What do you think about the size of new houses being built North of Montana?

Should current zoning laws be changed to regulate the overall size of new or rebuilt houses?

Do you support regulations protecting older trees from being cut down when new houses are built?

What do you think is the biggest problem facing the city?

What is your opinion about current development in the city?

Would you favor requiring voter approval of large developments above a certain size?

Residents ranked the character of the neighborhood as the No. 1 thing that they liked about the area. However, 61 percent of residents said that their greatest concern about the neighborhood was overbuilt houses; “overbearing and ugly” were some terms used to describe the size and design of new houses. Fifty-five percent thought that zoning laws regulating the overall size of houses should be changed to reduce the size of new developments.

Residents also were concerned about the lack of parking for employees and shoppers on Montana, but 68 percent did not support selling residential permits to employees. Instead, the preferred options were to shuttle employees from existing underutilized local parking lots and to require businesses with parking lots to use those for employees.

Residents also feared for the loss of greenery in the neighborhood, with 80 percent in support of regulations to protect older trees from being cut down when houses are built, provided the trees are not in the path of new development.

When it came to citywide issues, North of Montana residents echoed the concerns of the majority of Santa Monica residents, stating that homelessness (50 percent) is the biggest problem facing the city. This was followed by traffic (34 percent) and over-development (20 percent).

Residents wanted to see less development and growth (39 percent) as a solution to dealing with downtown and residential traffic problems, as well as synchronized traffic lights (37 percent) and more public transportation (24 percent).

Opinions ran strong when it came to the direction the city should take with a new master plan. Sixty-four percent of North of Montana residents said that we don’t need more growth and that the current height and scale of buildings should be retained (89 percent). In keeping with this sentiment, 81 percent of residents favored requiring voter approval of large developments above a certain size.

“The NOMA board is going to take the feedback we got from residents and members and craft its agenda based on this,” Armour said. “I expect that City Hall will be hearing a lot more from NOMA in the future.”

The results of the survey were unveiled on Monday at NOMA’s general membership meeting. City Manager Lamont Ewell was the featured guest speaker and spoke about many of the issues brought up in the NOMA survey. Board members encouraged residents to get involved in NOMA.

“We’d love to get some new blood into NOMA, especially young families who will raise their children here, who really want to be part of a community and who will help plan neighborhood activities,” said long-time NOMA board member Doris Sosin. “We are actively looking for new members who desire to have a say in the present and future of our neighborhood and city."

If you would like to join or get involved with NOMA, e-mail and log onto the Web site at www.smno-ma.org. NOMA welcomes the participation of all neighborhood residents. (Editor’s note: Elizabeth Riel writes a column in the Daily Press twice a month called “Eye on the City.” She lives north of Montana Avenue.)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 25, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042506.pdf?ref=smdp.com)