> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # City wants more from developers - URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-wants-more-from-developers/ - Published: 2006-04-13T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T17:33:26.000Z - Author: Kevin Herrera - Tags: Real Estate & Housing, Santa Monica, #archive-import *In further developments, builders feel being targeted* CITY HALL — Developers may have to hand over even more cash to City Hall if they want to build here. In addition to affordable housing and water mitigation fees, developers of residential and commercial properties will have to pay additional taxes to fund early childhood education, child care and public art projects under two laws being drafted by city staff. Following years of discussion and study, the City Council Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of establishing the fees to help offset the impacts new development has on the arts and early childhood development. City officials have established that both residential and commercial development attract more people to Santa Monica, which creates a greater need for services like child care. Still, some City Council members suggested the fees will not deter developers or retailers from doing business in Santa Monica, as they will prove lower than what’s been proposed in the past. Under the proposed laws, developers looking to build new office space will have to pay $5.27 per square foot for child care needs. For retail, that figure falls to $3.77 per square foot, and $2.64 for hotels. To fund art projects, developers would be required to dedicate 2 percent of their project’s building permit fee towards a work of art at the site. For those not interested in erecting a sculpture or art piece along those lines, they can pay an in lieu fee of 1 percent of the project’s building permit value. That money would then be funneled into an account to pay for art projects in other spaces and to help fund the performing and visual arts. THE REST OF THE STATE Several members of the Arts Commission as well as the Child Care Task Force were present at the City Council meeting and showed their support for the new fees, which were endorsed by the Planning Commission. “This is a wonderful opportunity to expand programs and provide additional support to the youngest residents of our community,” said Patti Oblath with Connections for Children, a child care resource and referral agency based in Santa Monica. “It is important for not just the city, but for commercial and residential developers to be partners in long-standing support for child care and early childhood education.” The fees are the highest in the state, which had some councilmembers concerned about potential lawsuits or a development backlash that would send retail and much-needed housing projects to nearby cities, leaving Santa Monica without new revenues, but more traffic as residents drive out of town to shop and go to work, “This is so out of line with what other cities are doing that I’m concerned this will really deter people from coming into Santa Monica,” said Mayor Bob Holbrook, who tried to persuade his colleagues to approve a lower level of fees, suggesting $1.25 per square foot for commercial development. “We’re all supportive of the arts and child care, and that’s why I ended up voting in favor of it, but I just don’t want retailers to see this and say it’s too expensive to come to Santa Monica.” City staff will draft the ordinances in the coming weeks and present them to the council, at which time the council will further discuss what the fees should be. The debate is expected to be robust, given the strong feelings in support of and against the current fee structure being proposed. “We’ve been hearing more and more about scientific data in recent years about the crucial importance of child care and early education,” said Councilman Kevin McKeown, who created the motion to draft the ordinances. “It has even come up in the context of our gang issues in Santa Monica. We need to give the most support to our young children and their parents, and that support costs money. There is no other way around it.” The creation of new fees surfaced in 2003 when the City Council hired consulting firm Keyser Marston to analyze the impacts that new development has on child care and the arts, and whether or not fees or other developer requirements could offset those impacts. Members of the Child Care Task Force raised concerns about the shortage of child care facilities within the city when compared to the rising number of workers who may need child care service close to their jobs. City Hall has a long history of supporting child care, culture and the arts. Beginning in 1981, City Hall demonstrated its commitment to meeting the child care needs of residents and workers with the inclusion of child care in the development agreement for Colorado Place in the office district. City Hall has continued those efforts in six subsequent developments, according to a city staff report. When the council adopted the Child Care Master Plan and Child Care Policy in 1991, it set forth a policy and framework to address the existing shortage in child care facilities for resident and non-resident full-time workers. The document set a goal that the city integrate the child care needs of those who live or work in the community into the land use planning process. For culture and the arts, the city’s Public Percent for Art Program, enacted in 1986, requires that 1 percent of public projects be set aside for on-site art. Since 1981, City Hall also has negotiated at least seven development agreements that have included a public art requirement. The requirement has been satisfied by both the provision of on-site art and payment of a fee in lieu of installing on-site art. Santa Monica is not alone. According to the California League of Cities, several other municipalities require public art for private developments, and have studied child care requirements. But none have instituted fees as high as Santa Monica’s, city staff said. The reason why the child care fees have been proposed at such high levels is because of the high cost of land in the West Los Angeles area, city staff said. In a report to the council, the average cost per child care space is $18,500 without land acquisition, and $55,400 with land acquisition. With the fees for art, Jessica Cusick, City Hall’s cultural affairs manager, said 2 percent for on-site art is higher than what other cities charge, however, she recommended the council adopt the fee to ensure that there is adequate funding available for quality art projects. “We know that most developers who are really into this will spend more than the 2 percent, so those who are not interested, and just want to get by, will opt to pay the in lieu fee of 1 percent, which is the norm,” Cusick said. “We wanted to set the on-site fee high enough so as to deter those who are not as enthusiastic and, therefore, would not create the best quality.” Councilman Ken Genser, who created a motion to include residential development in the child care ordinance, expressed his concern with the type of art that could be considered. He mentioned public art at a Home Depot that was essentially there to hold up signs advertising the store, not to provide aesthetic value. “How are we going to determine what is meaningful?” Cusick suggested the council direct city staff to draft the ordinances so that art projects must follow the same approval process for projects being built by the city for a public project. SOMEONE WILL HAVE TO PAY Creating art and helping children should be a concern of City Hall, but why should developers be required to pay for it, asked Marios Savvides, a developer who owns mixed-use buildings downtown. “I support the services for the children and I support the arts, but I think if the city wants these things, they should give the developers an incentive,” Savvides said. “The fees they are asking are just too high. They have to give something back in return.” Savvides said the fees will force developers to charge more money to lease office space, or raise the asking price for new condos or apartments. “It’s an issue of supply and demand,” he said. “People will not want to come here to build because it’s too expensive. But people still need a place to live.” Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said Santa Monica already has a reputation for being a “tough place to do business,” and the new fees will not help. “The sponsors of these fees, while working for worthy causes, have to think about the consequences. Will this further drive businesses away, taking with them high-paying jobs?” he asked. “That’s something that needs to be considered.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/041306-01_01.jpg) Workers frame a new 170,000-square-foot, four-story, 133-unit housing and retail development on Main Street, the former site of the Pioneer Boulangerie Bakery. (Photo: Fabian Lewkowicz/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 13, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041306.pdf?ref=smdp.com)