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# Facelift gets a big boost
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/facelift-gets-a-big-boost/
- Published: 2007-07-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:22:10.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*City staff begins planning future of industrial area*

CITY HALL The efforts to give the city’s industrial zone a facelift over the next few decades just got a big boost from the City Council.

As the planning begins for the future of the industrial zone — home to the City Yards and numerous entertainment companies — City Council granted a request on Tuesday by city staff to temporarily limit large-scale development in the area.

The region in question is generally bounded by Centinela Avenue to the east, the 10 Freeway to the south, Lincoln Boulevard to the west and portions of Broadway and Colorado Avenue to the north. The zone serves as the home of Bergamot Station, the old Fisher Lumber Yard and countless office complexes housing start-up Internet companies and media corporations such as MTV and Universal.

The plan to makeover the industrial area is part of the Land Use and Circulation Element update, which is a blueprint guiding Santa Monica development in the next 20 years.

“We want to make sure we can plan this land, but also to have some flexibility,” said Planning and Community Development Director Eileen Fogarty.

As the LUCE is updated — expected to take at least another year — development in the area would be limited to projects that are less than 7,500 square feet and fewer than 15 units. Any projects exceeding the standard would require a development agreement with the city.

City Council had the option of adopting a temporary moratorium on all development in the industrial zone, but nixed the idea after learning of strict state laws that would require city officials to prove an immediate threat to public safety and welfare in the absence of a moratorium.

The law also requires a super majority of Council to approve the moratorium, which in this case, would’ve required six votes. There were only five voting members at Tuesday’s meeting in which Mayor Richard Bloom and Council member Kevin McKeown were both absent.

Several residents asked Council to approve a moratorium, frustrated with the large-scale developments pop-ping up citywide.

“I don’t like what I see as the New York-ification of Santa Monica,” said resident Susan Hartley.

Council member Ken Genser suggested lowering the number of allowable developments to 5,000 square feet and less than eight units, believing the threshold was still too high. His motion to lower the development standards failed.

The decision to limit development followed a city-sponsored workshop last weekend in which close to 100 residents discussed the future of the industrial area and the Land Use and Circulation Element.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 26, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/072607.pdf?ref=smdp.com)