A last-minute effort to exempt a Frank Gehry-designed downtown development from California Coastal Commission review has died, ending a months-long fight that pitted a politically connected developer against environmental advocates, neighborhood groups and the city's state representatives.
Language that would have created a streamlined approval pathway for the Ocean Avenue Project did not survive as part of a state budget trailer bill this year, according to Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, D-Santa Monica, who confirmed the proposal is "dead for this year."
"I'm both ecstatic and relieved," Zbur said in an interview. "I thought that would have been a horrible precedent, and I worked very hard to make sure that it did not come to fruition."
The proposal had a contentious history dating back to late June, when a proposed budget trailer bill sought to strip the Coastal Commission's review authority over multi-unit housing across Santa Monica's coastal zone for an indefinite period. Environmental advocates called that version of the exemption unprecedented at the time, warning it could set a template for similar carveouts in other coastal communities statewide.
The proposal later resurfaced with narrower language that appeared tailored to benefit a single project: the Frank Gehry-designed development at the northeast corner of Ocean Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. That revised version would have created a streamlined approval pathway for qualifying coastal-zone housing projects, but it took effect only if Santa Monica had not secured a certified Local Coastal Program by Jan. 1, 2028, and it would have required any qualifying project to incorporate a museum honoring Gehry's career. Gehry died Dec. 5, 2025.
The Ocean Avenue Project was approved by the Santa Monica City Council in 2022 and by the Coastal Commission in 2023 but remained unbuilt despite developer Jeff Worthe's pledge of a 2025 groundbreaking.
Zbur said he first learned of the June proposal from environmental advocates, not from the developer pushing it. By the time it resurfaced, he said, his office was prepared.
"The first time this came up, I was blindsided by the developer that was advancing it," Zbur said. "Second time around, I had known that it potentially could come up because it had before, and we were hearing rumors that the developer was continuing to press it, so we were ready in case that happened."
Opposition to the renewed language culminated in an Aug. 26 letter to Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, signed by Zbur and roughly a dozen other Assembly members, including Damon Connolly, Dawn Addis, Greg Hart, Ash Kalra, Gail Pellerin and Chris Rogers. The letter said the trailer bill "undermines" a separate, monthslong agreement reached among Zbur, the city, the Coastal Commission and environmental, housing and mobility advocates, and it accused the measure of being "designed to benefit very specific projects within Santa Monica."
Zbur said the pressure campaign worked.
"I think that had a big impact in sort of expressing the views of members of the legislature who care about protecting the Coastal Act," he said.
Asked whether the episode had damaged his views of the governor or legislative leadership, Zbur declined to cast blame on them directly.
"The bottom line is that the governor has been someone who has been an exemplary leader in the environmental and climate movement, as have been both the speaker and the pro tem," he said. "Ultimately, none of them allowed this to move forward. ... At one point, these three leaders had to make a decision, and they decided not to advance it. So I'm grateful to all of them because I think they stood up for the coast."
The fight played out alongside Zbur's separate legislation, AB 1740, which passed the Legislature with unanimous concurrence and now awaits Newsom's signature. That bill sets a path for Santa Monica — one of the few coastal cities without a certified Local Coastal Program — to complete one by 2029, shifting most coastal development permit decisions to the city rather than requiring separate Commission approval, while adding a statewide expedited process for bike, pedestrian and transit projects in the coastal zone.
"I'm confident that it's going to result in Santa Monica having a local coastal plan in about a two-year period of time," Zbur said, adding that the plan would give the city "much more flexibility" on projects that "grow our economy and support our neighborhoods and support our families," while preserving the Commission's ability to protect the coast.