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# LUCE heads to environmental review process
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/luce-heads-to-environmental-review-process/
- Published: 2008-07-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:20:35.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Document to be adopted next fall*

CITY HALL A seemingly never-ending series of meetings dissecting the developmental future of Santa Monica wrapped up on Thursday, the discussions over City Hall’s general plan update being placed on hiatus as it undergoes environmental analysis.

More than six weeks and nearly 10 meetings after the outline for the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) was first presented for deliberation, the City Council endorsed the planning document’s framework and narrowly approved the maximum building height requirements that will be studied in the EIR.

City Hall has labored over the LUCE, which plots the city’s future, for the past several years, holding countless forums to gather community input on the topic of development, one that is of interest to many Santa Monica residents who have complained about the growth that has taken place.

While the completion of the LUCE’s first phase this past week was a significant milestone, the process is far from reaching finality as none of the guidelines endorsed by the council, including the height requirements, are set in stone. The council is scheduled to take another crack at the document next spring and comment on the results of the EIR, deliberating again in the summer before the final plan is adopted later in 2009.

“The fun is just beginning,” Eileen Fogarty, the director of planning and community development, said.

The endorsed framework included a number of revisions to the original document that was presented in mid-June, the majority of which focused on the height requirements for the major boulevards, and proposed activity centers and districts, responding to the concerns of council and community members that development would be too dense.

The activity centers, which are proposed at several lively intersections throughout the city, would be a one-stop shopping type area where drivers can leave their cars in one place and complete their errands on foot. Other districts, such as Bergamot Station and Memorial Park, would be centered around transit projects, such as the Exposition Light Rail.

The revised LUCE proposal shaved off a few feet from many of the previously suggested building height requirements, including reducing the maximum for a building in the mixed-use zone on Wilshire Boulevard from 58 feet to 55, which would be permitted for a developer who provides affordable housing. The base height for new buildings in that zone would be 32 feet, the same as permitted today. Developers who would provide “public benefits” would be allowed to build up to 45 feet, down from the previous LUCE proposal of 48.

But the changes were still dismissed by several of the councilmembers who found them to be too dense, especially when taking into consideration the floor area ratio (FAR), which in some cases, such as on Wilshire, would be higher than allowed today.

“These are inappropriate for this boulevard and in this city and I think that with proper tweaking and adjustment we can get them in a reasonable range,” Councilmember Ken Genser said in reference to Wilshire. Genser was one of three officials, including Councilmembers Bobby Shriver and Kevin McKeown, who voted against several of the height proposals.

The LUCE is said to preserve the integrity of more than 90 percent of the city and all of the existing neighborhoods. The council also directed staff to write a policy that would require the exterior of structures in multifamily zones to be appropriate to the surroundings.

Such a policy would mandate that new infill housing be designed to preserve the character and scale of the community.

Several residents spoke in favor of more development, as long as it would help with public transit.

“If you do not have the density where it needs to be, you are absolutely ruling that (transit) will not happen and you are absolutely preventing the people from getting what they need, and it’s mass transit,” Greg Ames, a resident, said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 26, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/072608.pdf?ref=smdp.com)