Residents have mounted a campaign in an open letter that presses Cypress Equity Investments to reduce the height and massing of its project at Lincoln and Ocean Park Blvds, the current Gelson’s site, at an intersection the City has already identified as “failing.”
This is one of the biggest projects of its type ever proposed for Santa Monica. It is poorly conceived, out of scale with the neighborhood, and disregards how it will affect traffic, water usage, lack of open space, and City infrastructure.
“The immediate, broad response to supporting this Open Letter shows how strongly Santa Monica residents dislike this project and care about the future of our community,” said Diana Gordon, Co-Chair of the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City (SMCLC) which organized this Open Letter in collaboration with Santa Monica neighborhood associations.
“Residents are rightfully angry at being shut out of the planning process and having their concerns ignored. Cypress needs to step up and be a responsible corporate citizen, one that acts on residents’ concerns instead of steamrolling the process.”
Cypress Equity, with offices in multiple cities, has more than a dozen projects it hopes to build in Santa Monica utilizing recent state law density bonuses.
Submitted by Diana Gordon