SANTA MONICA COLLEGE When the Exposition light rail line finally zooms through the Westside sometime during the next decade, the Santa Monica that passengers will see through its windows may not mirror what the city looks like today.
The highly anticipated light rail line will run from Downtown Los Angeles to Culver City and cut through Santa Monica’s industrial area, which is expected to see enormous changes during the next 20 years.
“This is the area where we see the most potential change because the demand for land is changing and the light rail is coming through,” said Elizabeth Bar-El the senior planner for City Hall.
City officials will examine the changes in store for the future of the industrial area today with a citywide community workshop at Santa Monica College. The workshop is one of several the Planning and Community Development Department has held in the past few months in its process of updating the city’s Land Use and Circulation Element, a blueprint for Santa Monica development in the next 20 years.
The previous workshops focused on neighborhoods such as Ocean Park, Sunset Park, Wilshire-Montana and Mid- City. The Planning and Community Development Department is now moving on to focus on one of the biggest zones in Santa Monica — the Light Manufacturing and Studio District (LMSD).
The industrial area is generally bounded by Centinela Avenue to the east, the I-10
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 21, 2007. Read the original PDF.