Freeway to the south, Lincoln Boulevard to the west and Broadway to the north. The zone serves as the home of Bergamot Station, the city yards, the old Fisher Lumber Yard and countless office complexes.
One area of focus for the workshop will be mixed-use development, which could mean a combination of either office and retail, office and residential, or residential and retail.
With the high demand for housing in Santa Monica, the industrial district serves as a possible area in which City Hall could allow residential development to occur to fulfill the need.
One of the biggest challenges facing city staff in drafting the Land Use and Circulation Element will be to find a middle ground between the demand for preserving historic buildings in the industrial area and the need to develop new residential units, said Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Terry O’Day.
“There is a great deal of pressure to build housing and rightly so because we have a housing crisis,” O’Day said.
The future of the industrial area could revolve around transit, with the Exposition light rail line expected to make it to Santa Monica by 2015. Two of the three stations are expected to be constructed in the industrial district — one at Bergamot Station and a second undetermined site between 14th and 20th streets. The terminal for the light rail will be located at the Sears auto lot on Fourth Street and Colorado Avenue.
With the light rail coming into the industrial district, the area presents an opportunity for city officials to consider transit-oriented development — moderate to high density development built within close proximity to public transit.
Also known as transit villages, the transit-oriented developments usually consists of a mixture of retail, restaurants and residences. The goal is to get residents living in the transit villages to limit the use of their cars.
“Smart growth is recreating a traditional town or a small city where people live and walk to shops, walk to cafes and ideally walk to work,” said Planning Commissioner Darrell Clarke. Clarke has been a volunteer with the Friends 4 Expo Transit since 1989.
There are fewer bus connections in the industrial area than in other Santa Monica neighborhoods, but that could all change once Expo comes to town. Typically more bus routes evolve as new bus stations and rail stations come alive, said City Council member Pam O’Connor, who is also the chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors.
In developing the Land Use and Circulation Element, city officials will need to identify the businesses in the industrial area that will need to be preserved, and the ones that might eventually disappear, Bar-El said.
One of the centers that will most likely survive is Bergamot Station, which houses artists galleries and studios. Bar-El calls it the heart of the industrial area.
“I think what we all see and I think what the community will express is that Bergamot Station and other arts related uses are valued by the city and it’s a question of how do we make sure we don’t inadvertently lose those assets,” Bar-El said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 21, 2007. Read the original PDF.