Ocean Park neighborhood group gives nod to project
A controversial affordable housing proposal gained a narrow approval from a neighborhood group after concessions were made by project’s developer.
Community Corp. of Santa Monica, the largest developer of affordable housing in the city, was given a narrow victory last week when the Design Standards Review Committee of the Ocean Park Community Organization voted 5-3 to endorse an $11 million project at the corner of Pacific and Main streets.
The five building complex could potentially house about 185 people in 22 three-bedroom units, 16 two-bedroom units, and three units of four-bedrooms and one-bedrooms that would rent for $500 to $1,300 per month.
Next, the proposal will go before the entire OPCO board for approval at a meeting some time in January.
While DSRC approval is not a required step before getting city approval, it’s part of the process the developer takes when getting public feedback on its Ocean Park projects, said CCSM executive director Joan Ling.
“It’s really nice to have the DSRC vote for the project with some conditions because it reflects a neighborhood process at the end of which is general support for what we are intending to do,” she said.
In exchange for its recommendation, DSRC members asked that the buildings not cover more than 50 percent of the lot, set back the fourth floor by nine feet, add and maintain trees whenever possible, and keep the project to between 40 and 44 units.
They also want CCSM to consider restriping Bicknell, Pacific and Hollister streets, which some believed could be used as a traffic mitigation measure.
Community Corp. also agreed to deed-restrict the building so its residents cannot apply for street parking permits. While building proposal already contains more parking than required under city law, some residents are concerned the influx of new residents would make already limited street parking more scarce.
Even though a formal study is no longer required under city law, the board asked for a traffic study. However, the group agreed to have the study postponed until the data can be made available through the city, obviating an expensive and time-consuming report.
“We started this process 18 months ago,” Ling said. “From what we have initially proposed to the community and where we are now is a big improvement.”
However, some nearby residents are still worried about the project’s size and the impact it could have on the traffic and parking in their neighborhood.
The neighbors formed a committee within OPCO to address their concerns and wrote a stinging report on the Main and Pacific project, which split from the neighborhood group’s unflinching traditional support of affordable housing.
A competing report was written by OPCO’s Affordable Housing committee, which endorsed the project and the goal of providing more affordable housing in Ocean Park.
The two groups would likely have fought when the Main and Pacific project was taken through the public review process at City Hall until the City Council late last month enacted an ordinance precluding all affordable housing projects with fewer than 50 units from public input.
That means, as long as a project conforms to all applicable city laws and zoning codes, it will be approved. Similar market-rate projects will still require public review before given city approval.
Many times in the past, public review has been used by residents who want to kill an affordable housing proposal in their neighborhood or slow the approval down for so long that it becomes prohibitive for the developer to build there, officials said.
City officials also cited a report indicating only a fraction of the affordable housing mandated under city law would be built in the following few years. The ordinance would help speed up new affordable housing projects, officials said.
However, by enacting the ordinance some residents felt their input on the Pacific and Main project had been taken away. When the DSRC met with Community Corp. last week, some members wanted to get whatever concessions they could because there would be nearly no other chance, sources said.
And to others the concessions made by CCSM were minor, and no where near the scope that needed to be made to alleviate the strain on the surrounding neighborhood, they said.
While DSRC member Mary Marlow, a nearby neighbor of the proposed project, said she believes the changes were a good start, much more needed to be done. That’s why she voted against approving the proposal.
“I guess I’m in the minority and not happy with the outcome because nothing changed much,” she said. “They just got some good free advice. I don’t think the project will change much more than this.”
But Ling said there is always a chance for the project to change before it’s built. And she said Community Corp. has a history of taking residents’ suggestions, so there’s always a chance more can be changed, she said.
“Nothing is set in concrete until literally it’s set in concrete and the building is completely built,” she said.
“Nothing is set in concrete until literally it’s set in concrete and the building is completely built.” — — JOAN LING Community Corp. of Santa Monica
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 24, 2002. Read the original PDF.