The Santa Monica Planning Commission on Wednesday rejected key portions of a city staff proposal that would have lowered building heights along commercial boulevards in exchange for waiving affordable housing fees, with commissioners warning that the plan could undermine the city's affordable housing program and accelerate the displacement of vulnerable residents.
After extensive debate, commissioners stripped all provisions related to the Boulevard Low-Scale Housing Incentive from two Resolutions of Intention before voting 5-0 to adopt the amended measures, which now focus solely on increased downtown height limits and flexibility for city-owned sites.
The study session was the first formal review of draft concepts to implement the city's Realignment Plan, adopted by the City Council in October 2025. Staff had proposed three major strategies: encouraging lower-scale housing along boulevards, transferring that "lost" height to downtown projects, and exempting city-owned downtown parcels from standard zoning rules.
The most contentious element was a proposal to waive Affordable Housing Production Program, or AHPP, fees for boulevard developers who agreed to cap buildings at roughly 55 feet and include two- and three-bedroom ownership units. Under current rules, projects of 20 or more units must set aside 15% of units as affordable on-site or 20% off-site.
Commissioner Nina Fresco said broad exemptions from the affordable housing program would amount to "the death knell of progressive Santa Monica," arguing that prioritizing market-rate housing without mandatory affordable contributions threatened economic diversity and could push out longtime residents. Vice Chair Peer Chacko echoed those concerns, warning that the waivers could effectively gut the city's affordable housing program and leave it producing few actual affordable units.
Several commissioners called on staff to model the financial trade-offs before moving forward, including comparing potential lost AHPP revenue against funds expected from Measure GS, a local real estate transfer tax that funds affordable housing and homelessness prevention.
Commissioner Jacob Wasserman criticized the boulevard proposal as a reversal of prior city strategy. He said the city had previously agreed to direct density to commercial boulevards specifically to protect single-family neighborhoods from upzoning, making it counterproductive to now incentivize developers to build less housing along those corridors. Chacko added that asking developers to build shorter buildings while requiring larger, family-sized units created a financial mismatch that would make projects difficult to finance.
Commissioner Shawn Landres raised legal concerns, warning staff that lowering allowable heights along corridors such as Pico Boulevard could run afoul of California's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing mandate, which requires cities to direct housing to high-opportunity areas rather than downzone them. He also urged staff to stop using the term "family-sized" units, calling it a recognized fair housing trigger, and recommended the city instead refer to "two- and three-bedroom units."
Landres and Fresco also raised concerns about commercial displacement, saying rapid redevelopment along boulevards has replaced longstanding neighborhood businesses such as tailors, appliance repair shops and barbers with large ground-floor commercial spaces affordable only to corporate chains. Landres suggested the city explore requiring smaller commercial floor plates and consider commercial rent control on city-owned sites.
While rejecting the boulevard incentives, commissioners broadly supported staff's downtown proposals. Those concepts include increasing baseline downtown building heights by approximately 10 to 20 feet, creating a local density bonus program, and exempting city-owned downtown parcels — including the Downtown Station site, Parking Structure 1, the old Fire Station 1 and the Fourth/Fifth and Arizona site — from the zoning ordinance to allow more flexible public-private partnerships.
Commissioners also expressed cautious support for staff's recommendation to establish a 130-foot height limit for both housing and non-housing projects within the Gateway Master Plan area, which includes The Pierside Hotel site, the former Sears property and the Downtown Station site near the Expo Line. Several commissioners said taller buildings fit downtown's existing character and could help revitalize an underperforming commercial core.
As an alternative to broad density bonuses, Landres proposed a tiered "ratchet" structure under which the city would grant specific incentives only as developers delivered specific community benefits, such as exact affordability mixes or larger units. Wasserman and Fresco urged staff to consider introducing the incentives as temporary pilot programs, allowing the city to test their effects on a limited number of projects before permanently changing the zoning code.
The commission voted 5-0 to adopt Resolutions 26-006 and 26-007 as amended, with Chair Josh Hamilton, Vice Chair Peer Chacko and Commissioners Fresco, Landres and Wasserman in support. A separate motion directing staff to incorporate commissioner feedback into final recommendations also passed 5-0. Staff is scheduled to return to the commission on June 3 or June 17 with a formal recommendation. The City Council is expected to consider final adoption on July 14.