The Santa Monica City Council will consider several ordinances and policy changes at its Tuesday meeting, including stricter requirements for dog owners after bite incidents, a new framework for waiving fees at major community events and the annual report on the city’s water quality.
The council is scheduled to vote on an ordinance that would require dog owners to share contact and rabies vaccination information within 48 hours after their dog bites another person or animal, causing at least one puncture wound. The measure, which received first reading Sept. 30, extends existing state requirements that apply only to human bite victims.
Under current California law, dog owners must provide their information to people bitten by their dogs but face no such requirement when their dogs bite other animals. The proposed city ordinance would close that gap and allow bite victims to pursue civil damages of $1,000 or actual damages if owners fail to provide required information.
"The City has received complaints from residents about dog versus dog incidents resulting in injury where the person having control or custody of the dog causing the injury failed to provide contact information to the owner of the injured dog," according to the staff report.
The ordinance would also amend the city's leash law to establish civil remedies when off-leash dogs bite people or animals in public. Victims could recover $1,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater, in private civil actions against owners who violated leash requirements.
Animal Control Officers would continue investigating reported dog bites and could issue infractions or administrative citations to owners who refuse to provide required information. The city would be authorized to release dog owners' contact information to bite victims when the city possesses that information and owners have failed to share it.
Signature Events Program
The council will also consider establishing a "Santa Monica Signature Events" category that would provide automatic fee waivers for qualifying community events produced by nonprofit organizations.
The proposed resolution identifies 14 recurring events for the designation, including Pier 360, Easter on the Promenade, Pride on the Promenade, the July 4th Parade, the Festival of Chariots and the Westside Unity Classic Car Show.
To qualify as signature events, programs must take place at city-owned sites, be free and open to the public, demonstrate at least three years of annual presence in Santa Monica, and provide cultural, social, recreational or economic benefit to the community. Political or religious events, commercial activations and programs hosted by outside organizations without clear community benefit would be ineligible.
The Recreation and Parks Commission would conduct annual reviews of signature event requests and could add or remove events through a coordinated process. Event organizers could appeal commission decisions to the director of recreation and arts.
The proposed change aims to streamline what city staff described as a cumbersome process involving the City Council Discretionary Funding Program and protracted fee negotiations.
Council Discretionary Budget Changes
The council will consider restructuring its discretionary budget program to restore flexibility for responding to emerging community needs.
Currently, about $95,000 of the $137,398 discretionary budget is pre-allocated to recurring commitments, leaving only $23,500 available for new requests. Staff recommends moving $83,000 in recurring allocations — including funding for business improvement districts, the July 4th Parade, the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, Santa Monica Pride and Santa Monica High School Grad Night — into the city's operating budget.
Under the proposal, the discretionary budget would increase to $140,000 and provide $20,000 per council member, with all allocations still requiring approval by council majority vote. Staff would conduct biennial reviews to identify additional recurring programs that could transition to the base budget or qualify as signature events.
Water Quality Report
The council will hold a public hearing on the 2025 Report on Water Quality Relative to Public Health Goals, which assesses the city's drinking water supply against state and federal standards.
The city's water quality complies with all drinking water standards, according to the report. The Department of Public Works Water Resources Division delivers water to more than 93,000 residents and conducts over 10,000 tests annually across the water system.
State law requires public water systems to report every three years on any elements detected in water at levels above Public Health Goals or Maximum Contaminant Level Goals. These goals identify extremely low theoretical risks but are not enforceable standards that water systems must meet.
No additional treatment actions are recommended for the city's potable water supply, according to staff.
Reopening the Civic Center
Council must decide whether to extend negotiations with Revitalization Partners Group (RPG) for the Civic Auditorium redevelopment after their six-month Exclusive Negotiation Agreement expired Oct. 8.
RPG proposes converting the historic venue into an immersive digital and holographic theater with capacity between 2,800 to 3,300 seats, plus 14,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant space. The design envisions preserving historic elements while relocating parking and creating new green space on the former courthouse lot.
Despite engaging with the project since July 2024, RPG has provided only preliminary architectural concepts and verbal financial estimates to city staff. City staff’s independent analysis of the proposed $360 million project suggests it appears economically questionable without substantial public subsidy, showing negative returns even under optimistic scenarios with 200 shows annually.
Council faces three options: approve a six-month extension for continued negotiations, grant a three-month extension requiring accelerated analysis, or terminate the agreement and explore alternative redevelopment options for the site, which has been closed since June 2013. Previous redevelopment efforts in 2010-2012 and 2018-2019 proved unsuccessful.
Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 14.