October 4, 2024 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

Letter To The Editor: Thirsty Development In Santa Monica:

Dear Editor,

By now everyone knows about the drought, although some people seem to be in denial about the problem it presents. The governor has asked for a 20 percent reduction in use, and our City has followed suit and asked residents to reduce water use by 20 percent.

In the meantime, new developments – some of them especially water-intensive – continue to make their way through the approval process. Even as residents try to reduce their consumption, the city’s overall consumption is well on its way to new heights.

Santa Monica gets most of its water from its own wells, purchasing the rest from the Metropolitan Water District.

MWD water, which comes from the Colorado River, rain and snow melt, is especially susceptible to the effects of drought.

As the water supply from the state diminishes, the cost of that water will rise.

To reduce the impact of an unstable state water supply, the City developed a plan to be water self-sufficient within the next six years. Included in this plan are construction of two new wells, and various other water-conservation measures.

As with our current wells, new wells will draw from a vulnerable underground supply shared, and desired, by others.

New conservation measures, while laudable, will not reverse the rising water-consumption trend, because conservation cannot trump an increase in the number of users.

With all the projects in the pipeline, including residential developments and hotels, the City will continue to depend on unreliable and increasingly expensive water from the MWD, and increased costs will inevitably be imposed on all water consumers in the city.

The more water consumed by the city, the more we will depend on purchased outside water, and the more we’ll pay.

In January last year the city consumed approximately 10 million gallons of water per day.

We were asked to conserve a mere 200,000 gals per day, a reduction of two gallons per day per person, or 2 percent. One year later, in January of 2014, water consumption had jumped to 12 million gallons per day, a 20 percent increase in one year. And now, after the State declared a severe drought and asked for voluntary conservation efforts, consumption has risen another 2 percent.

Today we’re faced with mandatory cuts at the risk of significant penalties.

Yet we see no serious attempt to put the brakes on excessive development, with several development agreements having just been presented to the Planning Commission and City Council.

A 12-story mixed-use commercial/residential/hotel project proposed downtown, will have enormous impact on existing infrastructure, especially water demand.

Two other hotels have already been approved, and another very large mixed-use project at the Fred Segal site, as well as eight mixed-use residential/commercial projects in a four-block area along Lincoln Blvd.

Twenty-two projects in a 12-block area of downtown have applied for development agreements. And this does not even include the three condo/hotel projects on Ocean Avenue that many in this community consider ridiculously over-scaled.

City government has not asked us to subsidize new development. but that is the net effect of continuing to encourage and process large developments that signficantly increase the city’s water consumption–especially projects substantially larger than basic zoning allows.

Let’s not mince words: it’s irresponsible to consider such developments given the current water crisis. This past year has been the driest in recorded California history.

There was a similarly dry year over 100 years ago, but our population has grown 40 times since then–and with indoor plumbing and hygiene changes, consumption is probably closer to 100 times what it was then.

The City’s solutions to water shortages depend on access to resources over which the city has little control. This includes the new wells, accessing regional aquifers vulnerable to depletion since they are available to others.

With any shortfalls provided by the wells, the City will purchase water from MWD, whose sources are also being depleted.

The reliance on uncontrollable resources means that a reliable plan cannot, in fact, be prepared, and the risk of draconian cuts and ballooning costs increases with each new project being approved.

The City is already doing some things right, on the water conservation side. But more must be done. The city must commit to the widespread use of greywater systems, and plan for a fully greywater-enabled city within the next twenty years.

The city should require the installation of water meters in all dwellings and apartments (accompanied by lenient financing terms), efficient metering and control systems for hotels, a more aggressive water-use policing effort throughout the City, and a stronger rain harvesting effort.

It is clear that with a severe drought upon us, we should all do our part to conserve water.

As part of SM a.r.t, we believe that our City’s own policies on infrastructure and development should be held to the same standard of reduced demand, including placing a hold on large projects unable to provide their own water supplies.

The State requires new developments with more than 500 units to supply their own water, exclusive of the city’s supply. Such projects must go outside the city to obtain their own water.

There are at least 1500 new units in the pipeline, but the City does not require those projects to bring their own water because none reaches the 500-unit threshold (the defunct Hines project ‘oddly’ limiting itself to 498 units).

Since many of these projects rely on development agreements, the City should require evidence of a new water source as part of the negotiated public benefits with each agreement.

Residents and local businesses already carry the weight of conservation in the city, even as daytime population swells to over 300,000 transient visitors who consume water at hotels, restaurants, beach showers, and public restrooms.

There is no reason to burden residents and local businesses with the increased infrastructure costs that large developments bring, in this water-constrained environment.

For many years, comedians and radio pundits referred to Santa Monica as “the home of the homeless.” Let’s make sure our city will never be known as “the home of the waterless.”

Dan Jansenson, Architect and Bob Taylor, A.I.A. for SMa.r.t.

Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow

Ron Goldman FAIA, Mario Fonda-Bonardi AIA, Bob Taylor AIA, Dan Jansenson Architect, Sam Tolkin Architect, Thane Roberts AIA, Armen Melkonians Civil & Environmental Engineer, Phil Brock Chair, Recreation & Parks Commission. SMa.r.t. is a group of Santa Monica Architects concerned about the city’s future. For previous articles, please see santamonicaarch.wordpress.com/writings.

in Opinion
Related Posts

SM.a.r.t. Column: Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Can Help Save Lives and Revitalize Santa Monica’s Economy

September 29, 2024

September 29, 2024

We wholeheartedly endorse the candidates below for Santa Monica City Council. Their leading campaign platform is for increased safety in...

SM.a.r.t Column: Crime in Santa Monica: A Growing Concern and the Need for Prioritizing Public Safety

September 22, 2024

September 22, 2024

By Michael Jolly Over the past six months, Santa Monica has experienced a concerning rise in crime, sparking heated discussions...

SM.a.r.t Column: Ten New Commandments

September 15, 2024

September 15, 2024

Starting last week,  the elementary school students of Louisiana will all face mandatory postings of the biblical Ten Commandments in...

SM.a.r.t Column: Santa Monica’s Next City Council

September 8, 2024

September 8, 2024

In the next general election, this November 5th, Santa Monica residents will be asked to vote their choices among an...

SM.a.r.t Column: Part II: The Affordability Crisis: Unmasking California’s RHNA Process and Its Role in Gentrification

September 2, 2024

September 2, 2024

Affordability: An Income and Available Asset Gap Issue, Not a Supply Issue (Last week’s article revealed how state mandates became...

SM.a.r.t Column: Part 1: The Affordability Crisis: Unmasking California’s RHNA Process and Its Role in Gentrification

August 26, 2024

August 26, 2024

In the world of economic policy, good intentions often pave the way to unintended consequences. Nowhere is this more evident...

SM.a.r.t Column: They Want to Build a Wall

August 18, 2024

August 18, 2024

Every once in a while, a topic arises that we had previously written about but doesn’t seem to go away....

SM.a.r.t Column: Sharks vs. Batteries – Part 5 of 5

August 11, 2024

August 11, 2024

This is the last SMart article in an expanding  5 part series about our City’s power, water, and food prospects....

SM.a.r.t Column: Your Home’s First Battery Is in Your Car

August 4, 2024

August 4, 2024

This is the fourth in a series of SM.a.r.t articles about food, water, and energy issues in Santa Monica. You...

SM.a.r.t Column: Food Water and Energy Part 3 of 4

July 28, 2024

July 28, 2024

Our previous two S.M.a,r,t, articles talked about the seismic risks to the City from getting its three survival essentials: food,...

Food, Water, and Energy Part 2 of 4

July 21, 2024

July 21, 2024

Last week’s S.M.a,r,t, article (https://smmirror.com/2024/07/sm-a-r-t-column-food-water-and-energy-part-1-of-3/) talked about the seismic risks to the City from getting its three survival essentials, food,...

SM.a.r.t. Column: Food Water and Energy Part 1 of 3

July 14, 2024

July 14, 2024

Civilization, as we know it, requires many things, but the most critical and fundamental is an uninterrupted supply of three...

Letter to the Editor: Criticizing Israeli Policy Is Not Antisemitic

July 10, 2024

July 10, 2024

In the past several months, we’ve seen increasing protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza. We have also seen these protests...

SMA.R.T. WISHES ALL A VERY HAPPY 4TH OF JULY WEEK

July 7, 2024

July 7, 2024

We trust you are enjoying this holiday in celebration of Independence. Independence to be embraced, personally and civically, thru active...

SM.a.r.t Column: Santa Monica Under SCAG’s Boot

June 30, 2024

June 30, 2024

Four years ago, our esteemed colleague Mario Fonda-Bonardi wrote the prescient essay below when much of the legislative development juggernaut...