March 25, 2023 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

SMa.r.t. Column: To a Better Housing Element

Your City is busy rewriting much of its zoning code to implement our new Housing Element as demanded by the State of California. That laborious rewrite has been going on for months because every line in our zoning code has to be squared both with the decisions made in the Housing Element and with the dozens of new interactive state laws dictating exactly how the City must operate. That Housing Element, which mandated an addition of about 9000 new housing units in the next eight years (about a 20% population increase), involved a massive up-zoning of all the boulevards and some avenues, the Downtown and the Bergamot area in addition to allowing up to 6 units on existing single-family lots among other changes. This is a transformative change to our City’s character and quality of life. 

In the rush to get the Housing Element approved by the State, the City did not have time to study all the implications and adjust for secondary effects of such a transformation. Some obvious conflicts were noted for example, the traffic increases, or the inability to meet our water neutrality goals or the conflict with the State’s 2045 carbon neutrality goals, or the mystery of where all the wealthy renters and buyers of all this new housing would come from when the State lost more than half a million people between April 2020 and July 1, 2022 (the interval when the Housing Element was being prepared)? But with the fine-grain rewrite of the Zoning Code, we can see places where the Housing Element can be improved to mitigate those conflicts without altering its essential character. 

Preserving the Neighborhood Commercial (NC) zoning
One area where we can improve the Zoning Code is to avoid up-zoning all the commercial districts uniformly, but by preserving some as is because of the unique role they play in our City. Specifically, preserving the NC Zone which is a low rise Neighborhood Commercial zone with a current base height of 32’ but is now set by the new Housing Element to balloon up to 50’-65’ in base height for housing projects (State required bonuses would also allow up to an additional 33’ in height for 100% affordable housing projects!). This NC Zone is found primarily scattered on Pico Blvd. (Euclid to Centinela), on Montana Ave (7th to 17th), on Ocean Park Blvd. (16th to 18th and 25th to Centinela) and on Main Street (Bay to Pier Ave.). The neighborhood serving NC Zones encourage walk in and bike ride in customers from the adjacent neighborhoods.

Jane Jacobs, a famous American urbanist, in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, accurately describes the role of these neighborhood serving businesses in existing buildings:

“But the unformalized feeders of the arts–studios, galleries, stores for musical instruments and art supplies, backrooms where the low earning power of a seat and a table can absorb uneconomic discussions–these go into old buildings. Perhaps more significant, hundreds of ordinary enterprises, necessary to the safety and public life of streets and neighborhoods, and appreciated for their convenience and personal quality, can make out successfully in old buildings, but are inexorably slain by the high overhead of new construction.”

Not the time to destroy local serving businesses
The last nine words are critical: “are inexorably slain by the high overhead of new construction.” In other words, the new Zoning Code’s incentivizing demolition and construction of new housing projects in the place of these existing neighborhood serving businesses means they will disappear, and their ground floor spaces will inevitably be filled by very high-priced new businesses to the detriment of the adjacent neighborhoods (if they are replaced at all since the new Zoning Code does not even require ground floor commercial uses on Pico or Ocean Park). The old businesses will be gone never to return because they cannot match the new doubled and tripled rents charged by the new construction. This up-pricing is expected on the major boulevards (Wilshire etc.) and the Third Street Promenade which are regional draws for major corporate chains but are unnecessary and often unprofitable in the smaller neighborhood serving areas such as the NC zoning. These new higher priced businesses will for the most part cater to new wealthy residents, but not long-time Santa Monicans who we are directed not to displace.

Furthermore, with the approach of what seems to be a recession (caused by interest rate spikes), and the global disarray of retail businesses (caused by online shopping), and the known difficulty of hiring to keep restaurants alive; now is not the time to wipe out any existing businesses. We already lose too many beloved legacy businesses to “natural” turnover, e.g. the Pioneer Boulangerie, the 18th Street Cafe, Busy Bee Hardware, Evett’s Model Shop, just to name a few. I’m sure you have your own lost favorites. But imagine the bloodbath of local businesses when the new Housing Element places development on steroids.

Finally, these small businesses in lower-rent existing buildings not only give employment to a wide variety of workers, eg high school/college students, but also form a source of cheaper rental spaces for start-up businesses which are especially valuable for under-served and under-represented minority entrepreneurs. 

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH)
One of the Housing Elements goals is to increase diversity of race and income levels among other variables in parts of the City that have not been historically diverse or historically have not had a lot of affordable housing. As it turns out the neighborhoods flanking these streets are extremely diverse. For example, the neighborhoods next to Pico Blvd. and Main Street have a substantially diverse population with a high and diverse mix of housing types and costs. The Ocean Park neighborhood has 4684 rent controlled units (17% of the entire City’s total) including 170 deed restricted affordable senior units. 35% of students going to John Muir, Ocean Park’s local elementary school (a Title 1 school indicating a high poverty area), are at or below the poverty line and 60% of the students identify as nonwhite. Main Street also has many historical buildings that would be endangered by up-zoning its NC lots, while the City owned parking lots immediately west of Main Street are already slated for 600 units of affordable new housing. 

Meanwhile the Pico Neighborhood flanking Pico Blvd. is the home of the most racially diverse and low-income residents of Santa Monica who rely on lower priced services along Pico. As such, it is at the most risk of gentrification and its attendant displacement because developers always seek the cheapest land for new construction.  

Montana Avenue is flanked on the south by the highest number (6012) of rent controlled units in the City along the area between Montana and Wilshire; while the area north of Montana is where the greatest number of Accessory Dwelling Units are likely to be built on those large R-1 lots providing potentially more lower cost housing then has been historically in that area. Finally Ocean Park Blvd serves Sunset Park which has more apartments (3309) than single family homes (2634). Will Rogers, Sunset Park’s elementary school (another Title 1 school), is very diverse with 45% hispanic, 39% white, 9% black, and 13% other race/ethic group students. 

Just the cursory review of the neighborhoods noted above shows that the NC zones already serve very diverse populations in many different housing types and income levels so there is no need to up-zone their NC streets to meet the goals of affirmatively furthering fair housing. Thanks to a State wide robust incentive program for 100% affordable housing, those projects could still feasibly go forward without any NC up-zoning. We absolutely need more affordable housing units to balance the gentrification resulting from the flood of market rate units heading our way. 

But the elimination of low-cost services, by up-zoning their NC districts would make it harder for many residents to get lower or stable cost services, making life harder for both existing and new residents particularly those at the lower income levels. In other words, the Housing Element’s massive housing increase, particularly when 2/3 (6000 units) of that new housing are mandated to be affordable, should not be entertained without considering an equivalent massive increase of neighborhood affordable services to those same residents. The best way to provide those needed service increases is to not destroy existing businesses in an unnecessary up-zoning. Finally remember the existing NC zoning still allows housing over business, just not as much as the current upcoming proposals.

Time to Act is Now
The Planning Commission has asked the City Council to submit an application to the State of California to formally modify our approved Housing Element to make it more attuned to our actual City neighborhood needs. This is a small change with big community benefits. The potential loss of new units by not up-zoning the NC will be compensated by a slight up-zoning already proposed north of Bergamot station. The the Planning Commission has already recommended up-zoning of that compensatory area. Asking the State to approve a modification to an already approved Housing Element is not done lightly, but a Housing Element is not cast in stone. It has built in the ability to be modified, but the modification must be done with the State’s approval and in a timely manner to avoid penalties. A balanced properly submitted request for amendment will not risk our existing compliance and will not result in any more wild “Builder’s Remedy” projects to be submitted as those opposing this idea threaten. Therefore, City Council should, at their meeting on February 14 (Valentines Day a perfect time to give the City a lovely gift), begin the process of applying for this Housing Element revision. If you want to preserve the businesses often within walking distance of your home, please encourage your neighbors to ask the Council to support this modification to preserve the NC zoning as is.  

BY Mario Fonda-Bonardi AIA
For for SMa.r.t. (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow)

Dan Jansenson, Architect, Building & Fire-Life Safety Commissioner; Mario Fonda Bonardi AIA, Planning Commissioner; Ron Goldman, Architect FAIA; Robert H. Taylor, Architect AIA: Thane Roberts, Architect; Samuel Tolkin Architect & Planning Commissioner;.; Michael Jolly, AIRCRE santamonicasmart@gmail.com

Related Posts

SMa.r.t. Column: Going Bare

March 20, 2023

March 20, 2023

(part 3 of 3 articles) Every City faces periodic interruptions to its normal life. Some interruptions in our City are...

Santa Monica Mall Owner, Macerich, Finds Way Out of Retail Property Crisis

March 19, 2023

March 19, 2023

Move comes amidst a crisis for retail property owners, with loans coming due for refinancing with much higher interest rates...

Historic Santa Monica Property “The Witbeck House” Listed for Sale at $22.5M

March 19, 2023

March 19, 2023

Greene & Greene-designed home features 26,000+ square foot lot with five bedroom home A historic property known as The Witbeck...

New Affordable Housing Complex Completed in Santa Monica’s Pico Neighborhood

March 18, 2023

March 18, 2023

Las Flores offers 73 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments at 1834-1848 14th Street By Sam Catanzaro Community Corp. of Santa...

Column: SB 9 Ended R-1 Zoning, but It’s Not Meeting Goals

March 11, 2023

March 11, 2023

By Tom Elias More than a year after it took effect, the landmark housing density law known as SB 9...

SMa.r.t. Column: The Urgency to Retrofit Earthquake-Deficient Buildings, Part II

March 10, 2023

March 10, 2023

Santa Monica’s earthquake-retrofit laws are being bypassed by some building owners, and the city may have trouble enforcing those ordinances...

Scooter Braun Buys Nearly Century-Old Oceanside Building in Santa Monica for $25.9 Million

March 10, 2023

March 10, 2023

Music entrepreneur buys 1927 four-story brick building at 3355 Barnard Way By Dolores Quintana Scooter Braun, a talent manager and...

Santa Monica Planning Commission Approves Eight-Story Hotel Development on Colorado Avenue

March 10, 2023

March 10, 2023

Hotel would bring 74 rooms to 516 Colorado Avenue A new hotel development has received clearance from the Santa Monica...

Santa Monica Canyon Home Designed by Case Study Architect Listed for $10.5M

March 6, 2023

March 6, 2023

Home originally designed by Case Study architect Thornton M. Abell  By Dolores Quintana A Santa Monica Canyon home originally designed...

New Office Complex Underway at Former Santa Monica Tow Yard Site

March 6, 2023

March 6, 2023

1650 Euclid Street development from Redcar Properties will include three stories of office space A new office complex is set...

SMa.r.t. Column: The Urgency to Retrofit Earthquake-Deficient Buildings

March 6, 2023

March 6, 2023

Recent early-morning tremors off the Malibu coast, and the huge and terrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria have made us...

Kath’s Oscar Forecast 2023 Part One

March 6, 2023

March 6, 2023

FILM REVIEWKATH’S OSCAR FORECAST 2023 PART ONE95th Academy Awards March 12th at 5:00PM on ABC In this column and the...

Brookfield Corp Defaults on $784M Worth of Loans for Two LA Towers

March 6, 2023

March 6, 2023

Brookfield fails to pay a $465 million loan package for the Gas Company Tower at 555 W. 5th St. and...

SMa.r.t. Column: ​​Reinforcing the Future – A Revisit

February 27, 2023

February 27, 2023

Six years go we discussed, in these pages, the city’s then-renewed earthquake-retrofit rules. At the time we argued that the...

Connie Britton and David E. Windsor Win Bidding War for $5.6M Santa Monica Home

February 26, 2023

February 26, 2023

Couple plays $600,000 over the asking price for custom-built home Actress Connie Britton, of White Lotus, Nashville, Friday Night Lights...