City Plan's Maximum Building Heights Come Under Fire at Meeting

The city’s General Plan came under fire at Thursday night’s Planning Commission meeting as residents raised questions about the heights of buildings permitted under the new plan.

After four years of meetings and discussions, the City Council gave its That plan will guide development in the city for the next 25 years, but various parts of the city’s zoning code must be amended to reflect the changes in the plan. Thus, the General Plan came back before the Planning Commission to approve those zoning code changes.

What had been anticipated as a straightforward procedural matter turned contoversial, as residents questioned the plan's maximum allowable building height in various parts of town.

Several residents, who had diligently studied maps indicating the maximum heights, spoke out, saying some of the changes were not what the City Council had approved.

Other residents voiced disagreement with the heights in general, upset at the prospect of having buildings as tall as six stories along parts of Santa Monica Boulevard and 11 stories along La Brea Avenue. They pointed out that in various community meetings, including , residents had been quite clear in their desire that buildings go no higher than three stories, possibly four.

Commission Chairman Alan Bernstein said the purpose of the meeting was to approve the changes to the zoning code, not to discuss the merits of the General Plan that the council had approved.

“This is largely procedural,” he told attendees. “We can’t revisit the issue.”

Bonus confusion

However, Commissioner Lauren Meister felt they should revisit the issue, noting that the General Plan was not specific on the number of “bonuses” a developer can use.

If a proposed new building meets certain criteria, a developer can use a “bonus” to increase the stated maximum height. For example, under state law SB1818, if a project includes affordable housing, it can go 10 feet higher. Under city ordinances, if the project is mixed use (retail and residential), it can also go 10 feet higher.

Thus, a parcel of land designated as having a maximum 35-foot height can still go 20 feet higher using those bonuses.

Meister wanted to place limitations on the number of bonuses a project can use. Commissioner Sue Bucker suggested that the bonuses would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but Meister said that would end up being “spot zoning.”

Before the bonus discussion could go any further, Bernstein put an end to the matter by making a motion that the commission approve the zoning code changes with the recommendation that the City Council should clarify language about bonuses.

That motion passed 6-1, with Meister voting against it. Afterward, Meister told Weho Patch she did not want the commission to forgo the opportunity to discuss heights when so many people were still concerned about them.

“I felt we should have had the discussion, one, because it was within the commission’s purview to do so, and two, allowing multiple bonuses will have a huge impact on the community,” Meister said. “We're talking about the possibility of five-, six-, eight-, even 11-story buildings with the allowance of multiple bonuses in our zoning ordinance. In the General Plan community meetings, as well as the telephone surveys, the community said ‘no’ to four-plus-story buildings.”

Special events

The commission voted 7-0 to recommend extending for one year a temporary ordinance that .

Due to the economic downturn in 2009, the City Council approved a temporary measure increasing the number of special events a business is permitted to have each year from four to 12. That measure is due to expire on Dec. 31, 2011, and city staff was recommending making it permanent.

However, the commissioners wanted more information before making it permanent. Commissioner Marc Yeber wanted a breakdown of which businesses were applying for the special event permits. Commissioner Roy Huebner wanted to know if the same businesses were having more events or if the special events were being spread out evenly across all businesses.

When city staff did not have all that information immediately available, the commission agreed to recommend extending the measure for one year and wanted more detailed data before it is brought back to them next year.

The measure now goes to the City Council for final approval.

Aging housing stock

The commission also discussed creating procedures for renters to purchase their units, a continuation of an ongoing discussion the commissioners have had in recent months.

Along with that discussion, the commission was concerned about maintenance costs for the city’s aging housing stock, including replacement of plumbing and electrical wiring, retrofitting buildings to meet current seismic codes and owners' insurance coverage.

The commission voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council create a task force to explore these issues.

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