City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the October 27th meeting of the City Council. We will ask that everyone turn off their phones or turn them to vibrate so as not to disrupt the meeting. Council Member Raskin, will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance?

And Council Member Negrete, would you like to do the land acknowledgement?

The City of Santa Monica is located on the land of Tovongar. With great respect, the City acknowledges the Gabrielino Tongva and the first people of its ancestral and unceded territory, Curuvonga, a village that we know as Santa Monica. We honor their elders, past and present, and the Gabrielino descendants who are part of the Gabrielino Tongva tribes. We recognize that these peoples are still here, and as settlers, kuyam, guests, we recognize our responsibility and obligation to care for their land in partnership with them. The City of Santa Monica commits to work in partnership with the Grap

Great. And I will defer to the clerk now.

Here. Great. And I believe there's a Levine Act disclosure. No? Does anyone want to recuse themselves from any items on the agenda? Okay. So for agenda management, a motion would be in order to move the city manager's report and the mayor's highlight before general public input and then proceed accordingly. I'll make that motion. Great.

Great. Mayor, could I also move that we hear 12A, the public hearing for the development agreement, immediately following closed session, so Mayor Pro Temswick can participate? That sounds like a friendly amendment. Is it?

Yes, great. So we will, are you doing the city manager's report first or the mayor's highlight? Okay, great, go ahead.

Thank you so much. So we're going to move on to the mayor's highlight, which is a really special one today. As you recall, we highlight our unsung heroes in our city team. And so tonight I want to highlight Motor Coach Operator Antonise Walton. On October 1st, 2026, at approximately 5.09 p.m., Big Blue Bus Motor Coach Operator Antonise Walton contacted BBB Dispatch from Bus 2504 after observing Culver City bus 7158 idling in the middle of the street with the operator appearing unconscious. Believing that the Culver City bus operator may have experienced a medical emergency, MCO Walton took the

You got me? Which way are we going? All right. One, two, three.

Okay, we'll now move on to general public comment on a recording in progress. Great. I hope that recorded our amazing motor coach operator. In any event, we're going to move on now to the general public comment. And just to remind everyone, this is comment on items not on the agenda. And we ask that if you are commenting on an agendized item, that you please talk to our clerk and make sure that you get in the appropriate queue. Otherwise, we will ask you to reframe your comments. We do have 25 comments, so everyone will have one minute.

Oh, and four on the phone. Okay, Jerry Rubin, Andrew Hoyer, Denise Barton, Mike Feinstein, Lynn Sturgis.

Thank you. Just before we get Ms. Barton up, are there minors? Just because I see some Girl Scouts in the audience. Are there minors that are here to comment? Just as a reminder, if you're a minor here to comment. No. Okay. Okay. Great. Just there is? Okay. If you want to come up and state your name, we do prioritize minors. So you don't have to wait here because I know that people have bedtimes and other things. So Ms. Barton, is it okay if the minor goes before you? Okay. Great. Okay. Sorry. This is for general public comment, right? Okay. Yeah. And if you could tell us your names, we could

New speaker p. okay. If there's items you want in the record, please give them to our clerk for additional. New speaker p. thank you so much. Okay. Sorry, Ms. Barton, your turn.

So I'm hoping that somebody will agendize that at a future meeting. Thank you. Thank you, mr. fonten. Lynn sturges. And then I'm going to call up some other names. Freddie luis, John Medlin, adel huizar, Dick Lucas, Karina Rojas.

Thank you. Thank you, Dick Lucas. And then we have Karina Rojas.

OK, after Karina Rojas, we have Farah Suti, Roku, Sean A. House, Clarence McDowell, John Berry. Are you Karina Rojas? Oh, yeah, you can come up and speak. Yeah.

We do have staff here in the back. Yeah, I think they're coming to talk to you. For us, Suti Roku. Great.

Thank you, we have a team member Josh in the back who can chat with you Shawn a house Caroline Heidi and Oliver

New speaker thank you. You can address me as mayor Tarosis next time. Clarence McDowell, John Berry, rev.

Thank you, John Berry. And then after Jim Kahn, we have Susan McQuarrie and Jonathan Buster.

Thank you very much. Bye-bye. Thank you so much. And we love our community gardens. JONATHAN FOSTER, AND THEN WE HAVE MORGAN HUNTER-GROSS, JOE De ROSA, CAMERON CASH, ZOE MUNTENER.

Thank you, Jonathan. Morgan Hunter Gross.

Thank you. Cameron Cash, Zoe Muginera, Erica Leslie, John Cyrus-Smith.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. We also now have the telephone callers, so I'll defer to our clerk to pull them in.

New speaker great. We will now move on to the consent calendar. and we will move on to public input on items under the consent calendar in closed session only. We have Morgan Hunter-Gross, Zoe Moutonniere, and Karina Rojas. Two minutes.

Thank you. Thank you, Morgan. Zoe Moutonair.

Thank you. Thanks so much. Karina Rojas? Is Karina Rojas here? Do not see her. She might have left. Okay. Well, oh, she's coming back. Great.

I'm so sorry, but you have to be talking about an agenda item on the agenda. Is there an agenda item here?

Yeah, sorry, I meant like this is now not general public comment, it's comments on items that have been agendized under consent calendar. Like the Dia de los Muertos event?

Thank you. You can keep talking to the officer. Do we have other on the phone? I don't see any on the phone on my sheet. Okay, great. So we will now move on to the consent calendar. I understand, City Manager, did you receive any timely requests to pull?

Okay. So I would move that we approve the consent calendar absent 4B and 4K.

Okay, go ahead and say what you need to say.

All right. So, Clean Harbors Environmental Services Incorporated is a client of my law firm, Hanson Bridget LLP. Neither I nor Hanson Bridget have any financial interest in this contract whatsoever, but to avoid any appearance of impropriety, it will be recusing.

Okay, I will amend my motion. Consent calendar minus 4A, B, and SM4K. Thank you.

Mayor, I just want to clarify the amendment was friendly to this.

Thank you so much for that clarification. I guess we'll vote on 4A because Mr. Raskin decided to leave already. Do we need a staff report? I do not. Great.

Great, that carries. For B, do we want to have a staff report or Councilmember Hall, I believe you pulled it?

Mayor, I don't need a staff report unless anyone else wants it. I just have some questions for staff.

Thank you for being here tonight. I just had a question, and maybe it's a big one, but we're on our fourth modification to this contract now, several millions of dollars of overrun, and I just have to ask, what are we doing here? Why has this gone so far over what we had originally budgeted?

Okay, great. That answered my next question. So I'm glad we're starting to look at that a little more holistically. I just worry that sorry, I know we're getting into comments a little bit. But I just worry that we're, we could have built them an entirely new facility almost at this price. And maybe it could have been better. I mean, you're the architect, not me, but I just want to make sure we're not getting into like a sunk cost fallacy situation here where things just keep coming up and, you know, every couple years we're going back for another modification to the agreement. So hopefully th

New speaker. New speaker. New speaker. New speaker. New speaker. New speaker. New speaker. New speaker. New speaker. New speaker. New speaker. New speaker. New speaker.

Thank you. So you actually asked two of my questions. I had two others. I wanted to clarify, where would the additional $2.1 million be coming from?

for this project so to confirm it would not be coming out of the general fund correct okay thank you and then last question since there have been so many modifications and this is the last one what kind of audits or reviews of the work that's been completed so far have we examined or looked at just to make sure that everything is done as we asked and within the budgets that we've asked yeah absolutely we so the public works department and airport admin and

I just have one question. So is this truly the last change order? Yes. And when are we expecting the tenants to move back in?

Sorry I think I heard you say upon approval you'll execute another change order did I mean no no we well this would need to be documented as a change order with the contractor to augment their okay I mean I yeah I don't know if we want to go into comments at this point do people have comments or I would just say I'm not the question isn't meant to be like non-supportive of obviously what is an important place for our city. Just want to make sure that these runaway costs are being contained. Thanks. Great. Is anyone prepared on this item? Thank you. Thank you.

I'll move 4B, the staff recommendation. And thank you.

I know he's on Zoom now. It could be a technical issue. Can we hear him?

Great. And that concludes the consent calendar. 4K was pulled. We will now move to closed session. Do we want to call? Do we want to read out what's going to be heard in closed session? Then I think Councilmember Zwick wanted to say something. Mayor Prochambe Zwick. Okay.

Fantastic. And City Attorney, how much are you anticipating that we're going to take here?

Okay. That is 80 minutes. Council Member Zwick, did you want to make any recusals?

Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. I would. On item... 5D, I'll be recusing myself to my employment as Southern California director of the housing action Coalition which advocates for housing production. I'll also be recusing myself from item 5E due to a potential conflict of interest under government code section 87100. New speaker thank you.

We'll see everyone back here at 8 o'clock. Thank you.

Okay, it is 8.45, and I am deeply apologetic. We had much more to talk about in closed session than budgeted. But we are back, and I will turn to our city attorney for a report out of closed session.

Great. We, due to agenda management, we actually moved 12a, the public hearing on 12a, immediately following. Is Council Member Zwick on?

Well, I mean, I don't think we need to wait for him. I think we can start with the staff report.

Do any? No. Do you have a recusal? Go ahead.

Yeah, for item 12A, I'll be recusing from this item. My law firm, Hanson Bridget LLC, represents Outfront Media, a Company that operates billboards in the city of Santa Monica To avoid any appearance of impropriety. I will be recusing and to be clear neither Hanson Bridget nor I Nor out front have any financial interest in this matter.

Well in I'm recusing to avoid an appearance of writing Thank You councillor Raskin as councillors is mayor pro tems work on I Okay, great. So I think we can go ahead and start with the staff report then.

So when you go to the picture where it covers the building, it's going over windows?

What if they can't collect what's promised? In terms of revenue to give us what's promised in the MAG and all that stuff.

Even if they don't meet it, they have to give us what they're promised. And then you said it can be removed or like there's five years, after five years of it being dead, so it would have to sit there as a blight for five years, not performing?

But it could be not showing anything for five years, essentially sitting there as a big, giant, empty, non-usable sign.

I don't know, I'm asking, I thought I heard the occupancy part, but I thought...

How long can the display be dormant, like have nothing on it? I guess they wouldn't want to do that. And then the removal of the trees, those are mature trees, obviously being replaced with much lower trees?

Is that at the old Trusted Vetted Building? I'm trying to...

I have a bizarre question, but it just feels like that building is perfect for housing above. And if there was housing put over there, I guess that sign would be a problem. That might not be an appropriate question for this particularly because it sort of doesn't relate to the building. But I presume that's up to the property owner and current. the removal of it would then impact us in terms of receiving some revenue. So, like, I'm just trying to figure out, like, if something else happened to that building and they decided to do something else with it where that sign was impacting being in front of those windows.

And then my last question, the signs that we have already have been up for how long? Like the one on Wilshire?

Have we thought about seeing how they perform before moving to more signs?

Sorry, for some reason I saw hall next. Oh, sorry. She took herself out. That's why. Okay. I don't know. I'm having a problem. Sorry. Okay.

I'll take myself out of queue now. So going back to the occupancy and the sign potentially being dark, would it be covered or implicit within our DA agreements that if for whatever reason, once the occupants, if the occupancy provisions are not met and the grace period expires, are we able to continue projecting the city portion of the time and

I was wondering that because it I think I don't want to get into discussion, so I'll hold off for now. And then on the tree, proposed tree removals, could you please clarify if the city's arborists assessed both trees to be healthy, the two that would be removed, or trees planted?

Why would only one tree be eligible for transplanting?

And how was that 23,000 number figured out?

So it covers purchasing of new trees plus the replacement of tree A plus the excavation and transplanting of tree B and whatever labor is included as part of that. So that's all within that 23,000. And is that 23,000 separate from the 30,000 that would be paid for other downtown? That is separate, right. Okay, right. Thank you. That's all my questions for now. Council Member Hall.

Thank you, Mayor. Great presentation. Thank you, Ms. Kwok. In the occupancy requirement section of the DA, it talks about exceptions that if the building is undergoing major repairs, remodeling, or reconstruction, That clock doesn't really start. I think if you look in the windows of this building, it appears that they seem to be undergoing pretty significant remodeling and renovations on the inside. So I guess what, given that this is the first one on the promenade that we've done that is not currently occupied, the building's not currently occupied, what protections do we have that this buil

Okay. If there was, I did not catch that.

Thank you. This is a good presentation. Mine's more general, too. Just can you give us more clarification about the de-escalation cause? It's specifically if, you know, once we get to 10, 11 displays, what's the financial impact to the city?

Okay, so so we we projected the cumulative effect to us over the full 30 years of the term and also the two well We wouldn't we wouldn't know the 30-year projected revenues Unless we knew exactly how many digital displays would come online when they come online So you say but you haven't have you done that? for this particular

Got you. And then my final question, if I read it correctly, based on the DA, we're capable of – We get revenue twice a year. Is that how it works?

Basically annually we do an audit of the revenue? Is that what you're saying?

Council Member Negrete, these are still questions.

I have one more question. Was the historic conservancy wanting to have like some sort of picture that plays the history of the building? Is that still happening?

It is in the development agreement? Yes. Okay. Be clear though, does it show a picture of like, like you're looking at the whole building?

Do you still have a question? No, I well I was gonna provide that answer to and it looks like there's also the city manager can extend it for a period of time For excusable delays like floods fires earthquakes blah blah blah Before we get to the public comment, I just have one question This is actually for the city manager who's running the program to have publicly available content for the 20% of the time on the billboards and

Events that are coming up I definitely think history of the city and all those things. I don't see any of that on there So are we do we have a plan to scale up for that?

And could you potentially work with the Conservancy even to come up with historical context?

Right, thank you. Okay, we do not have any more questions. We're going to go ahead. We have two public comments. We have Shanna Epstein and Denise Barton. Oh that's not I'm sorry did the applicant have a presentation that was not made clear to me how much time do they have apologies apologies do you have a presentation applicant okay great well you are entitled to that it was not told to me but let's yeah We would have heard your presentation first if we knew there was one. Apologies. That's okay. And how much time do they have?

Oh, my apologies. We have two public comments. Now we will hear from Shana Epstein and Denise Barton. My apologies.

New speaker thank you. Counselor rasnell. New speaker so I'm excited about this. I've mentioned this to the developer. I want to move this item but I also want to make it clear that we've seen two of the digital signs go up already. I want to be very conscious to the other tenants in the area that we will release during the construction period. make people understand what the effects are for those businesses around and surrounding it, any kind of display that you can do to do that, any interruption of traffic going on the promenade, I think that should be important to talk about. And then the

New speaker I'll second the motion to move the staff recommendation.

New speaker going back to the question that I had and regarding what happens if the vacancy provisions are triggered, are we able to include that it either goes dark or continues projecting just the city portion of, you know, advertising or the Landmarks Commission recommended kind of history of the building?

Yeah. And my thinking behind that is that it probably is a lot better to have something playing rather than just have a blank screen. Right. Okay. And they wouldn't be making any money off of that part.

New speakers. I'll just say that's not friendly to the seconder. I hear you. I support the notion. I think we should give direction to staff to explore that and potentially come back with an amendment to our ordinance as opposed to doing something different for one D.a. WHEN WE'VE ALREADY PASSED SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR D.A.s FOR THE OTHER SIGNS.

I'd be comfortable with providing direction to staff to come back to explore an amendment to the ordinance. Okay. Thank you.

I was just going to make the comment that maybe it's more after the vote, I guess. You just made your comment about, yeah, I'll make my comment after the vote.

Well, if you want to provide additional staff direction, you can.

I don't know. I'm having a hard time. Natalia was bringing up some of it. I'm really concerned about blank signage. I'm not a fan of it covering the windows. I think it prevents if we ever want to put housing there. I don't know what happens. I don't think you're going to remove this sign, and I don't know who would want to live behind a sign. But anyways, I'll save my comments for after the vote.

Okay. I don't see any other comments in the queue. So we can go ahead. Yeah, we have a motion and a second.

So I'd like to expand my no vote. I approve the first digital signage, and I have to be honest with you, although beautiful when I'm sitting and watching it, it also breaks my heart a little bit. I think economic recovery and historic preservation shouldn't have to compete with each other. I just don't think it's as aesthetically pleasing. I appreciate the sign. I appreciate what we're getting from it. It feels a little bit like selling our soul and the soul of the promenade in a way. I understand this is a new way to recoup revenue. I just don't think we've had signage up enough to make sure

Okay, thank you all so much for that. Okay, moving back on to our agenda. Council Member Raskin, maybe someone, if they see him out there, he can come back. He's coming in. Great. And then we'll move on to 10A.

Thank you. That is very true. We have item six, which is public input on the remaining agenda items, and then there's another public hearing, so that will, we will take those agenda, excuse me, those comments separately. We now have Denise Barton. It's Shauna, not Shanna, right? Shauna, sorry. Shauna Epstein, Morgan Hunter-Gross, Karen Mielek, Zoe Moutonier, and Denise Barton. Oh, Denise Barton's on here a few times.

Thank you. Okay, that concludes the public comments on these items, and we will now hear 10A, which is an ordinance.

Yeah, I'll go ahead and make this quick. I just have a few questions about the after-hours amendments. Sure. Does that part of it go through AB 130 review?

Yeah, I mean, if we wanted to change it, for example, would that potentially jeopardize AB 130 review with the rest?

Got it, okay. I saw that we're removing the 500-foot notification rule for that. Are there other portions of the code that would require notification, like within 300 feet? I know there are other notifications.

Got it. I just got two more questions. I'd be curious if there's a way in our electronic permitting system to still enable some form of solicitation of public comment on these types of things before they actually get approved?

Okay, just last question. If somebody wanted to do after-hours construction that didn't fit within these categories, would the pathway be like an alternative means and methods application?

Thank you. Council Member Stahl. I just have two questions. Thank you for this. The clarity system goes live December 7th. Is that correct? That is that is the anticipation. What happens if there's a risk of impotent a gap in between is there What happens the ordinance being finalized?

And the second reading, when would that take legal effect? How would that?

I've got one hopefully very quick question. I noticed that in the staff report it mentioned that these improvements are just initial first steps. Could you expand on what potential future steps could look like to improve the permitting process?

Thank you. And outside of specifically the tenant protections during construction, are there going to be more opportunities to implement potential permitting process changes in the future?

So all those modules would talk to each other and create efficiencies? Absolutely, yeah. Okay, sounds great. Thank you so much.

Can I ask a question? Sorry. So I just want to make sure you basically stated, I think, the clarity system is going to automatically verify that this tenant acknowledgement form has been submitted before a permit could be issued? Is that what's happening?

What about, can we make that same requirement for the means and methods assessment that all the rent control tenants are supposed to actually have happen before any construction happens with their buildings?

Okay, just checking I would say that this is an amazing upgrade because we know that there are a lot of construction Projects happening in these renter occupied buildings that where the renters are given no notice and this is used as a form of harassment So we can be able to use this to actually track. I mean, can we help our city attorney as well? Just tracking where? Construction is happening and what's happening in these tenant harassment cases. Okay.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to move the staff recommendation. Second.

Hold on, hold on. I'm going to make a substitute motion. Sorry. Sorry guys, I think 100% in support of the 10 notifications for these methods. I'd like us to take a pause and explore options for notification for the after-hours construction. If we're deleting notifications for people within 500 feet and an opportunity to comment, I heard that there might be an option to build that into our system, but I'd like to pause and take a look at that before we move forward with the ordinance for the after-hours construction. So my motion would be everything except let's hold off on the first reading o

Wait, sorry, can I ask you a question, though? Don't we want some sort of notification going to the neighbors? Like, why would we pause on that?

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but as it's written, we'd be deleting the notification requirement within 500 feet.

This seems like a net positive. I just didn't want to put pause on it.

Well, so as it's written now, correct me if I'm wrong, but the process is you have to solicit public comment before the after-hours permit is approved, right?

Which makes sense, because if it's not actually a project and you're notifying people about something that hasn't yet been submitted, that freaks them out for no reason.

Yeah, it does make sense. I agree with that. I'm worried about, well, I'd like to understand better how we can have an opportunity after the application is submitted to then notify the public and then solicit feedback. If that process hasn't been developed yet, I'd I'd like to explore that more before we jump forward with approving the ordinance.

Okay. Well, how about this? I'll withdraw the substitute motion and ask, just as a friendly amendment, that we give direction to incorporate that into the administrative guidance.

What exactly are we incorporating into the administrative guidance that makes it better?

I don't understand what you're asking for here because it sounds like staff is saying that we already do that and we will continue to do that. It's that we're changing when that happens so that when a property owner has a project in their head, they're getting it approved or at least like, you know, a first glance by staff first to make sure that it's like an actual project. and then this step that you're thinking about is happening after that point, so people are getting feedback on something that's actually going to happen and can happen as opposed to just some crazy idea that a property own

Yeah, and the process of notification and soliciting feedback after an application is submitted I think makes sense, and I'm supportive of that. What I'm understanding is we don't have a process developed yet for notification and for soliciting feedback, but we could potentially in the future.

I think our director just said that we do have that process. We're just changing when it happens. Yes.

Okay. So just so I'm understanding, so we're taking the same process we have now, just moving the timeline of it?

We have a motion on the floor and a second. Council Member Negrete.

We're so excited. Thank you. Moving on now to item 11, oh wait, sorry, hold on. I already did that. 11a, yes, the affordability agenda.

Council members are in the sky. Dang it, my notes. And, of course, sorry, my notes disappeared. Council Member Negrete, I want to go first. Okay. I accidentally closed it.

Question about the form. So let's just say somebody fills the form out and designates somebody and then forgets about it. And this emergency situation happens 10 years later. And the person that's on the form is no longer the person or they didn't think about designating it. I mean, what ends up happening? An ex-girlfriend or something and they go pick up the check.

And is it like a threshold of how many employees has to adhere to this? Is this everybody?

Now that my notes are open again. So on the paycheck, final paycheck kind of emergency contact thing. I noticed that the Chamber's letter opposing it noted SB 294, and I was just wondering if you could clarify kind of where any overlap, if any, might be with that.

Got it. And generally speaking, when people fill out new employment paperwork, they have the option to designate a general emergency contact, right?

And under this, and I believe I saw this in the staff report, but could you just confirm whether an employer could simply add a section to the existing kind of employment paperwork?

Okay, got it. And, sorry, going back to the previous question, So the way that this is framed, while it does apply in cases where someone may be detained by immigration enforcement, it also applies if somebody is incapacitated. For example, if there's an accident or a medical emergency or something that happens and they need somebody else to pick up their paycheck because they're physically not able to.

And let me see here all right nope I think that's it for now Councilman hall thank you mayor I just wanted to build off of councilmember degretti's question around what happens if you know the employee

Got it. That's helpful clarification. Thank you.

Yeah, okay, go ahead. I have a question after.

Hi, I know this is a question you're asking, but don't we already, doesn't they already have an ordinance, or don't they already, the employers already have a requirement to designate how to get the last check to somebody if they, for any emergency reason or anything with respect to that? Is this something that's not happening already? I'm just kind of curious as to why we're adding this, because it is an added responsibility for all employees, because if I understand you correctly, it doesn't matter about the size of the organization or number of employees they have. Isn't there, I mean, if s

And have we found that this is something that has happened more frequently? Is this something, I'm just curious.

I have one more question to build on that. What I'm just trying to understand is so most people get direct deposit but lots of people get a paper check. A last paycheck is a paper check. My only confusion or understanding around this is like I understand that it's an open enrollment period but things can change mid-year and I would hope that someone would have to come to you and then they'd have to change their form. Like I'm just going to use the relationship thing. I no longer want this person to pick up my check. More importantly, though, the check is addressed to their home address or what

And now it's a form that you have to fill out, and if they don't wanna designate anyone, then they need to just put that on there. No one is designated to pick up my check. I wanna have it mailed.

Right, because otherwise you're forcing them to select someone. We can make sure we incorporate that.

Okay, I have a couple of questions. So isn't it true that the draft ordinance determines that this is someone's final paycheck? It uses the word final paycheck, does it not? And that's due when an employee quits, correct?

Yeah, so you are basically requiring an employer to make a determination that an employee has quit when they could have been Temporarily detained and could be returning back to their employment. Is that correct?

So the employer has to decide that the job is ended before the ordinance could apply here. Correct. Yeah. So I find that to be problematic. I'll just say that. And then isn't it true that under the labor code 1555, employers already have to offer this contact form for employees? I technically someone I mean my understanding and having researched this and I'll just say I talked to a lot of different both labor groups and business groups about this is that effectively the state already covers this.

You don't need to defend this. I'm asking a question.

And don't we think that we should be concerned if we're handing out a voluntary form to employees from their employer and asking them to fill this out when it's clearly targeting people who might be victims of ICE, that we are actually potentially scaring people off and creating some presumption that someone might have an immigration activity by asking them to fill this out. No, no, because I'll just say that worker groups have said folks are not going to use this because they're too scared to designate this to their employer.

But it's voluntary as to whether or not they turn it in. Yes right so couldn't we potentially do this in a more effective way by working with like worker centers rather than putting this burden on the marginalized employee and the business there are probably other options out there that we could explore if council wants to give us that direction we are bringing back what we understood the direction was and so if you want us to look at other options we're happy to do that and also wouldn't cover people who get direct deposit correct

Okay. And then, sorry, I just want to go back to something that you said. You said that we've only recovered $115,000 in unpaid wages over 10 years.

I mean, L.A. County is the wage theft capital of the United States. That seems... shockingly low for what might be happening here.

Correct. Like, let's do better is what I would say.

Okay. Thank you so much. I'm sorry. I know we are late and we're trying to get through a bunch of stuff. So thanks a lot. I don't see any other questions. Do we want to go into comments? Counselor Zernskaya.

Thank you. First, thank you so much to staff for working so hard to put all of this together, and it was a lot. On the expansion of the POD program, I am incredibly supportive, and I totally support further study. I've anecdotally heard from folks living in deed-restricted affordable homes who have been experiencing year-over-year fairly significant increases in their rents of 8% or more annually. And that's not necessarily sustainable for most people, especially folks who may be living in deed-restricted affordable homes. So I appreciate that we're expanding this. And I would encourage, or I

New speaker thank you, mayor. Sorry. I just wanted to say thank you to staff on this. We, meaning City Hall staff, y'all, have done a ton of work this year. A lot of it around the realignment plan, of course, and I'm very proud of all of it, but I'm particularly happy with and grateful for this body of work. Because while we've had a back to the basics approach to delivering services, it could have been very easy to lose sight of some of the very programs and initiatives that make Santa Monica so special as a place and how we continue to find ways to fund types of programs like this. And I thi

Yeah, I'll echo the thanks on this. This is some really groundbreaking work, I think, and stuff that really has a tremendous impact on people's day-to-day lives. As council members, sometimes it feels like people come to us as a safety net of last resort in our community. I think we'd all echo that we get comments from people all the time with things like my My landlord hasn't turned on electricity in a week, or my mother is on Social Security and has no other source of income. And these types of programs have a human impact on the ongoing affordability crisis in a way that I think is really m

I also want to thank staff for putting this together. This is a really incredible agenda item. I've heard many things about the POD program and how people have been not eligible or rents continue to increase. So I'm incredibly supportive of this agenda. This agenda item. I do have some concerns about the final paycheck designation ordinance. It's not that I don't care about what's going on on our federal level with respect to ICE raids and those issues, but I also understand that putting these extra type of on businesses, depending on the size of the business, depending on the nature of the bu

Yeah. I don't see anyone else in the queue, so I'll just make a couple of comments, and then I'm prepared to make a motion. I just want to also say thank you. I think we've had dialogue back and forth. There have been several folks that I've talked to who could have qualified for the POD program, but Missed it just by a little bit. I have actually talked to people in deed restricted housing who cannot continue to just given their income pay for their required rent. And so I just think very smart to be able to do this. I hope that in the future we're able to find additional money and even look

Yeah, I'm going to make a substitute motion. I think we should go ahead and move forward with the option of the first reading the ordinance. Mayor, you said that it's a solution in search of a problem. We have a problem. This is a solution.

There is a solution on the books. We're just not letting the citizens know about it.

Yeah, I mean, there are other ways to tackle it. I mean, we've already talked about it.

Yeah, sure. No, that's fine. I'll second the substitute motion. Great. Let's vote on that.

Do we want to consider the original motion on the floor?

Yes. And again, I would just ask that our city attorney come back to us with options when we hear about the wage enforcement program. And I'm very clear that we need to work with our workers centers on the ground. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate you all. Thank you for your amazing work. Okay, we will now move on to 11B, which is our El Nino state of emergency.

And, Chief, before you begin, with all due respect to the, I'm sure it was excellent staff report given the late hour, I'm going to make a motion to waive the staff report. Say again? I'm going to make a motion to waive the staff report, though if there are specific things you'd like to tell the public to be aware of for El Nino, perhaps this is an opportunity.

Well, I have a presentation, but I'm happy to just... How long is your presentation?

Chief, can you give a quick recap of the work that's already been done to prepare with like our storm drains, both at the beach and then storm drains on our streets and everything like that?

Got it. And then last question, at least for now. I believe the report said there were 85 or 89, 85 properties that are in like the high risk zone for flooding for high tides. Do we do anything special for outreach to those individuals?

I was just going to say maybe we can scroll through the PowerPoint presentation while people are asking questions just in case we want to look at it. Maybe Walford or someone could do that. Sorry. Council Member Negrete.

Okay, mudslide on PCH. Are you guys, I know there's those K rails I think that are up already. Is there anything else being done?

All right. Well, near Station 3, this is maybe specific to MidCity, but we have, like, the Palm From issue with all the businesses there. I just want to know if, because I've had to ask you guys in the past, for help, we have to get on the roof of our business and do it ourselves, and we have issues. What about business owners like myself that are under 5'5", that need help to safely get up? Is there services? I'm genuinely asking. I mean, I know people are willing to help oftentimes. Like, A. Are there services to help people when those palm fronds are stuck? And B. Maybe this is a city manag

I mean, we're lucky because we're up the street from a firehouse, but outside of that, like, we've had issues where they pile up, and in that area specifically, we have those long strips. I just, hopefully, the city's identifying where those streets are that have, like, four blocks straight of palm trees. All right, thank you.

Thank you. So I understand that both the state and the county have also issued proactive emergency proclamations. Could you please clarify kind of how those work together or how our proclamation would work with those proclamations and how we're working with county, state, and regional partners to prepare for El Nino? I don't know who wants to go first.

Yeah. Anything to add, Chief Hallick? Okay. And then I have one other legal question. So my understanding is that generally speaking, a proclaiming a local emergency or proclaiming an emergency could trigger California's anti-price gouging law. And we're getting pretty close to Thanksgiving and the holiday season. And I recognize that a good amount of our revenues are from hotel taxes. So how could this potentially affect hotels' ability to set room rates at what would potentially otherwise be appropriate holiday rates?

Okay, got it. I mean, our other anti-price gouging measures are still in place regardless of whether or not this emergency is proclaimed. Okay, cool. Thank you.

Thank you. I remembered my other question. The pier. At one point we had a pretty significant El Nino event and we lost half the pier. Have we taken a look at structural assessments and everything like that recently?

Sorry, I just have one quick question about the price gouging. Shouldn't sandbags be covered in this anti-price gouging if we're having sandbag Saturdays?

Okay, but don't you have to procure sandbags? They're not free to you.

I'm just making sure if everyone knows that everyone's preparing for El Nino, just similar to when everyone was buying hand sanitizer.

I'm just making sure we're not getting taken for a ride. We have to be fiscally responsible.

Can you just you guys put out some great content this week about what we're doing? And can you just tell us about the Pico-Kentner Canyon storm drain and like what we've been doing to clear the storm drains to make sure that this is not Do you can you specifically mention that just because I have gotten a lot of questions. Okay, and after we cancelled after The decision was made to cancel Ocean Way. I think people are very concerned. So I just want to elucidate that.

Right had not cleared it and prepped it but we have essentially done that work now yeah okay fantastic I don't see any other questions I would just say as we move it I really appreciate that we're taking this very seriously and we're being proactive so that we're not caught off guard thank you I don't think we can take this too seriously especially given our example about the peer so just want thank you to the city manager thank you to fire thank you to oem really appreciate you all and public works so so sorry And I have seen the prop palm fronds cutting happening and we appreciate it. Yes. Y

Yes, with great appreciation. Thank you all so much. Okay. I see there's a lot of people here. I think it might be for 12B. So we are going to be moving on to 12B. And I just want to clarify with our city attorney What, oh, so sorry, before you start, Madam City Attorney, can you just remind us what our requirements are for disclosing ex parte communications on this item?

Great, thank you, and I think we'll hear the staff report, and I think Oh, do we disclose first? My apologies. Thanks for the reminder. Okay, go ahead. Council Member Snell.

I will be recusing myself from this item out of an abundance of caution due to the location of my own residence in proximity to this property.

Thank you, Mayor. As far as ex parte disclosures go, I met in person with the representative of the applicant, Nina Fresco, at the request on October 15th, and I also spoke with her today via the phone and received text messages from her and Ruthann Lehrer regarding the application. I also visited the site today.

Yeah, I spoke regarding this matter with Nina Fresco this last Sunday by telephone, and I have also visited the location several times most recently this last, well, actually, I pass it pretty much every day.

Talk to Nina October 18th-ish and exchange text messages between the 17th and the 18th.

Same. I met in person with Nina Fresco a couple of weeks ago. I'm trying to remember exactly what date because I, for some reason, don't have that on my calendar. I also received text messages from Ruthann Siklunda and from Judy Abdo yesterday and today.

And I had a conversation on Zoom with a representative of the applicant, Nina Fresco, on September 30th. I've also received intermittent text messages and have visited the site. I believe that is all of our disclosures.

Apologies. Sorry, I forgot to mention I walk by the site relatively frequently and made a note to take another look at it when I went by today.

Great. So I believe those are all of the disclosures. I think what typically would happen is we'd have the staff report and Is there going to also be, sorry because I messed this up last time, a report from the applicant afterwards or the appellant?

Great. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions?

Seeing none, I'll abstain because I didn't hear the motion.

Okay. Sure. Okay. So we have five five zero to one Great. Let us start with the staff report.

That concludes my report Okay, I want to make sure that we get the we're gonna do questions so council member Hall Do we do questions of staff now, or do we hear that? Well, I don't know. My order here says questions of staff now.

Okay, thank you for your presentation, Ms. Reich. So the property was first discovered during the 2018 HRI, is that correct? Correct. And when someone purchases a property that is on the HRI, what is supposed to happen?

And do we have confirmation if that happened?

Okay, got it. So that HRI found this property significant for, quote, early patterns of residential development that shaped the Pico neighborhood, end quote. Has any later evidence been discovered since 2018 that might overturn that ruling or...

So in our landmarks ordinance, criterion one, does that criterion require a building to have caused later development? Okay. So there's no catalyst test in our municipal code.

Got it. Of course. Your report says integrity quote is not a criterion and quote should not be a factor. But your criterion two and four analysis rests on poor condition and quote lack of overall integrity. Can you help me like understand your reasoning there for why you included that in your analysis?

You are able to as the landmarks Commission could have Those that denial did not rest on those clause those those were additional clauses in the statement of official action, okay Your report also agrees that the airplane bungalow quote has always been a rare substance subtype and then criterion for the landmark covers quote a rare example of an architectural design detail or historical type so I guess I'm trying to square, why doesn't the rarity you mention in your report meet criterion four?

Yes. The other one being 315 10th Street, correct?

Okay, thanks. And the last question I have for staff is, can you confirm that the city declared a quote black apology on November 15th, 2022, which found the city's first zoning ordinance established in 1922 was used to close the black owned jazz club in the Belmar Triangle. So the section I'm specifically referencing is In 1922, Santa Monica created its first zoning ordinance and rushed its adoption before it could be completed for the purpose of denying building permits to a group of wealthy African Americans who wished to establish a bathhouse on a Santa Monica beach and further weaponize t

I looked it up today. So I'd like that statement to be made part of tonight's record. And that is all the questions I have for staff.

Thank you. I've just got a few questions. Councilor Perjola asked a few of them. But I want to press on something here. So criterion four, and I'm reading this off the staff report, not the code, but it says in relevant part that A qualifying structure is one that is a rare example of an architectural design, detail, or historical type valuable to such a setting. So it doesn't say that it has to be a once prevalent design, right?

Okay. So where are you getting your interpretation from?

Okay. Yeah, I'm not sure. Not sure I agree, but we'll get back to that. For all of our understanding, can you tell us who HRG is?

And can you tell us what their qualifications are?

All right. Dan asked all my other questions. Thank you. Dan asked a question.

Thank you. So are we allowed to, I understand the Landmarks Commission minutes are in this packet. Are we allowed to ask questions about those as well?

Thank you. So I noticed that the Landmarks Commission meeting minutes states that the commissioner discussion included, quote, state of California designations and exclusion from consideration if the owner disagrees with designation. Does that mean that whether or not the owner of the property disagrees or agrees with the designation, that particular opinion should be excluded from consideration when weighing whether or not to designate a property as a landmark?

And the minutes also stated that the majority of commissioners also agreed that the property, quote, does not appear to have a cultural relationship to the neighborhood or the city. Is a cultural relationship to the neighborhood or city required for landmarking?

Got it. About not there isn't a minimum number of criterion that would need to be met in order there's only one criterion that's required out of the six one or more criterion is required for designation by the landmarks commission or the city council on appeal so if the body that is deliberating finds that at least one criterion is met they may, they have the option to designate it a landmark, is that correct? That's correct. Okay, thank you.

Okay, yeah. So because the language was may, and so that seems, I'm not a lawyer, but that seems kind of conditional and not trying to prejudge anything. Okay. And then, sorry, two more questions for staff. So the Landmarks Commission staff report disagrees with the outside consultant's assessment regarding the integrity of material, integrity of workmanship, and integrity of feeling, primarily due to the condition of the subject property. How would or how does the property condition factor into whether a property meets criterion for designation?

And I guess kind of to build on that a little bit, because property condition was mentioned pretty extensively and a lack of replacement materials or things seem to be replaced. So if replacement materials need to be used to repair, rehabilitate a property. Does that factor into the consideration of whether the current integrity of materials remains intact? And if it were landmarked and needed to be rehabilitated, would new materials of substantively similar style and type be able to be used or would someone have to find an old home that's being demolished and reuse the wood from that or somet

Yeah, sorry, that's just a little bit confusing to me. I understand. Because the condition shouldn't factor into integrity, but also the finding of it not having integrity was because of the condition. But I see Council Member Raskin in the queue, so I'll let him ask his questions. But thank you, Ms. Reich.

Council Member Raskin, then I have some.

Yeah, I just got one question that Dan didn't get to ask. Would you agree that the application accurately characterizes the events that occurred at the property?

Yeah, I get what you're saying. I was conflating the identification of the property here with other, well, I think we'll have some discussion about that definition of the term property.

Done? Okay. So staff compared this house to the over 170 craftsmen properties that are in the city. Shouldn't the comparison have been Shouldn't the comparison be to surviving airplane bungalows or to surviving pre-1920 homes in the Pico neighborhood rather than all the craftsman's in the city?

When you say popular, what do you mean by that?

Right, so you say that in the staff report that airplane bungalows have always been a rare subtype in Santa Monica. So how could a rare subtype fail a criterion written for rare examples?

I don't know how much that makes sense to me, but the report also says that the house has very few exterior modification and that its decline comes from years of deferred maintenance while vacant. So if deterioration from neglect can defeat a designation, what stops an owner from letting any historic building decay until it no longer qualifies?

Yeah, and I'm not saying that you did say that, but what I am saying is that I think this creates a precedent by saying that neglect and decline could preclude something from being designated. So anyways, moving on from that, The staff report also calls the pre-1920 period insignificant, quote unquote, because the area was only 25% built out. But isn't that exactly why a surviving 1913 home would be rare? And given how much of the Pico neighborhood was cleared by the freeway in 1964, how many homes from this period actually remain?

Okay. I'm not sure that I agree with these findings, but we will wait. I don't have any other questions. Yeah, let's move on. Thank you. Thank you so much. We have Appellant 1, Jack Hillebrand.

Thank you, Mr. Hildebrand. We will now hear from another applicant. Is that correct, Nina Fresco? Yep.

But don't feel compelled to take that time. Can we make sure their mic is on?

Thank you Thank you so much Are we are these questions for these folks?

Okay councilor Raskin Thank you One issue that has come up at least tonight in the discussion is understanding of what should be considered the property or rather the definition of landmark in our ordinance and given that the parcel has evolved over time and that there's a rather robust history associated with what was a larger parcel. And I'm curious what your position is with respect to how we should understand the broader understanding of what the property is.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Nina and Mario, for your presentation. Can you just walk us through Anna Unfried's relationship to the 1922 zoning ordinance and her response to that, how it affected her business?

Okay. And your nomination says this house is the only surviving unfreed structure, yet the nomination didn't claim Criterion 3. I'm just curious, like, why was that?

Got it. Thank you. Great. Okay. Moving on, we will now hear from the property owner. Lydia King? Yes. Great.

Oh, okay. Got it. And I just want to make sure I understood you correctly. When you purchased the property, you did not receive any notification that it was on our historical resources inventory?

I worry that your realtor failed you here. And I'm curious if we can have staff look into outreach to our local real estate agents, make sure that they're aware of this requirement. That's all the questions I have for you. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for coming tonight. I know it's sometimes intimidating to come in front of a body like this, especially given the late hour tonight. I'm just curious if you've spoken to any design professionals who can advise on updating the property in a way that's consistent with standards for landmark buildings.

Thank you. Okay, great. Thank you so much, Ms. King. We will now move on to our five minutes with our Landmark Commission representative.

When talking about criterion two, you said something along the lines of the fact that that criterion is for unique or artistically interesting buildings.

I'm just trying to understand if that characterization of Criteria 2 was your editorializing of it, or if that's something that the Commission found.

Okay. But you would agree that this is one of two extant airplane mugglers in the city?

Yes. Thank you. Great. Okay. We have heard, and now we have time for rebuttal, correct? Yeah, sorry. So we have, or of course you're going to have to help me, but I think we have two minutes for, oh, my apologies, public comment. I'm sorry. We have Erica Leslie, Tom Clays, Ruth Ann Lehrer. None of those people planning on talking. Yeah, I know. I'm just I'm wondering if they're gonna come up And on the line do we have Pam O'Connor Well, we'll start with hi It's not her turn yet.

New speakers. New speakers. New speakers. New speakers. New speakers. New speakers. New speakers. New speakers.

Thank you so much, former Mayor O'Connor. Council Member Hall, are we having questions or are we having comments?

Owner, applicant, appellant. Okay, Ms. King. Do you have any additional comments?

Thank you. Applicant now. I think they had two minutes.

Sorry, just to be clear, the applicant is the Conservancy. So they have two minutes.

Thank you. Mr. Hillebrand, do you have additional comments?

Thank you. Does anyone have any comments on this? Otherwise, I'm prepared to make a motion. Great. Go ahead.

Sorry, I just wanted to make sure I'm fully understanding. So the representative of the Landmarks Commission noted that the findings in the minutes don't the the findings that are reflected in the minutes don't appear to

Okay, so if that needs to be amended, then would that be up to the Landmarks Commission, or does that not factor into...

Okay, and if we were to make other findings that the staff report was. not accurate with regard to the integrity aspect, even whether or not that factors into the criterion, are we able to make that clarification?

And then, so is the question of whether to landmark, is it only applicable to the primary house or does it apply to other structures on the property as well?

Okay, yeah. I mean, the smaller structures, since they were built after the fact and don't really relate to the main house, I don't think that they should be included if we were to landmark.

And if a property is landmark, does that only apply to the exterior? So if this this. Structure is landmarked does it mean that the applicant could do basically whatever they want with the interior but the exterior has to remain relatively yes because it's not available to the public I mean there there are provisions if there's a milzak contract it's still governed by oh

Thank you, Mayor. And sorry, I do want to make some comments about this because I'm going to be voting against our commission's advice. And there's a certain member of the press in the audience tonight who has called that inappropriate and Trumpian in the past. So I feel compelled to give my reasoning. Thank you to everyone who spoke tonight. Commissioner Hillbrand for bringing the appeal. Commissioner May for your presentation of the commission's decision. The Conservancy, and especially Ms. King. You've been very candid and forthcoming about your concerns as an owner, and I appreciate that.

parcel that it sits on you can also be clear that it does not include the rear structure of the property okay so thank you I move that we grant the appeal under criterion one two and four and what else was I supposed to say I I think and the planning manager can help too but I think and designate the the parcel which is basically the APN

You want to designate the parcel as a landmark parcel with the 1948 accessory unit and 1951 garages non-contributing?

Is someone seconding that? Second. Great. Councillor Raskin.

Thank you. Yeah, I just want to speak to this motion very briefly. Yeah, I'm supporting this motion. You know, I was the city commissioner for a while. I was on the planning commission for four years. I was in the urban forest task force with then-chair Clays at the time, three years before that. So, you know, when you're a city commissioner, you are entrusted with exercising independent judgment. But it has to be bound by the law. And to paraphrase Mr. Clays, honestly, I'm baffled by the outcome of the Landmarks Commission. It... To me, it so clearly meets the definition of the criteria that

Okay. Well, it's extremely late, and I know everyone's tired, so I'm not going to repeat, I believe, the other comments. I just want to say that... These these homes often tell a story and once they're gone they're gone and we can't get that back and then the next generation doesn't have that story when they're walking along the street to tell I do just want to make note that there was mention of there only being one bathroom and that the inside living quarters don't match modern day needs but there's nothing stopping from the remodeling to to you know come to terms with modern day needs wheth

New speaker thank you. Council member Raskin again.

New speaker I just want to clarify for the record. hopeful that we can incorporate the findings that were submitted to us by the applicant because the historic record that was submitted was really extensive and to the extent that that needs to be incorporated into a story that's brought back in the future, I would hope we can do that.

And I believe that staff is returning with a statement of official action, so that would be included anyway. Council members are in the sky.

I just wanted to make sure I understand the motion. Is it for the entire parcel or just the the property, the single the structure?

It's just the structure, the front structure, not including the back structures.

The APN is going to be landmarked minus the accessory unit in the garage. Yeah.

So the applicant would still be able to read to potentially redevelop those with a like still having to go to Landmarks Commission just for a design review.

Okay. Sorry one quick correction earlier when I was disclosing the ex parte I accidentally said the name of somebody from Animal rescue because there's multiple Ruth Ann. So I got a text from Ruth Ann layer or not seconda All right. Thank you.

Yes. Great. That carries. Thank you. Council Member Snell, we are so sorry. We probably should have done the 16 item before. So sorry, Barry. Let's get it going. Walking back. Ellis, I hope you have a really great presentation for the 16 item.

I trust you've read it and I hope you'll support it.

I have to recuse myself from 16 items. Wait, what?

Why didn't you recuse yourself from both of them and leave?

I didn't think at the time it was 1230, but I have to recuse myself of the 16 item because my wife is a board member of the Santa Monica Santa Monica Black, no, Santa Monica History Museum. And as a result of it, I have to reuse myself. So I'm going to go outside because we have some closed session stuff still to do. So I thought I'd come back in.

Do we have to wait until Council Member Snell leaves the room? Sorry, was there an adjournment?

Great. That carries. I believe we have an adjournment, and then we will move back to closed session.

Tonight we adjourn our meeting in honor of Ryan Matthew Corey, a proud son of the Santa Monica family who attended our local schools and graduated from Samoa High, whose love for the city run deep is his love for the people in it. Ryan's generous spirit, deep devotion to his friends, and enormous heart touched countless lives. Ryan's passing at just 50 years old reminds us of the importance of the work we do here on the dais and our responsibility to serve the residents of this community. From the children who grew up here to the adults they become, we dedicate tonight's adjournment to Ryan's

We are going to go to closed session. Do we need to report out when we come back from closed session? Yeah, okay.