Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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hello hello no I'm VI here we're missing one never e it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice we say Amen now hold the roll please commissioner Fresco here commissioner Hamilton here commissioner Lambert did you say Lambert yes here commissioner landras here commissioner ree present and chair tolken yes

here here okay so we're moving Direct oh planning director's report I'm sorry good evening this really gets to me welcome good evening chair members of the commission I get to make the report um turn your mic on yeah there you go full disclosure most of the items on the report I was given earlier today I don't know much about so if you were to ask me questions I may not give you the best answers but I'd like to take a moment before giving you the report to introduce myself uh my name is armina chaparian this is my third week on the job in the city of Santa Monica as a community development director um I am very happy to be here I'm excited to be here I think the city is in the midst of some significant um transformational project and opportunities and I'd like to bring my 24 years of experience in local government particularly with expertise in Economic Development housing Redevelopment and planning to the city and hopefully put those skills to use in joining an excellent team that's already here so thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here with you this evening and moving forward I was asking Jing so every meeting I need to be here right it's she said it's in the charter so you will see me at every meeting um there are a few updates I'd like to give you I I I think you can see it on the screen um a few do I need to go through each one Jing I don't know what the flow is like you can yeah you go through each one okay haven't rehearsed my sincere apologies um let's see we've got a uh Planning Commission meeting on March 5th with two items that we're going to be reviewing followed by a meeting on the 19th and I think the meeting on the 19th we will be reviewing some state law implementation there are a number of housing updates as you all know that's going to keep coming um we have a

project at 1855 Lincoln Boulevard it's going to be our first project utilizing moderate income housing overlay um recent ARB I'm sorry any questions no good shock we're we're thrilled we want to hear moreing right uh let's see um recent ARB items uh we did have a meeting on the 3 we had um two projects that were approved one project that was continued and we did have three sfrs uh we also had a line landmarks commission meeting on February 10th and 1958 20th Street was designated as a landmark good news we have another meeting coming up on March 10th with two items that will be um discussed 2 26 Palisades and 26 Arcadia Terrace in addition there as you all know there's also significant transitions happening in the organization um David White our outgoing city manager I believe tomorrow is his last day uh Elaine um poek who I I'm assuming many of you are familiar with she will be resuming the role of interim city manager I know she's excited to join our team she's been here she and I started on the same day together so I feel like we're in it together um we have let's see January 28th we had an airport conversion project draft guideline principle review um there's a new item uh 16 item which includes updates to the city's duplex ordinance um on February 11th there were two items on the council agenda the first one was an update to the safety element um if any of you wereing watching it was an extensive discussion um and a great presentation by planning staff new item 16 um self-certification for smaller projects this is getting a lot of discussion happening at the staff level between Planning and Building um looking to see if this is something we

can uh resolve how would that be done um what would that entail um I anticipate more discussion around this issue coming in the next few months we will certainly be engaging all of you as as we think about what with a selfer certification look like where could that be used how would it be implemented uh we have a meeting next week this meeting will have some great discussion happening particularly around city-owned sites and surplus lands declarations um I know planning staff is working on uh planning staff housing staff and economic development staff is putting together the presentation for next week and also there will be an extension of a proclamation of emergency and ratifying emergency orders what's not on this report that I will also add is that um in the next few months I anticipate all of you hearing quite a bit about continuing to hear quite a bit about housing all housing issues ways to continue moving forward housing development in addition to uh truly maximizing all of our Economic Development efforts looking for ways for implementing a lot of new business recovery programs looking for ways to attract businesses that may be looking for new locations to locate postfire so you're going to hear a lot of discussion around the topic of Housing and economic development ways the two are working together you're blocking me that completes my report this evening and I can answer any questions that you may have thank you um what was I goingon to ask oh yeah uh um um I have been hearing I know that we have some I don't know how many thousands of units in the pipeline um and then a number of those project are stalled um and I would like a briefing if possible from staff at some point in the near future about why that is I mean I've heard rumors about not rumors construction cost interest rates and in some cases measure GS and I just I would

like to hear why that's all happening if you have more insight than I do thank you we can bring an update um I just have a first of all welcome again thank you um so I am I'm aware that Council on February 11th handled the 2-year extension for permits I'm just wondering whether uh the March 5 discretionary permit extensions would that not be covered by council's Direction so um yeah in that case the applicants wanted to move forward um with those you know they have the option to wait or what have you and they're just expiring at a time where it it sort of like will be passed uh when we bring back the the ordinance like enacting that extension right because it was direction to do so but we don't have the ordinance that actually enacts those extensions yet got we we can write reach backs but you know they want the certainty okay so um and I guess what I'm wondering is whether those could go on consent and we could consolidate the fifth and the 19th into a single meeting possibly yeah sure we're always open to that cool um and then my other question was I I mean I'm really excited to see the modern income housing overlay um something that Leslie and I and others have been talking about for years and years and years and didn't really I mean we sort of hoped that something like that would happen but I don't think she ever believed that it would I never beli um could it's not going to come to us so could we get some kind of an information item or an update just to understand the you know the specs on that project because I'd love to know what made it work and what what incentivized the the the the developer to to to go forward and maybe there are ways that we can encourage

more like them so we can certainly do that thank you welcome thank you um I just wanted to add for everybody's information and edification the report on uh the laark designation of 1958 20th Street was the home of one of Santa Monica's most remarkable African-American families uh these this family was the Tucker Family were very smart people very high Achievers who did a lot for their community and were great leaders so I just wanted it's not just any old Landmark designation go ahead um formerly want to welcome you I look forward to working with you and um I'm interested to hear more about the self-certification as this moves through the process it's something that I'm seeing more and more discussed in Los Angeles right now to in response to the fire rebuilds and we've we we being some of the people in the industry have looked into this and just highlight for you what we're hearing is belflower has a very good self-certification process which we were hearing the same a little surprising to me but um so look forward to hearing more about that and encourage you to you know maybe reach out to some of the folks in the surrounding cities that are doing this i' just like to welcome you and and also I'd like to hear more about the self-certification about what the parameters are for that my suggestion would be that as we're starting to develop it at some point we're bring an informational item to the commission for discussion okay can I just ask a clarifying question about that just and also for the Public's understanding because there's there's there's media in the wildi in the Wildfire recovery about self- permitting is that the same thing is

self- certificate that's not the same thing as self-certification right or it is it is no it is it is it's exactly okay it is exactly the same okay that's the issue yeah so just I'm I wanted the clarification um relative to language that we're seeing that the members of the public may have been seeing in the media versus the language that we're using and just to encourage us to however it's designated just to make sure that we're using either getting the media to correct what they call it or using language that is already out there so that conversation can be one I I I think that the parameters of the extent of the projects that are can be self-certified is a is a question is a big question I mean I mean when you say small project what does that mean exactly you know somebody remodeling their you know kitchen it's certainly has other issues if you get into something bigger than that so anyway i' like to take this moment if if we're finished any comments any more comment yeah go ahead just a quick question about the calendar we talked about potentially consolidating the two March meetings would that be um because I right now I have a conflict for March the 5th if we could make that meeting on the 19th that would be helpful yeah I think um the the fifth because we we have the fence wall hedge amend the text amendments that's on the fifth um that can be a potentially lengthy discussion or not it's up to you guys um you know the you know moving the discretionary perit extensions to to consent is certainly something you know we can do but the because the 19th actually has a lot of um there's you know there's a lot of the state law

implementation that's kind of like a pretty heavy agenda um on one evening I just kind of want to be mindful of that um you know which is why we had originally split it up into two meetings Okay I I have another question um on March 19th it talks about updated Adu ordinance is that what we're doing tonight with this Roi uh yes what you're doing with the ROI is leading to the March 19th I got you okay thank you and welcome I forgot to say that um I'd like to make a general announcement to the audience anybody wants to speak uh regarding some issue that's coming before the commission has to put into chit in with a secretary please do that prior to the our discussions about the uh project and uh other than that um do any of the Commissioners have any other comments yeah um I just I went to a um a Pepperdine sponsored uh conference uh sponsored by its uh public policy Institute on Transportation that ended up being a post- wildfire conver ation and um uh I was very happy to see an Gupta our director of Transportation on one of the panels I thought it was a I thought it was a a good day um Richard Florida whom people may know as rise of the creative the author of Rise of the creative class gave the keynote um I would just I would just offer his his his talk was extremely wide ranging but

um he was thinking very interestingly about how um cities and suburbs are uh comp are are developing in the new in the new era um postco and Notions of networks that are not purely Geographic in origin I thought and and I just offered I just offer that in the sense of um s what does that mean in in the oh sorry okay um and I and I offer that that uh as we think about the bigger questions of the purpose of what's happening at the airport development of bergamont um just thinking about the um non the non-geographic implications of what we're doing what are the economic ties what is the um arm you you spoke about Redevelopment and economic development I think um our infrastructure isn't just physical it's also virtual and um and I thought his talk kind of sparked some interesting thoughts about that how we might how how we might just take that into account as as we're doing this work I think we're doing it well but but I thought he he he said it well I don't have any um chits for public input so if the Commissioners have no more announcements let's go to the number seven which of the oh consent I guess we do have no not yet for s c i can't can you read Ralph oh Ralph mucher 7c 7 c not there yet

yeah that's we're not there yet okay okay yeah yeah uh which one I have some things I wanted to pull uh December 18th yeah you g make but we can move the other three can can we can we just pull the things that we need to pull and then vote on everything else okay oh so I wanted to pull that and then also in the rois the first set there was something I wanted to say about them sorry I I'm dinging to to clarify if there is just a correction that can be made as part of a motion if you would like to discuss you would pull an item but if there's just a correction you would like you could make that as part of the motion okay I sent it to you my correction uh it's a sentence the minutes for for the minutes so I'll I'll just tell you what it is and I already sent it to Jing so it's already typed so basically uh in those minutes on sorry in those minutes on page the bottom of page two there's like a fragment of a sentence there's like the middle is missing and it's uh attributed to me so uh it says commissioner Fresco took a historical perspective the park should Santa monikans in the 21st century as the airport did Santa monikans in the 20th which to me doesn't really capture so uh what I said was uh commissioner Fresco took a hor historical perspective Dash due to its large size the airport parcel provided

the city with a once in a generation opportunity in the 1920s the way they used it allows us in the 2020s another once in a generation opportunity we we might want to consider uses and site design that preserve the site as a whole in a way that will allow future generations to serve their needs that was what I said not in those exact words but so if that with that uh I would move 7A with all the minutes great we aren't we doing it all also 7B and so 7 B wait well then the all consent calendar right no well I had something else in the ROI I did pull it you P speaker on 7 C so we're we're doing we also need to pull 7 C because um I understand commissioner Landress has a recusal on seven I have well on 7c let's specifically I'm going I need to recuse on resolution of intention 25003 so we should we don't we're not pulling minutes we're not pulling 7ca or 7cb but I do need to pull 7 CC because I live within 500 ft of 2644 30th Street when do we do disclosures on a consent calendar I no I have I have a disclosure I um spoke with Laura Paula larmar this afternoon at 2 o'clock about item 7cc um that doesn't re do I need a disclosure on that no okay forgot forgot I said that you only need disclosures on item 7B that is the only quasi judicial and just to recall that there is 7B as well so we didn't hear whether or not

you wanted to move 7B with 7 a yes so can we vote on 7 a and 7B yes so no because I keep saying I want to pull one I have something which one do you want to pull s b that's the one with all the things that wait wait 7 CB 7 CB okay I'm going to for the sake of for the sake of clarity because I'm recusing I will also do this I move the consent calendar with the exception of items 7 CB and 7cc second that's great thank you and the correction read into the record by and the correction read into the record by commissioner Fresco thank you okay um all those in favor say I I I I I guess we go on to 7 c b to 7 CB 7 CB it's so confusing um so the reason I wanted to pull it is because the point of an Roi is that staff hasn't done the work yet and it gives us an opportunity to uh declare our intentions and I do not believe that removing the resolution of intention process is a good idea for exactly this reason that it gives us an opportunity to uh adjust Scopes or make comments and so forth so um in my opinion we have in the past used a denial of a resolution of intention to send a clear message to city council and that is a checks and balances feature that I would like to preserve and we have all many many times adjusted scopes of comments just as

happened with 7cc there was an adjustment there to make sure that our preparation for that item was clear so I would like to ask the commission I would move that we remove the removal of resolution of intent from the resolution of attention Sam yeah um I actually agree with commissioner fesco um I can only remember one instance it was very recent where we excuse me had an extended conversation on a direction from city council about the six-foot fence issue and the fact that it was just an rri at that point um I think kind of helped not going forward and spending a lot of Staff time what have you on the process so I think it's I think it's very useful and generally we just pass them through I guess the one question I have is whether and I and this is probably an easy answer whether this is considered a housing constraint whether it's like a time delay in any way that would um trigger that probably not yeah okay then I support commissioner Fresco's position so second second um I I uh see nothing in AB 904 uh to require the elimination of the ROI I was just a little concerned that perhaps um the state wanted to rush things um but it while it does apply to Charter cities that I can't see anything that says we can't do an Roi uh here so I think I'm going to agree with Commissioners Fresco and Lambert and support the motion do we take a vote on

that okay so um this is on item 7 C attachment b um all those in favor say I of the whole item or just the but we're removing removing the ROI um we we still have one person who was supposed to be no but not on this item not on this item it's not yeah it's on the next item they're on C we're talking about 7B oh 7B only okay actually I think Mr metcher um submitted a chit for 7B is that correct um 7 C and he didn't clarify whether it's 7 C A or C I got it so he's saying it's B so we need to listen then we should take the public let's table that motion and hear the in come on down you're the next contestant let's hear him now nice to have a short um how much time you going to give me three minutes it won't take that long um this is all um you know great stuff and I'm happy to see uh clarifications and the like um that will help in a lot of ways particularly for housing my question is in looking at the the change um to the size for adus um if you perhaps look a little further and that um it's great going up to 12200 um but you know I work on a number of of um adus and um and actually s sp9 projects that don't lot split because they allow for a greater greater area and so I'm wondering if there's a way to actually allow adus which is a simpler process to even be a little larger than 12200 because there are some you know the idea was we're going to let people uh change a garage and do things but the reality is here that people are some people are building um a two or three bedroom house in their backyard so they

can live in it because if they're empty nesters and seniors they can run out the house they don't need a 2500 foth house but they'd like you know something smaller um there are people who want to build a house for their family their children to move into because they can't afford to buy homes in you know in Santa Monica so here's an opportunity for and maybe it's it's graded you know we had 800 square ft for studios in one bedrooms and a th000 for two bedrooms in this case I you know if that's being pushed up to a, and 1,00 but if somebody wants to build something that's larger let's say three or four bedrooms um can we push it up to 13 13 15,400 square feet um in those instances so it's the reality of of of of these second units um in in Santa Monica um to you know create housing opportunities really for you know for families for the most part and for small you know for um uh families who work who get jobs and and work in in in Santa Monica who want to move here um to be able to you know afford something for for their families so um I just see if that conversation if that can be put into the conversation as this moves forward thank you I have a question uh thanks it's good to see you um I'm a little bit confused in the sense that right above in in the ROI that we're looking at there's direction from the 28th of January uh pursuant to S sp450 to facilitate the construction of double units called duplexes without necessarily lot splits uh of at least 1,200 square fet a piece so I'm wondering and to the extent that the conversation about self ification moves forward I don't think that counts as a

small project but let's see where this goes why do we need to the state has pretty well defined an Adu as a up to 1200 square foot kind of thing why why would we go beyond that when there are other paths well thinking of um how we sort of converged you know do we need multiple paths or can we converge them and and make it clear um that we're encouraging people to build larger because I don't think that's there the sp9 process um is has another step to it to to get approval and go through um and you're right you know it it actually sp9 allows you to build up to what the zoning allows for a particular property so um you know there there's some differences and I think it's worth looking at if there's a way um just to make it simpler and and having larger adus maybe one way for people aren't interested in um doing a lot split or or separating and building you know more units but but the sizes of the adus even at 1200 um is forcing them to into a process they may not want to go go through and I don't really see a problem with the adus be being somewhat larger to accommodate um the needs of the know residents of our community so I would I know commissioner Lambert has a question but I will simply say this I would encourage you to come back when we're redlining this not because we're going to necessarily Redline a larger number but because potentially we can't have the conversation now we could ask the council to consider simplifying the rules for multiple uh units on a property I would I'm not comfortable with playing with Adu law on the day like like this no and and and I understand the process we're in I just

wanted to rather than coming back later on when it's in a certain point and trying to redline it then at least it's out in the air now and maybe something that you know staff considers and um you know there's other conversation about it in the community and it'll come back and whatever Mr meter and I talked about this last night yes um seems like a week ago um and and I and I told you that I think going that high is really pushing the meaning of Adu I mean for example if you if I built a, 1500t house in my backyard it would become the primary residence because my house is smaller I would be living in the Adu um I mean I think it's really pushing the envelope that's my position I also think that you can build a perfectly adequate three-bedroom unit in 1200 sare fet I you know it's very very possible and and anyway that's where I I stand on it can I go ahead so I guess my my policy question on this is adus we really want to have housing and I don't think we're really getting housing out of it so I I want to see how we can try to incentivize you know having more people living in those units so if there's a potential that larger gets us more residential I would be interested in considering it I don't believe there's a direct correlation there but one of the conversations that I heard tonight about the difference between doing a duplex on there and an Adu I believe the duplex comes with all the associated fees that any development would where an a you would not so one would be a an an easier cheaper path to housing is is that your understanding to some fees the the housing fee which was parti potentially anticipated was dropped from from the S sp9 but it there are other fees that definitely are included all our other fees like transportation and child care and all of that with adus yeah they're all they're

all part of it yeah learn something new every day may I make a suggestion to um since this is the r Roi and not the discussion uh I don't think that the ROI precludes us making a recommendation to see because it says city council wanted us to look at 1200 doesn't preclude us for making a different recommendation to for a higher number because that's what we're opening up and we can also recommend and discuss at the time other ways of bringing extra units onto properties and that we should approve the ROI right now written well as written without that thing that we removed yeah without the ROI antii part I I think we bring that back and have that discussion when when it's represented to the the Planning Commission I agree with you right and then staff will tell us things C can we also when you come back get a account on the I'm sorry what can we just let oh yeah sorry please no Ralph it's wonderful seeing you but thank you could we get a count from staff on how many adus are in the process because they're all over my they're all over what that's funny about so we have about 119 and this conversation I don't want them itemized I just want the number interestingly we had a discussion about this issue earlier so it's 119 in the process they're all over my neighborhood and they're big um so it's not yeah stalled all right so let's it's not stopping people right so we're moving forward with the we're suggesting mov forward with the process and not making any change to look at anything bigger is that what well no we're not going to change the ROI because we have the discretion because we've opened up the size of adus with this Roi so we can discuss it next time we're only talking about the rois not the adus right

now so you're yeah you're voting on the ROI that includes the adus yeah it's it's attachment B this um but but you are correct like you know the r why this is following Council Direction and the time to discuss or make a different recommendation is when the red lines are brought back to you on March 19th so can I move seven can I put 7 CB back on consent and move the consent calendar yes I I think we had I thought you had a conflict adustment I'm b b b b only I'm so sorry seven CB only you're going to put back on CB is the one that has the antii correct so it's attachment B but removing the ROI process correct removing the elimination of the ROI we amended it so I'm sorry I'll correct my motion I'm going to I move to put 7 CB back on the count I don't okay so I'll move 7 CB second with as amended as amended as amended okay all those in favor I all those opposed okay that passes now we'll move on to um attachment C and I'm going to just just restate my recusal I live within 3 500 ft of 2644 30th Street and since I just took my ethics training um I am advised that as long as an item is on consent all I have to do is be quiet I don't have to leave the room very nice Sam I move 7cc second back to consent is that right I'm just moving it okay I second we've really done this before honest all those in favor say I we take a vote I yep all those opposed okay passes five so maybe next time when there's a b and c under C they could be one two three I think it would be so much less

confusing it's so complicated yeah 7 C1 7 C2 7 C3 maybe that was evidence we shouldn't do rois hey hey all right um before we go to 11 before we go to exp pares on 11a can I move to wave the staff report what on 11a can I move to wave the staff report yes you can I'm moving to wave the staff report on 11a second second all those in favor I I I all those opposed none there's no on 11a we have no inputs so expart expart anybody no no we take a vote on this already presentation we have to move it first oh was the applicant oh good point come on if you sorryy I'm sorry there he is sorry Becky we're just saving time chair tolken Vice chair Hamilton Commissioners uh I'm Jeffrey nemoy thank you for your time I'm a veterinarian and I'll make this really brief at a respect for your

time so the vision of the project is to have a specialty veterinary medical and veter surgical practice to help our community pets also it's on the same block as the Santa Monica animal shelter right the mission do we have a clicker the mission is to empower people Advance pets and make the community Santa Monica better how do we put the mission into action on the second floor of the project is the layout of the actual veter medical center and Surgical Center so I'm not going to go through the details but generally this is the layout of the um exam rooms the procedure tables the procedure rooms on the third floor is the actual uh administrative offices that support the second floor so on the third floor is basically for example if you see the uh large conference room we're going to have continuing education for the veterinarians for the team for the nurses and the technicians and also outside of the building we'll bring in from the community anyone who has pet parents so we can do educational for them also so this is how we'll put our action into our mission and because your time is so valuable that's it we feel blessed appreciative and thankful for your consideration thanks Becky question yes

yeah um I just only have one question which wasn't really clear from the project plans and if the city wants to jump in um I mean I don't have a strong objection but do you have any worry I'm looking at the at the exit from the freeway it's sort of a Mobility thing um it looks like the entrance to the lot the entrance to parking is going to be on 9th correct correct current soad current right so I'm are we worried about people like cutting across all those Lanes of traffic as they exit the freeway to make the right turn so very good question uh we were that issue is why we moved it we had that issue currently because the parking is off Olympic so it's very short right so by moving it was addressing that exact issue by giving more way leeway so then they can make a right-hand turn onto that street okay and so we we're trying to address it with the best that we can uh that's why we moved it from Olympic to 9th Street okay um cool and I just be Becky do Mobility schol with that right yes yeah okay fantastic um we should rename 9th Street as some like some kind of pet give it a pet name at this animal um yeah industrial complex commissioner lamber um so my understanding was the second or the third floor I guess was going to be creative Office Space what you're saying it's Veterinary administrative well uh it's designed as creative but if we're allowed to then we would put in uh to support the second floor the ventory services okay so yep um the other question I have I think there's like an animal hotel or spa or something down the street on the same side as you are yes are you going to have a relationship with them too do you think yep so I already do uh the owner it's the Happy Dog project yes I am uh very uh I reached out to them a few years ago uh to the owners of the project uh and took a close look at it

I'm a veterinarian so I've actually helped them uh they're beautiful people so yes uh we do a lot of helping now for the uh animal shelter and S that's Santa Monica shelter I mean I literally go there and roll up my sleeves for free and I clean the cages and help the runs and Help the Animals so uh and I told the owners of that project that I will and I got 20 people to sign up we all got sort ified by the police department and we go over there now and I told the owners of that project um I won't disclose their names but that we would do the same for them excellent so when I say our mission is to help the community we live it now and this project goes Way Beyond what you're going to approve goes Way Beyond the four corners of the walls of this project we will literally and we do it now we'll give back to the community terrific thank you go where where are you based out of now where are your facilities so we're blessed on that block we put in uh a facility right there on the same block uh 1655 9th Street okay it's a primary care facility but there's such a demand in downtown Santa Monica as you all know with the units and they're pet friendly that we're overwhelmed with a specialty now we they need the care needs to be at a higher we're a primary care this will be Specialty Care okay so and the demand is there and the the residents want it will you have a neurologist I don't know for sure I have to drive all the way to Culver City for that but yes those are the type of things we will be looking at one more quick one sorry this is a corre I can we um correct the agenda because um we are the applicant for this project is not lose fine spirits and crafts we are not um trying to inebriate our pets uh thank you for clarifying

that because I I caught that too I was like a liquor store and a Veterinary Clinic that's quite a [Laughter] range okay all right I'll move the item any other questions we moved in second we ready to vote ready to vote hoved in second did commissioner Fresco you have me with the cat tie yes commissioner Hamilton yes commissioner Lambert yes commissioner Landress yes commissioner Reese Nina you literally stole my thunder on that cat I just want to know what anyways yes and Cher tolken yes oh you recently lost mik yeah thank you thank you sorry thank you thank you okay oh that's right yes since we have nothing okay we have no resolutions no written Communications none um so we can I guess we can adjourn it's now 5:49 649 9 6:49 sorry minutes not a record close

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