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SANTA MONICA

Are you alarmed by our city’s trajectory toward overdevelopment? By the overreach of city council and staff? If so, join SOS Santa Monica. We refuse to support a city council that exceeds its legal authority.

 

The current City Council is moving Santa Monica towards bankruptcy and ignoring the problems of crime and homelessness. Instead of addressing these crises, they're rubber-stamping project after project for out-of-state developers building luxury housing that ordinary Californians can't afford. Dense market rate housing gentrifies Santa Monica, generates gridlocked traffic, and leaves the city with the financial costs of infrastructure, water, power, police and fire safety for all these additional units and residents. Over 200% of our market rate target has already been met for this housing cycle. And Santa Monica is nowhere near its target for moderate and low income housing.

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Since taking office last November, the new Council majority has shown complete contempt for public input. They're ramming through "emergency" ordinance after "emergency" ordinance—on housing, public safety, you name it—deliberately sidestepping the community participation our City Charter requires.

 

These aren't real emergencies; they're power grabs designed to shut residents out of decisions that will reshape Santa Monica forever.

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Two of our grassroots neighborhood groups have already sued the City for unlawful actions regarding SB9, the state statute that permits homeowners to split their lots into two and under carefully controlled state rules, to build a duplex on each lot. One SB9 project by an out of state corporate developer who wanted to build ten high income market rate housing units on one lot in a residential neighborhood has already been stopped. The other lawsuit is progressing in state court. Sadly, litigation seems to be the only form of public participation that the City notices.

 

If necessary, we will use other lawsuits to hold the Council to account and push back on the illegal efforts of the Council to sidestep the voters’ input.
 

We support projects that give moderate- and low-income families a chance to live in the City. But we simply do not need more market rate housing that low- and moderate-income families can’t afford. Just look at all of the EMPTY market rate housing along Broadway and Colorado, and other streets downtown. The cost of a two-bedroom new housing unit is almost twice as much as affordable housing units already occupied by renters in the City.

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The City Council and the new administration have pushed a radical agenda that will change our City but continues to ignore the current pressing problems our City faces.

 

For example...

 

  • there are continuing issues around crime and homelessness, with the Police Chief resigning for undisclosed issues with the City management;

  • there's been the resignation of the City's most senior planning manager;

  • the Council's support for SB79, one of only two cities in California to support the plan to place 7 story buildings in R-1 and R-2 zones, which has the potential to eliminate thousands of existing housing for low and moderate income residents, without requiring replacement of destroyed moderate income housing;

  • the recent wholesale firing of 6 independent directors from the Board of Directors for Downtown Santa Monica, Inc.;

  • the emergency SB 1123 ordinance that could allow three story, densely packed small houses on tiny lots, with minuscule setbacks, an obvious effort by the Council majority to destroy all R-1 zoning in Santa Monica.

  • there are other important issues as well.

 

We support more housing units in R-1 neighborhoods, including adding one or two ADUs on R-1 lots. We also support thoughtful housing on lot splits, including duplexes that retain the scale of R-1 neighborhoods, which are built by homeowners for their families. We do not support flooding R-1 and R-2 neighborhoods, with high end housing on every residential lot, parking lot and green space in the City.

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If you want to make for a better Santa Monica, for your children and grandchildren

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