Civic Officials Say Schools, Hotels Don’t Mix

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s money-making plan to build a $25-million hotel and commercial complex next to the Santa Monica High School campus is facing stiff opposition from Santa Monica officials who argue that schools and hotels do not mix.

The proposed seven-story, 255-bed hotel is a joint venture of the school district and Midis Properties Ltd./City Developers Inc. of Westlake. The Santa Monica Planning Commission will hold its first public hearing on the project on Feb. 3, but already school officials fear opposition from City Hall.

“Most of us have gotten the message that city officials, the Planning Commission and the council are opposed to it,” school board member Connie Jenkins said.

Across From City Hall

The hotel would be built on a valuable 2.25-acre parcel on 4th Street across from City Hall, next to the high school where the school administrative offices are located. Construction on a new school headquarters at 16th Street and Olympic Boulevard is expected to be completed within a year.

The district first ventured into the hotel business 1 1/2 years ago when school officials agreed to lease three properties--including the district’s own administrative headquarters--on a long-term basis to the Westlake developer. In exchange, the developer agreed to build a new $2-million school headquarters and pay almost $1 million a year in rent on the three properties--the administrative office, a former maintenance yard at 900 Colorado Ave. and a former alternative high school at 1651 16th St.

The 4th Street property is considered the most valuable parcel of the three because it is near the civic auditorium and the beaches. School officials said the hotel would raise revenues for the district, which has been suffering from budget deficits and a declining enrollment. They also said it would not interfere with the operation of the high school, but they have been unable to convince the project’s opponents of that.

“I’m not a big fan of the idea,” Mayor Christine E. Reed said. “I am concerned that putting a hotel on the corner of the high school property would have significant problems.

Band Practice

“There are problems with the noise from band practice and from the athletic and drill teams. That conflicts with people trying to sleep. On the other hand, hotels have transient clientele. It is not like an office with lawyers and professionals. Who knows who is going to be living in a hotel?”

And planning commissioner Eileen Hecht said the school district was informed last year that the commission did not want a hotel on the site. “They basically didn’t listen to anything we had to say,” she said.

“I’m concerned about the fact that thousands of high school students will come pouring out of school each day and have to wait at the entrance of a hotel to catch a bus home,” she said. “I’m also concerned that liquor will be sold near a high school site.”

But Jenkins said opponents have not attended board meetings. “We haven’t heard any opposition from parents,” she said. “Our belief is that a hotel will benefit all the children of the district. We are not concerned that students will use the hotel, they probably couldn’t afford it and teen-agers are not going to go walking into a hotel bar to order a drink. Liquor is sold at the nearby market.”

Jenkins said that the city was treading on school board turf by arguing about what would constitute a proper environment for students. They said the project would be built within the city’s current zoning regulations and would not have a negative impact on traffic and parking.

‘Our Jurisdiction’

“If the city has sound planning reasons (to oppose the project), that would be one thing,” Jenkins said, “but the reason I hear is how it will affect the kids in the high school. That is our jurisdiction. We are also an elected body and our belief is that it will greatly benefit the children and all the students as a whole.”

School board member Bob Holbrook agreed. “Frankly we are responsible for what is best for our students,” he said. “Right now, getting money into our coffers is what is best for our students. Given our need for money and the declining enrollment we have to be aggressive about solving these problems if we are going to hold on to our educational programs.”

Jenkins and Holbrook said they did not understand the city’s opposition to the plan. They said the high school is across the street from a Holiday Inn and has not had any problems.

Richard Darling, the principal developer for the project, said he was considering asking Beverly Hills school officials to testify at the Planning Commission’s public hearing about the impact of Century City development on its high school campus. “They have high-rise office buildings next to their campus and they say they are not having any trouble,” he said.

Tax Revenues

A report prepared for the district by Sage Institute Inc., a consulting firm that negotiated the hotel project for the district, said that the hotel would benefit the entire community by increasing property tax revenues and creating about 300 full-time jobs. The hotel would include a 10,000-square-foot ballroom and a 200-seat restaurant. There would be parking spaces for 460 cars. A nearby complex would have 20,000 square feet of space for retail shops.

“We have gone to great lengths to see that it is not obtrusive,” school board President Dick Williams said. “The city itself stands to make quite a bit of money off the project through increased taxes and employment opportunities. It has a lot of things going for it.”