Santa Monica : Limits on Growth Urged
One of Santa Monica’s principal political factions, warning that development may “bulldoze” the community and its values, is urging city planners to write a comprehensive zoning code that will significantly limit growth.
The call came in a statement issued this week by Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights.
The city is studying revisions to the proposed zoning code. A second and final public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall, and the City Council will begin debating the proposed revisions the next day.
Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights said the 1984 Land Use Element, a set of guidelines for development in the city, reduced some growth but did not adequately anticipate the pressures to build commercial projects.
The group said that the 1984 plan projected 5.5 million square feet of commercial development in the city by the year 2000. However, 5.2 million square feet already have been approved or proposed, the group said.
“Development has far exceeded everybody’s expectations,” group member Judy Abdo said in an interview. She said revisions in the zoning code that have been proposed so far by the city staff do not go far enough in limiting development.
“It’s a different kind of vision of what the city should look like than what we believe the residents really want,” she said.
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