Santa Monica : Condo Foes Lose Appeal

Despite concerted and creative efforts by neighborhood residents, a three-story condominium will be built on 12th Street between Broadway and Colorado streets.

The Santa Monica City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to deny the appeal of neighbors who wanted the building scaled back. Developer Paul Zahler will proceed with his project as planned.

Residents are concerned about the potential loss of sunlight caused by the proposed building, and even constructed a sculpture of scaffolding to demonstrate the shadow effects of a structure that size. The sculpture project was videotaped and shown to the council Tuesday.

Nine tenants and owners of buildings next to and behind the condominium project asked that the building’s height be reduced 10 feet and that the structure be set back an additional five feet from the back alley.

But Councilman David Finkel said the issue was not local zoning regulations, but a specific structure. He said the council was “being asked to debate the wrong issue at the wrong time,” because the building’s dimensions were within all limits set by local regulations.