Santa Monica : Moratorium on Building

City officials are considering an emergency, one-year moratorium on most commercial development in Santa Monica.

The City Council, acting on a measure proposed by Councilwoman Judy Abdo, voted unanimously early Wednesday to instruct the city attorney to draw up the emergency ordinance. It is expected to return to the council for a full vote next week.

The moratorium would apply to all nonresidential projects citywide, except for those filed before May 2.

Projects on public lands, hospitals and the Third Street Mall area would be exempt, as would development on Santa Monica College lands.

The council went into a closed session with the city attorney to discuss whether a 1.4-million-square-foot project at the Santa Monica Airport would also be exempt. Because the development would be on city land, the council decided that the proposed office complex would not be affected.

Any projects that fall below certain space limits, which vary according to neighborhood, would also be exempt. These limits range from 11,000 square feet in the Main Street area to 22,000 square feet downtown.

Although hotels are considered “residential,” the council voted that they should not be exempt from the moratorium. A group of activists recently announced it would begin an initiative drive aimed at barring hotel construction on Santa Monica’s beach.