Santa Monica Council Delays Vote on Referendum for Airport Project

The Santa Monica City Council postponed until next month a decision on when to schedule a referendum election that could overturn its approval of a controversial office project at Santa Monica Municipal Airport.

By waiting until after Jan. 1 to schedule the election, the council can take advantage of a change in the state law regulating referendum petitions, which removes the deadline for the election.

If the council had acted Tuesday, it would have had to schedule the election in not less than 88 days nor more than 103 days. That would have meant some time between mid-March and mid-April.

Councilman William H. Jennings, who made the motion to table the matter until the next scheduled council meeting on Jan. 9, said that by delaying the decision until next month, the referendum election could be set to coincide with the statewide primary election in June.

Jennings said a consolidated election would save the city the expense of a special election in March and would provide for a larger voter turnout.

Although the council could wait until the municipal election in November, Jennings said he favors a June election.

“We need to get this over with as soon as possible,” he said.

Only Councilman Ken Genser voted against the delay. Councilman David Finkel abstained.

Suzanne Brewer, a spokeswoman for Santa Monicans for the Public Trust, the group that organized the referendum drive, said she was disappointed that the council did not set a spring election, but remains confident that the project will be overturned whenever the election is held.

“Whether the election is held in March, June or November, I believe the people will prevail,” Brewer said. “I just wish they’d get it over with.”

On Oct. 10, the City Council voted 4 to 3 to approve a 822,000-square-foot commercial office project proposed by Reliance Development Group. Mayor Dennis Zane and council members Christine Reed, Judy Abdo and Jennings supported the project. Council members Herb Katz, Genser and Finkel voted against the project.

The project was originally proposed for 1.3 million square feet, but as opposition grew from both Santa Monica and neighboring Los Angeles residents over expected traffic problems and other environmental concerns, the project was reduced to 822,000 square feet.

Supporters of the project say the city needs the millions of dollars in revenue that the project would generate.

Since then, lawsuits have been filed challenging the city’s authority to approve such a development without voter approval, and two Los Angeles City Council members have vowed to delay permits for street improvements needed on the Los Angeles side of the project. While the project is entirely in Santa Monica, the only access to the project is through Los Angeles streets.

The referendum drive took only two weeks to collect nearly 9,000 signatures. Most of the signatures were collected by mail.

Of the 8,904 signatures submitted, 7,924 were certified by the county registrar-recorder. Only 5,622 signatures, or 10% of the city’s registered voters, were needed to certify the referendum.

BACKGROUND

In 1987, the City Council selected Reliance Development Group to build a 1.3-million-square-foot commercial office project at Santa Monica Municipal Airport. After several public hearings, the city staff recommended the project be reduced to 1 million square feet. In October, 1989, the Planning Commission recommended that the project be further reduced to between 600,000 and 750,000 square feet. On Oct. 10, the City Council voted 4 to 3 to approve a 822,000-square-foot project after the developer said that if the project was reduced any more the entire deal would have to be renegotiated.