Santa Monica : Airport Injunction Refused
A Santa Monica Superior Court judge last week refused to grant a preliminary injunction against a proposed commercial office project at Santa Monica Municipal Airport until the Santa Monica City Council takes action on a referendum drive.
The council last week delayed action for two weeks on the referendum in order to give Mayor Dennis Zane, the project’s staunchest supporter, more time to try to work out a compromise proposal with opponents of the 822,000-square-foot project proposed by Reliance Development Group. The council voted 4 to 3 on Oct. 10 to approve the project.
The suit, filed in October by a pilots group and a homeowner, contends that the City Council does not have the authority to develop the airport site without voter approval because voter-approved bonds were used to purchase the site for parkland.
City officials, however, have dismissed the suit as “frivolous.”
A citizens committee collected nearly 8,000 signatures in early November to force the City Council to either rescind its approval of the project or place the matter on the ballot.
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