CITY HALL ROUNDUP

SANTA MONICA: The City Council voted 6 to 1 on Tuesday to hold a referendum on the Santa Monica Civic Center expansion plan, placing the matter before voters on the June 7 ballot.

Councilman Kelly Olsen cast the dissenting vote. Opponents of the Civic Center redevelopment plan preferred the November ballot because more people vote in the general election than in the June primary.

Council members, however, said they wanted to resolve the issue quickly so they can place a bond measure for a new police station on the November ballot. They cannot do that until new zoning for the Civic Center area is established.

The cost of the election is $126,000, which includes sending voters a 128-page explanation of the complex plan complete with color renderings of the proposed changes.

LOS ANGELES: The City Council has agreed to pay $900,000 to a Pacific Palisades woman who stood to lose her hillside home as a result of the improper construction of roads below.

The council already has settled lawsuits filed by other homeowners in the Porto Marina neighborhood. Last month, lawmakers voted to pay $2.5 million to two couples whose homes were destroyed in a 1993 landslide.

A Superior Court jury last year found the city and the California Department of Transportation liable for weakening the bluffs during construction of Pacific Coast Highway and other streets.

“The city is helpless in this matter because of the city’s approval of the (street construction) in 1926,” said Councilman Marvin Braude, who represents Pacific Palisades.

Braude said the city never would have built some of the streets under today’s standards.

The council unanimously approved the settlement for Josephine Hees. The Jan. 17 earthquake rendered her ocean-view house uninhabitable, but the structure already was in danger of sliding off the hill, Braude maintained.

MEETINGS NEXT WEEK

* Beverly Hills: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. 450 Crescent Drive. (310) 285-2400.

* Culver City: 7 p.m. Monday. Interim City Hall, trailer 1, 4095 Overland Ave. (310) 202-5851.

* Los Angeles: 10 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. 200 N. Spring St. (213) 485-3126.

* Malibu: 6:30 p.m. Monday. Hughes Laboratory, 3011 Malibu Canyon Road. (310) 456-2489.