City Council meetings are seldom uneventful and this week was no exception. Technical malfunctions meant that anyone not actually inside chambers and attempting to watch the live feed, couldn’t. But thankfully, aside from some intermittent audio and video, the video now on the City of Santa Monica’s YouTube channel is mostly intelligible.
A little extra confusion was caused when Tuesday evening’s jam-packed agenda was significantly reshuffled with some items being removed. However, one that remained was 11A, a proposal to enter into an agreement with the Hollywood Community Housing Corporation (HCHC) to build affordable housing on City-owned sites adjacent to Wilshire Blvd.
Ayala Scott, Senior Development Analyst, Housing Division for the City of Santa Monica, along with Sarah Letts, from the HCHC gave a brief presentation to Council, along with Kevin Daly, CEO of the architects firm that will design the new structures.
The proposed projects, which ultimately will come back for final approval by the City Council, include approximately 130 units on three city-owned properties at 1217 Euclid St, 1211-1217 14th St and 1146 16th St, in line with the city’s 2021-2029 Housing Element.
Once built, the projects would serve individuals and families making anywhere from 30 to 80% of the area median income, as well as people experiencing homelessness. The Euclid St site will include permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless individuals with The People Concern — a 501(c) non-profit organization that specializes in evidence-based solutions to homelessness — as the lead supportive service provider.
“I think this is just a tremendously exciting opportunity for the city … And I think we can really set a new standard for how housing can be developed in Southern California,” said Daly, whose company designed the 2602 Broadway site.
Much of the questioning, including that of Councilmembers Christine Parra and Gleam Davis was related to parking and to what extent nearby businesses would be affected. However, since no renderings have yet been submitted, this was mostly theoretical. For instance, one possible scenario involves an additional layer of underground parking at two sites at a combined cost of approximately $5million.
“I want to comment on where we are in the process,” said City Manager David White. “We would love to get input from the Council about what type of project you’re looking for us to fine tune.
“But we need to spend time with our parking division, our mobility, folks, we need to do work to understand how those parking lots are utilized, so that we can really get into the work of balancing the needs of the corridor, the businesses and the residents to make sure that we’re developing a project that meets those needs, but also worked within the confines of the limited resources that we have as an agency,” White said.
Davis clarified, “I just wanted to be clear, because while we’re not making [the final] decision tonight, I think as we go through this process, it’s important for us to understand the trade-offs that we’re being asked to [consider].”
Councilmember Jesse Zwick wondered why the proposed building couldn’t be even bigger.
“It is possible to build a taller building,” said Daly, adding “And certainly we’ve seen in the city buildings that were approved at five or six stories come back and seek approval for like eight stories.
“There are definite cost implications for that and right now, we’re just under the height of what the limit of a highrise building in Santa Monica. That also was lower than the building code allows. And there may be some modification to that regulation … During the design process, we’ll investigate that and test the feasibility of doing that. I don’t think it would go to an eight story building … To meet all the other infrastructure requirements for a building like that would be prohibitively expensive for an affordable project,” Daly said.
“An important part of Santa Monica’s Housing Element is our commitment to dedicate several city-owned properties to advance much-needed affordable housing production,” Mayor Phil Brock said. “I am glad to see these projects moving forward as part of our city’s strategic effort to address homelessness and continue to build a community where all have the ability to live and thrive.”
The item was moved by Councilmember Caroline Torosis, seconded by Zwick and passed unanimously 6-0 as Vice Mayor Lana Negrete, who had participated in the evenings proceedings up until this item by phone from Arizona, had left.
The next step is a community engagement process to allow for input on the design and development plan. A refined proposal incorporating community feedback is expected to return to council for final consideration and approval in 2025.
scott.snowden@smdp.com