CITY HALL — The Rent Control Board will wait until the day before its drop dead date to decide whether or not to stand in the way of a development that would replace one of the last two trailer parks in Santa Monica.
Board members decided Thursday to wait until the July 11 Rent Control Board meeting to consider for a last time a removal permit for the Village Trailer Park, the site proposed for a 377-unit apartment complex already approved by the City Council.
They hope to use the intervening time to secure 10 more rent-controlled units on top of the 99 already included in the project, and to get terms in writing regarding a small piece of the property that will house 10 trailer pads.
Rent Control Agency officials have recommended that the board approve the removal permit.
Marc Luzzatto, the principal on the redevelopment of the site, told board members he was willing to wait and even commit to the 10 additional rent controlled units.
This isn't the first time that the project, called East Village, has been stalled.
Luzzatto originally gave notice that tenants would be evicted from the site in 2006. That was put on hold while he and City Hall began negotiating a development agreement for the site, a special contract that would change the zoning of the area from one that permitted mainly mobile home parks to one that would allow the multi-family housing he proposed.
Almost seven years later, after many lengthy hearings, the City Council voted to approve the development, only to rescind that vote after two new council members were inducted.
They finally approved the project in a 4 to 3 vote in March.
The rent control removal permit is the final step in the process, although Luzzatto maintains that he should not have had to apply for the permit at all.
ashley@www.smdp.com
