After two years of public meetings, committee discussions and redrafts, the City will unveil the finished Downtown Community Plan (DCP) Wednesday, April 12, at a public meeting.
That night the Planning and Community Development Department will host an informal event at 6:30 p.m. at Civic Center East Wing to hand out booklets and flash drives containing the plan.
The DCP will outline a set of standards and criteria to guide development throughout Downtown Santa Monica – which extends from the beach to both sides of Lincoln Boulevard. All subdivisions and new buildings constructed after the plan will have to be consistent with its guidelines for height, density and mobility.
While several members of the Planning Commission are planning to attend the event, they will be getting their copies of the plan at roughly the same time as the public.
The Commission and staff are still hammering out the details for the numerous meetings that will follow. Commissioners will tentatively begin deliberations and hear public input beginning April 26, although the dates and locations of that meeting and others are subject to change.
The Commission may have as many as four or five meetings in May to deliberate over the details of the plan.
“I would hope that we would be able to move through the document over a month long schedule because of how much discussion we’ve already had,” Chair Amy Anderson said at Wednesday’s Commission meeting.
Other members expressed doubt the deliberations would happen quickly and emphasized the need to air all meetings live on City TV.
“That establishes our legitimacy on some level and is important in getting everyone behind this thing to the extent that we can,” Commissioner Mario Fonda-Bonardi said.
Before the public gets a glimpse at the final document, the City will begin promoting the plan at a party at the Farmer’s Market Wednesday, April 5. The City planning manager Jing Yeo says the publicity will promote April 12 as the official release.
kate@www.smdp.com
