The City Council will reconvene for the second week in a row on April 25 to vote on several ordinances, changes to Lincoln Boulevard south of the I-10, park funding and the ownership of a mobile home park.
The Council is likely to pass a full slate of ordinance Tuesday including: an ordinance to ban smoking in the “parklets,” a development agreement with Providence Health System, and a few tweaks to the lobbying rules in Santa Monica.
Lincoln Neighborhood Corridor Plan Streetscape
The Council will consider a plan to improve the physical environment and pedestrian safety on a 1.25 mile stretch of Lincoln Boulevard. The goal is to transition the busy commuting corridor into a pedestrian-oriented environment. The plan will result in new crosswalks, landscaped medians and increased lighting and bicycle connectors, according to a staff report submitted to the Councilmembers for consideration.
During the peak commute, there will be a dedicated bus lane that is expected to have no net impact on vehicle flow. The plan has already been passed by the Planning Commission.
The aggressive plan spans three neighborhoods along 17 blocks of Lincoln Blvd from the I-10 Freeway to Ozone Avenue. It will create new crosswalks with pedestrian safety signals at Grant, Pine and Wilson/Pier Streets. Four crosswalks at Olympic, Pearl, Hill and Ashland will receive enhanced crosswalks and pedestrian refuges (concrete islands where pedestrians can stop in the middle of the road). Twenty crosswalks will be restriped.
The street will also be receiving a facelift with 125 new streetlights, 13 curb-extensions, 48 new trees, new bike racks, benches and trash cans.
The first phase of improvements will cost $2.9 million and could be finished by the end of next year. A second phase of improvements includes costlier upgrades and may exceed $10 million over several years. The more expensive phase involves new storm water runoff bioswales and the streetlights.
Park Funding
The Council will discuss a number of options at their disposal to drum up more funding for public parks including a general obligation bond which would appear on the November 2018 ballot and require two thirds votes to pass. City staff wants to hire a research company to conduct a resident survey to gauge support for a bond, according to a staff report.
Last November, Los Angeles County voters passed Measure A, which will provide direct funding to Santa Monica for parks improvements starting July 2018. It is estimated that the City will receive about $10 million over a 10-yer period. Local voters also passed Measure V, which included up to $20 million in bonds funds for the expansion of Memorial Park. City staff members believe that amount of money will not cover the full upgrade of the park including new recreation buildings and sports fields.
If the Council approves, staff and the research firm will begin polling residents on their support for more funding.
Mountain View Mobile Home Park
City staff is recommending the Council enter into negotiations with the Caritas Corporation to sell Mountain View Mobile Home Park. The City bought the park with redevelopment funds at the end of 2000 after a series of lawsuits that involved an adjacent City-owned abandoned landfill. As part of the purchase, the park became deed-restricted for only low and moderate-income households.
The move to sell the property is part of a City-wide effort to sell affordable housing properties to nonprofits. “Council recognized (in 2012) that affordable housing organizations, rather than the City, possess core competencies in owning an doperating affordable housing,” according to a recent staff report. The park will be the last piece of property to go.
Caritas Corporation is an Irvine-based non-profit that has been around since 1996. They currently have communities across California in Fresno, Garden Grove, Palmdale and Rohnert Park, among others.
Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. on April 25 inside City Hall, 1685 Main St. Visit www.smgov.net for more information.
kate@www.smdp.com
