The ongoing quest to make the Bergamot Area a more housing and commercial-friendly neighborhood recently came to the Santa Monica Planning Commission, which adopted a resolution that would rework the Bergamot Area Plan towards that goal.
During the August 7 meeting of the commission, a resolution was passed recommending that the City Council amend the text of the Bergamot Area Plan to repeal Chapter 5, Development Standards and Land Use Regulations, which regulates standards on new site and building development. The Bergamot Area Plan was initially adopted by council in September 2013, in an attempt to transition the 142.5 acres of former industrial land "into an arts-focused, transit-oriented and mixed-use pedestrian-oriented neighborhood" around the Bergamot Expo Line rail station.
Since the adoption of the plan, however, only three housing projects have been proposed in the Bergamot area, with the Planning Commission resolution stating that "processes and standards in the [plan] have proven to be overly complex, unclear, onerous, and do not incentivize housing." To remedy this, the resolution proposes amendments to the plan that "are intended to increase efficiency, ease of use, and consistency for land use regulations and development standards throughout the City."
Existing development standards laid out in Chapter 5 are planned to be replaced with "objective development standards," including simplified open space standards "improved to address current density bonus housing project designs," the elimination of street type standards, and the elimination of parking requirements in the Bergamot Area. The updates read that land uses will be subject to parking standards established in the city’s Zoning Ordinance, however, there are no parking requirements within the plan due to the area’s proximity (within a half-mile) of a major transit site (the Expo stop).
The proposed standards are modeled after the city’s Downtown Community Plan, and are "intended to address the overall [plan] vision of a new walkable, transit-oriented neighborhood." To make this vision possible, the plan has identified a "Retail Priority Corner" and a "Pedestrian Priority Corner" that identifies a centralized area around Nebraska Ave. and Pennsylvania Ave. to serve "as a potential corridor of ground floor active commercial uses."
Another concept continuing to make headway is a special Administrative Processing Incentive for housing projects on sites over one acre in space, but not more than three acres. Currently, housing projects proposed on parcels greater than an acre are subject to a Development Review Permit, with the incentive moving to waive the review permit process and replace it with administrative approval.
In order to be subject to administrative approval, apartment development over one acre would have to include a residential unit mix with up to 15% studio units, a minimum of 15% two-bedroom units, and a minimum 10% of three-bed units. Also, development would include a minimum of 14% ground floor open space, with 30% of that space being provided adjacent to a sidewalk and must be open to public use, as well as a ground level pedestrian pathway that must be dedicated to public use.
"This would guarantee that the proposed housing project provide the residential unit mix, meaningful open space adjacent to the public realm that helps to establish a walkable neighborhood, and pedestrian passageways that would be available for public use to improve the overall pedestrian circulation and connection through larger parcels and blocks within the area," the Planning Commission staff report stated.
In public comment, Dave Rand of firm Rand Paster & Nelson LLP, who represents three property owners with large parcels in the Bergamot area, told the commission that he is "very excited" to see what he believes is a "very thoughtful proposal" and a "very creative approach" to "regain some of the original vision" of the area plan. He added that the larger parcel incentive is a "win-win" and also recommended an expansion of the incentive for spaces beyond three acres.
Sunset Park resident and New Roads Trustee Jason Perry was cautiously optimistic, but asked that projects developed near the New Roads campus should have requirements like noise-attenuating windows for adjacent properties.
"We function on the site in a formerly industrial area, so we look at the potential impacts from development as a very serious matter that should have protections in place, where there is not just the protections [for] health and safety, but also so there is, within the community, a clear understanding of what threats exist and how they’re being mitigated … for sensitive sites like a school," Perry said.
thomas@smdp.com
