CITY HALL — A discussion about a long-awaited development at the corner of Fourth Street and Broadway revealed issues facing the future of development both in Downtown and the remainder of the city.
At its meeting Wednesday, the Planning Commission keyed in on several aspects of the project, including the unclear requirements for community benefits and the size of the units, that could spell out wider policy discussions for future projects.
The project, at 401 Broadway where Grigsby’s Automotive and a privately-run parking lot now sit, would consist of 56 small units spread across five stories, commercial space and no on-site parking, a unique feature for a housing development.
The project, designed by architect David Forbes Hibbert, has been underway since 2008, and has gone through several iterations since, including a stint as an office building, said Christopher Harding, the land use attorney for the project.
Despite the fact that it isn’t technically a development agreement, the developer agreed to community benefits for the project that otherwise wouldn’t be necessary, including bicycle facilities for retail employees, eco-friendly design and a local hiring provision that seeks to give Santa Monica residents the first crack at construction jobs for the project.
Six low income units would also be built on-site, at an additional $1 million cost to the developer, compared to paying the in-lieu fee otherwise required by City Hall.
Where the developer balked, however, was at a $175,000 contribution to support Downtown transit, in particular the Expo Light Rail station that will be arriving a block away on Colorado Avenue and Fourth Street in 2015.
The money would go toward infrastructure improvements for light rail, a bike center at Fourth Street and Broadway, the Bicycle Action Plan and electric vehicle charging stations in municipal parking structures.
That would be on top of between $25,000 and $38,000 that the project would be paying for 20 parking spots in municipal lots, as required by the Downtown Parking District, for spaces that neither residents nor visitors could use, Harding said.
More importantly, however, the price tag per square foot is far higher for this project than larger projects similarly situated near coming light rail stations, including Agensys or the possible Lionsgate headquarters coming in at Colorado Avenue near Stewart Street.
Where the developers of the Agensys office park paid approximately 57 cents per square foot for transportation fees and the Lionsgate project will approach $2 per foot, the smaller housing project at Fourth Street and Broadway would pay $6 per square foot for the benefit of being a quarter mile from the light rail station, Harding said.
Commissioners seemed more sympathetic to the imbalance between the developers than the cost to the 401 Broadway project.
“I think Agensys got a sweetheart deal, and I wasn’t in favor of it,” said Commissioner Ted Winterer, going on to say there might be an argument to ask for more in terms of community benefits, but on-site low-income housing helped the project’s cause.
Commissioners also questioned Hibbert’s design in terms of the size of the 56 units, which will all be relatively small studios.
Commissioner Richard McKinnon strenuously objected to the arrangement, noting that he would like to see several of the units combined into larger arrangements with multiple bedrooms.
The idea caught traction with Commissioner Jennifer Kennedy, who argued that the small, single occupancy style of apartments led to a transitory population that wouldn’t create an established, safe community.
If City Hall wanted to create a policy restricting the number of small units, that wouldn’t be beyond the pale, Harding told commissioners, but not on this project.
“We don’t think this is the project to initiate a new policy in that area,” Harding said.
Commissioners were split on the issue, with three in favor of consolidating some of the units into larger apartments, and others feeling it was beyond the purview.
The project will still need to go before the City Council and the Architectural Review Board for the final say on its community benefits and design features.
ashley@www.smdp.com
