July 11, 2006

CONSENT CALENDAR  Among items not requiring extensive discussion, the following were approved by the Council:  purchase of tires for the city’s fleet from Tarulli Tire Inc., which bid $480,000 for a three-year contract; a $231,761 contract with Sentry Control Systems for parking equipment for parking areas located in the Civic Center; a $1,017,844 contract with Folsom Lake Ford for 40 police cars to replace old cars; setting a public hearing for September 12, 2006 for street light assessment districts on 30^th Street between Pico and Pearl and on Georgina between 4^th and 7^th; a $250,000 contract with California Code Check and a $794,270 contract with JAS Pacific for code enforcement, plan check, inspection and permit services; a $622,005 contract with Thomsen Landscape to construct Euclid Street Park; a resolution in support of the Westside Cities Council of Governments proposed Westside Mobility Action Plan (Council also directed staff to prepare a resolution in support of the state transportation infrastructure bonds and to implement an educational program on the projects planned if bonds are approved by voters in November); and a resolution amending the Executive Pay Plan to provide an annual cost of living increase being granted to other bargaining units and to adjust the base salary for the Director of Planning and Community Development position.  (Note: Item 1-J on an emergency order allowing for placement of security cameras on the Pier did not need to be heard, as the Landmarks Commission approved the method of placement at a meeting between the June 27 Council meeting and tonight.)

CLOSED SESSION  After closed session discussions, Council took the following actions in open session:  In Betty Robinson v. City of Santa Monica, a bus accident case, a $9,998.53 settlement for costs and post-judgment interest (in addition to a prior $100,000 judgment); in a case of anticipated litigation related to a garage and other work at a newly constructed five-unit condo, a settlement allowing the developer to retain the garage if the work not yet done is completed according to plan and if the developer pays the city $5250 for additional code compliance inspections costs and other fees; and in a second case of anticipated litigation related to the effective date of city Ordinance Number 2191, acknowledged that there was a defect in the notice affecting the special effective date and determined that the standard 30 days after second reading effective date would apply for the ordinance.

STUDY SESSION  Council held a study session to discuss plans and give direction on requests for proposals (RFPs) that will be used to gather information about potential alternatives for the future of the city’s commercial refuse collection and a transfer facility and services for recycling and disposal.  The RFPs are scheduled to be issued in January 2007 after Council review, with proposals to be reviewed and analyzed in the spring and final recommendations made to Council at a public hearing in June 2007.

ORDINANCES  Council held first reading on an ordinance amending Chapter 9 of the Municipal Code revising the review process and standards regulating conversion of a food use to any other new or expanded use on the ground floor level businesses on the Third Street Promenade, establishing minor modifications that can be administratively approved related, in part, to minimum restaurant width/frontage (2/3 of existing outdoor dining frontage, half of the restaurant frontage, with a 16 foot minimum); and maintaining the same outdoor floor area, but allowing the area to be recessed up to 20 feet with ARB review (in part to ensure visibility of all outdoor dining from the Promenade), with a minimum restaurant depth of 75 feet as measured from the property line.  The standards are basically the proposed alternatives, with some modifications, from the Bayside Corporation. 

Council held second reading and adopted ordinances amending the Zoning Ordinance to authorize food serving businesses to establish ancillary sidewalk dining cafes of up to 200 square feet in various zoning districts around town; waiving certain development standards for rental “bootleg” units and eliminating the April 22, 2003 cutoff date for registration of units with the Rent Control Board; and extending time limits for four redevelopment areas in the city, as allowed by law. 

Council held first reading on four interim ordinance extensions affecting Zoning regulations:  1) clarifying that business establishments with alcohol CUPs must obtain new alcohol CUPs if the establishment ceases operating for a period in excess of one year and six months in premises in the CM district; 2) allowing administrative approval of the number and type of driveways required for parking structures with over 40 parking spaces in multi-family, commercial and industrial districts; 3) authorizing the placement of furniture, portable landscaping and cigarette disposal receptacles in the public right-of-way and the display of merchandise in private vestibules; and 4) modifying the threshold at which a structure is determined to be substantially remodeled and thereby subject to all current applicable zoning code regulations and establishing exceptions to the substantial remodel requirements.

ADMINISTRATIVE ITEMS  Council appointed Mayor Pro Tem Shriver and Councilmembers Bloom and Katz to participate in interviews by the Urban Institute, the contractor doing an evaluation of the city’s Homeless Continuum of Care System.

After hearing from representatives of community groups opposed to Proposition 90, the so-called Anderson Initiative on eminent domain which has qualified for the November statewide ballot, Council directed staff to expeditiously develop an “incentive-based standards plan” as outlined in the staff report to protect the city’s local land use authority from the potential impacts of Proposition 90.  The proposition would restrict cities from down-zoning and limiting use of private airspace (building heights).  Any local laws in existence at the time the Proposition passes, if it does, would be exempt.  The areas of Santa Monica not currently protected are the multi-family districts and commercial boulevards.  The incentives-based standards would protect those areas and would advance the ongoing Land Use and Circulation Element (Shape the Future 2025) effort by promoting land uses and architecture that have been consistently identified by the community.  Council directed staff to analyze the economic viability of certain incentives, including incentives for mixed use projects in commercial zones, projects that provide child care, transit passes and on-site car sharing.

Council approved Housing Trust Fund loans and grants to the Community Corporation of Santa Monica of 1) $5,867,993 for the acquisition and rehab of a 19-unit affordable housing development at 2900 4th Street and 2) $6,782,455 for acquisition and rehab of a 22-unit affordable housing development at 2211 4th Street.

COUNCILMEMBER ITEMS  Council reaffirmed Councilmember Bloom as the Governing Board representative to the Westside Cities Council of Government and designated Councilmember McKeown as the alternate representative.  Bloom is the newly elected first chair of the COG.

 Council allocated $10,000 of Council discretionary funds to Project Echo for the purpose facilitating travel to and accommodations in Shanghai, China, for nine Samohi students who won the right to represent the U.S. in the Sage World Cup, and international competition designed to foster ethical and socially responsible entrepreneurship on a global level. Council directed staff to explore policies, options and ways ordinances might be amended that would authorize specific temporary art projects in the public right of way/public spaces, such as “A Red Line Connects Us” (visit www.aredlineconnectsus.org for more information).

Items 12-A, 13-E, F and G were continued to July 12.

APPOINTMENTS  Council made the following appointments and thanked all who have served:

• Airport Commission—Ofer Grossman
• Architectural Review Board—Rudolfo Alvarez, William Adams
• Arts Commission—Hara Beck, Jacob Samuel
• Bayside District Corporation—Patricia Hoffman, David Martin, Rob Rader
• Commission for the Senior Community—Marilyn Korade-Wilson, Melva Heinsohn (emeritus)
• Commission on the Status of Women—Tia Skulski, Darline Evans (emeritus)
• Convention & Visitors Bureau—Nancy Desser, West Hooker
• Disabilities Commission—Carol Agate, Elizabeth Bogen, Patricia Alison Richardson
• Housing Commission—Jason Parry, Richard Gerwitz
• Landmarks Commission—Roger Genser, Ruthann Lehrer, Deborah Levin
• Library Board—Kenneth Breisch, Gene Oppenheim
• Personnel Board—Robert Sullivan
• Planning Commission—Jay Johnson
• Recreation & Parks Commission—Susan Cloke
• Social Services Commission—Karen Gunn

The next meeting of the Santa Monica City Council is a special meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 12, 2006, beginning at 5:45 p.m. (although Council expects to take a half hour break at 6 p.m.) in the wheelchair-accessible Council Chamber at City Hall. The next regular meeting will be held Tuesday, July 25, 2006.   

Council meetings are aired live on CityTV Channel 16 and on the Netcast on the city's website and, for regularly scheduled meetings, from 8 p.m. to midnight on KCRW 89.9 FM.

NOTE: This wrap-up is not an official record of Council action. The official record is posted by the City Clerk on this website at http://www.smgov.net/cityclerk/council/agendas/2006/ as soon as possible after the meeting. (Click on the July 11 agenda link.)

SPECIAL NOTE: Council meetings are now video streamed on the web (http://santamonica.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2) and re-aired on CityTV2 cable channel 20.