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12.18.17 Volume 17 Issue 31
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KATE CAGLE Daily Press Staff Writer
The City Council has asked staff to look into drafting a ballot measure for the 2018 election that would protect against development exceeding the size guidelines in the Downtown Community Plan (DCP), which was adopted after intense debate earlier this year. The request of Mayor Ted Winterer and Councilmember Kevin McKeown narrowly passed with four votes, relying on the caveat that most Councilmembers would not support any solutions that would require large developments go directly to the ballot box. “I don’t think we should be putting zoning and land use issues
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Santa Monica Daily Press
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Community Gardeners moved to permitting process
before the voters,” Councilmember Tony Vazquez said before supporting the motion. “That’s why we get elected.” As Santa Monica’s elected leaders look ahead to 2018, the development debate during the last election is anything but a distant memory. Activists drafted Measure LV in 2016, which would have required voters to approve all developments over two stories in Santa Monica. Opponents criticized the lack of public process involved in the drafting of LV, arguing the citizen-drafted measure would have had unintended legal consequence for the city if it had passed. The measure failed SEE COUNCIL PAGE 7
PERMITS: Council is changing the way it administers the community gardens.
KATE CAGLE
KATE CAGLE
The lifeguard headquarters at 1642 Ocean Front Walk will soon have a back up generator that would allow the site to stay up and running for 72 hours in the event the electrical grid fails. The City Council has approved a $227,139 contract with Global Power Group to install the generator along with a new sump pump and LED lighting on the interior and exterior. Construction work could begin as early as January next year and is anticipated to be finished by April 2018. “Upon completion of the facility modernization, the Beach Lifeguard Headquarters would be better equipped to continue providing important services to Santa Monica’s residents and visitors,”
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Lifeguard Headquarters to receive back-up power generator Daily Press Staff Writer
310-804-6646
OPEN ENROLLMENT is NOVEMBER 1st thru JANUARY 31st, 2018
MONDAY
City Council considering development ballot initiative in 2018
Call Scott Gilbert
reads a recent report from the Public Works department. The city-owned building does not currently have an emergency generator. The new pump will drain rain water out of the facility’s parking lot during storms. The lifeguard facility was originally constructed in the late 1950’s and has been staffed by Los Angeles County since the 1970’s. The County Fire Department provides year-round lifeguard coverage for the beach seven days a week, as well as round the clock emergency response and paramedic support. The City pays more than $5 million a year for the services. The ten-year contract will expire in 2019. As part of the agreement, the County supplies four emergency response vehicles, a rescue boat
Matthew Hall
Daily Press Staff Writer
Residents fortunate enough to already have control of one of Santa Monica’s 121 community garden plots throughout the city will experience some changes in the coming year as the program moves into a permitting process. The changes will not help those on the 580 person waiting list get a plot of land any sooner. The estimated wait time to get a plot is seven years. The permitting process will allow the Community and Cultural Services Department to update the current paper licensing system with a digital format, according to a report by the department’s director Karen Ginsberg. The report promises the new system will be more efficient, eliminating paper agreements that have to be physically carried in boxes to separate departments for approvals. The system also formalizes rules governing the Main Street, Park Drive and Euclid Park
gardens. For example, the city’s gardeners are expected to spend a minimum of five hours a week tending to their plots throughout the year. “Those kinds of rules are there to enforce active gardening,” said Talia Tinari, who chairs the Community Garden Advisory Committee. “You could probably spend a couple hours easily on the weekends weeding, planting, and harvesting.” Gardeners who need help are encouraged to enlist volunteers from the extensive waiting list of people waiting for plots. Once a resident has a community garden, they can keep it as long as they maintain an active garden and follow the rules intended to make good neighbors. Once someone gets a plot, they are responsible for purchasing all their own materials and tools as well as paying the City $100 per year. Tinari says her group and the city are both looking to expand opportunities for aspiring gardeners in the upcoming years. For examSEE GARDENERS PAGE 4
SEE GENERATOR PAGE 4
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