SANTA MONICA, CA — Santa Monica residents will get a closer look Tuesday evening at an unusual proposal that could increase development potential on 89 single-family properties while helping the city temporarily delay the effects of a state law requiring denser housing near transit.
The proposal centers on Senate Bill 79, a sweeping California housing law that took effect July 1 and establishes minimum development standards for qualifying housing projects near certain transit stops, regardless of what local zoning would otherwise allow.
Santa Monica is pursuing a phased implementation of the law, temporarily excluding qualifying areas from its requirements while the city develops a longer-term plan for accommodating the housing capacity required by SB 79.
Six of the city's seven transit-oriented development, or TOD, zones already qualify for temporary exclusion. The exception is the area surrounding the Expo/Bundy Metro E Line station.
The city's proposed solution is to increase development standards on 89 single-family parcels north of Interstate 10 and east of Dorchester Avenue, which officials say may allow the entire Expo/Bundy zone to qualify for exclusion.
Planning staff will explain the proposal and take questions at a community meeting Tuesday evening. No City Council vote is scheduled at the meeting.
SB 79, formally known as the Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, establishes guaranteed density, height and floor-area standards for qualifying housing developments near specified transit stops in California's urban transit counties.
In Santa Monica, qualifying projects immediately adjacent to certain transit stops can be allowed heights of up to 85 feet and densities of 140 units per acre. The standards decrease farther from a stop, to 65 feet and 100 units per acre within a quarter-mile and 55 feet and 80 units per acre within a half-mile.
Projects must meet a series of requirements to qualify, including having at least five housing units. The law also includes affordability and anti-displacement requirements for certain projects.
SB 79 is state law, meaning Santa Monica cannot simply choose not to comply with it. But the law gives cities options for how its requirements can be implemented.
Santa Monica's four Metro E Line stations — Downtown Santa Monica, 17th Street/Santa Monica College, Bergamot and Expo/Bundy — qualify as Tier 2 TOD stops under SB 79.
Additional downtown bus stops also qualify.
The areas extending a half-mile around qualifying stops are known as transit-oriented development zones, or TOD zones.
The concept behind transit-oriented development is to allow more housing near major public transportation, increasing housing capacity in areas served by transit. Santa Monica has seven TOD zones affected by SB 79.
Santa Monica is pursuing what the city calls a "phased implementation" of SB 79. The City Council adopted an ordinance in July temporarily excluding qualifying properties from the state law until 2030. The ordinance takes effect Thursday.
The delay gives Santa Monica time to develop a TOD Alternative Plan that can redistribute housing density among different TOD zones or individual properties.
There is an important catch: the city cannot simply eliminate the housing capacity established by SB 79. Under an alternative plan, Santa Monica must maintain at least the same overall net capacity for housing units and residential floor area that SB 79 would otherwise allow.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development will review the city's eventual ordinance for compliance with state law.
This is where Santa Monica's SB 79 strategy becomes counterintuitive. Six of the city's seven TOD zones already meet the requirements for temporary exclusion. Expo/Bundy does not.
The Planning Commission initially recommended increasing development standards on a limited number of multifamily properties around Expo/Bundy to make the zone eligible.
But when the City Council considered that option in July, members weighed potential displacement risks on those properties. The council instead directed staff to explore increasing development standards on all or a selected group of single-family, or R1-zoned, parcels.
The result is the current proposal covering 89 parcels north of Interstate 10 and east of Dorchester Avenue. The decision to place additional development capacity on those properties is part of Santa Monica's strategy for implementing SB 79, rather than a specific requirement that the state law imposes on those 89 parcels.
By increasing development standards on the properties, the city says the entire Expo/Bundy TOD zone may become eligible for temporary exclusion from SB 79 until 2030.
In effect, Santa Monica is considering increasing the development potential of a relatively small group of properties now as part of an effort to temporarily prevent SB 79's broader standards from applying throughout the zone.
The year 2030 isn't arbitrary. California requires cities and counties to periodically update the housing element of their general plans. Housing elements assess housing needs and establish policies and programs for accommodating housing development. Those planning periods are organized into cycles.
Santa Monica's seventh-cycle Housing Element will cover 2029 through 2037. Under the city's phased approach to SB 79, eligible properties can remain temporarily excluded until one year after adoption of that Housing Element, taking the city to 2030.
Santa Monica can then use a TOD Alternative Plan to determine how the housing capacity required under SB 79 is distributed among TOD zones and individual sites, while maintaining the overall capacity required by the law.
City Planning staff will hold Tuesday's community meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chamber on the second floor of Santa Monica City Hall, 1685 Main St.
Residents can also attend virtually. Staff is expected to explain the proposed zoning changes affecting the 89 Expo/Bundy-area properties, answer questions and gather community feedback. The proposal is expected to return to the City Council for consideration Sept. 8.
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