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Santa Monica planning commission backs temporary exclusions while directing staff to study SB79 alternatives
Summary
After a lengthy study session and public comment, the commission voted unanimously to ask City Council to pursue a two‑track response to SB79: adopt interim exclusions to limit immediate upzoning while staff develops a TOD alternative plan and studies transit‑stop definitions, fair‑housing impacts and historic‑resource protections.
The Santa Monica Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that City Council pursue a two‑track approach to implementing SB79, the state law that would automatically upzone parcels within a half‑mile of qualifying transit stops.
In a study session that stretched more than two hours, staff planners Anna Fernandez and Rachel Quark laid out the law’s guaranteed development standards, eligibility rules and three local options: (1) mirror the state law citywide, (2) adopt a time‑limited exclusion of certain parcels until 2030, or (3) create a Transit‑Oriented Development (TOD) alternative plan allowing transfers of capacity among defined TOD zones. Fernandez told the commission that “SB79 … will become effective automatically on July 1 of this year,” and summarized key eligibility caveats including minimum net densities, an average-unit-size threshold, anti‑displacement rules that bar demolition of…
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