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SMCLC CONTINUES TO PRESS CITY FOR SHARPLY REDUCED HINES/BERGAMOT PROJECT
3/26/12
On the very day that comments on the massive Hines project were due, Santa Monica's Planning Director told the press that the City has been negotiating a different project with Hines than the project proposed in the Draft Environmental Impact Report ("DEIR"). While the project now being negotiated – described as Alternative 3 in the DEIR -- increases the percentage of residential to commercial development as residents have been demanding for some time, unfortunately the new proposed project's massive size and traffic impacts are the same as the project studied in the DEIR.
For over a year, community and neighborhood groups throughout Santa Monica and the Westside have been demanding a project reduced in size in order to reduce the unacceptable level of traffic impacts in this already gridlocked area. The City has received hundreds of letters concerning the intolerable traffic conditions there from residents of Santa Monica, the entire Westside, and the City of LA.
Regrettably, Alternative 3 does not alleviate these concerns. It proposes the same size, height, mass, footprint and unacceptable level of traffic impacts according to the City's DEIR.
Accordingly, you can see below the actions SMCLC has taken:
• Click here to read SMCLC's letter to the Planning Director objecting to negotiations for another equally massive Hines project instead of a reduced project that would mitigate traffic and calling again for a regional plan before the Bergamot Area is further developed;
• Click here to read SMCLC's letter to the City Manager and its in-depth analysis of the unconscionable draft Development Agreement that Hines proposes, which gives itself the rights to build or not build any part of the project or parking over 20 years, provides no penalties for failure to meet very weak traffic reduction goals and locks the City into this massive project without recourse; and
• Click here to read SMCLC's public records request for documents about the project.