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TEXT
SUMMARY
RIFT will reduce growth in traffic on our streets by reducing future commercial development by half, to 75,000 sq ft annually. All residential building, hospitals, schools, care facilities, government facilities and places of worship are not included in this proposal. In mixed use projects, only the commercial square footage will be subject to the cap. Some leeway is allowed for underbuilt and "borrowed footage" years. The measure can sunset in 15 years.
Full text of the Initiative (pdf)
Intent to Circulate Notice (pdf)
jump to City Attorney's Impartial Analysis
City of Santa Monica's title and ballot summary:
BALLOT MEASURE AMENDING THE LAND USE ELEMENT OF THE GENERAL PLAN TO ESTABLISH AN ANNUAL LIMIT ON COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT WITHIN SANTA MONICA UNTIL 2023
This measure would amend the Land Use Element of the City’s General Plan to limit commercial development in Santa Monica for the stated purpose of addressing traffic congestion. The limit would be 75,000 square feet of floor area per calendar year. Floor area would be calculated pursuant to local law in effect on January 16, 2008.
The measure specifies that the limit on commercial development would not apply to the following uses: residential, parking, schools, child and senior day care facilities, hospitals and other specified care facilities, places of worship, and government facilities. Additionally, the limit is expressly made inapplicable to “neighborhood-serving goods, services or retail uses” located on the ground floor of a housing development if 100% of the dwelling units in the development are designated “affordable” by the City. Additionally, the limit would be inapplicable to any project that does not require approval of the Planning Commission or City Council under either state law or under local law in effect on January 16, 2008. The measure includes exemptions for any project with a vested right of development and for any use beyond local voters’ regulatory power. The measure also states that an exemption would apply in any instance where six-sevenths of the Council finds that applying the limit would cause an unconstitutional “taking” of the owner’s property.
Projects that are subject to the limit but replace or remodel existing buildings could receive a “credit” for some or all of the existing building’s floor area. This credit would reflect the fact that the site already generates traffic. Availability of this credit would depend upon a comparison of traffic to be generated by the new building and traffic generated by the existing building. The measure establishes the formula for comparison.
The measure would authorize the City to exceed the limit in a given year by “borrowing” from the next four years, but the yearly average for any five year period could not exceed the limit.
The measure would remain in effect through 2023 unless amended or repealed by the voters. The measure would require the City to make changes in local law and policy necessary to effectuate the measure’s provisions.
The Santa Monica city attorney has issued the impartial ballot assessment for RIFT printed below. There is no finding of any fiscal impact on the city if RIFT is passed by the voters. None.
The fact that the city attorney has concluded from reviewing the city's assessment that there is no basis to disclose any fiscal impact on the city if RIFT is enacted is very significant. The purpose of a city authorizing an economic assessment of a ballot initiative under the Elections Code is to determine whether there are significant economic impacts which should be disclosed to voters.
Such fiscal impacts are routinely included in impartial assessments of state of local initiative. The fact that none were identified reenforces what RIFT supporter have known all along: In a city with as many revenue streams as Santa Monica, RIFTs financial impact on the city will be insignificant, in fifteen years amounting to less than 1% of the city's budgeting while cutting commercial development by 40%.
CITY ATTORNEY'S IMPARTIAL ANALYSIS OF PROPOSITION T
This measure would amend the Land Use Element of the City's General Plan by adding an annual limit on "commercial development" of 75,000 square feet of "floor area." The measure would be in effect until 2023, unless the voters amended or repealed it sooner.
The limit would apply to classes of commercial projects requiring Planning Commission or City Council approval on 1/16/08. It would not apply to projects qualified for administrative approval on that date. Nor would it apply to uses excluded from the measure's definition of "commercial." Excluded uses are: residential, parking, schools, child or adult day care, hospitals, convalescent facilities, residential care for the elderly, places of worship, government, and neighborhood-serving uses located on the ground floor of 100% affordable housing projects. The measure incorporates the Municipal Code definition of "floor area" effective on 1/16/08.
The measure would authorize exceeding the annual limit by borrowing square footage from up to four years in the future, so long as the annual average for each five-year period did not exceed 75,000 square feet. The first five year period would begin 1/1/08. After that, there would be a "rolling" limit applicable to all five year periods. The square footage of development approved but not built would be added back into the annual limit upon expiration of the approval.
The limit would not apply to any project that had a vested right pursuant to state or local law on the measure's effective date. For instance, the limit would not apply to any project permitted and under construction on that date. Nor would it apply to a project if the Council found by a 6/7 vote that applying the limit would cause an unconstitutional "taking" of the property, unavoidable by borrowing from future years. The Council could seek voter approval of commercial development exceeding the limit.
How the limit would apply to replacement or remodel projects would depend upon an analysis of anticipated traffic impacts. A project replacing or remodeling an existing building would receive a credit for some or all of the existing building's floor area. This credit would be calculated by comparing estimates of vehicle trips generated by the new building with those of the original building. If the new building would generate the same or fewer trips per square foot, then the limit would be applied after subtracting the entire square footage of the original building from the square footage of the new building. If the new building would generate more trips per square foot than the original building, a methodology specified by the measure would be used to determine the credit for existing floor area. The traffic impact calculations would be based on data from the Institute of Traffic Engineers or a "comparable source" used by cities of Santa Monica's size.
Implementation of the measure would require amending existing land use regulations and establishing a system for allocating commercial development rights. Certain provisions of the measure would require legal or judicial interpretation.
