Council members Bobby Shriver and Ken Genser’s frustration at Tuesday night’s Council meeting was almost palpable as they each tried, and failed, to engage their fellow Council members and City staff in a serious discussion of whether the City should declare a city-wide moratorium that would put proposed projects on hold until the revision of the General Plan is complete.

Planning Director Eileen Fogarty’s report to the Council had summarized some of the possibilities for development in the industrial lands that would be considered during the drafting of the revision of the General Plan. In addition, she had outlined ways of dealing with the large number of potential projects that City Hall has received. The alternatives are a moratorium on all development, a moratorium with exceptions for projects undertaken via a development agreement, revised development standards and maintenance of the status quo.

City Attorney Marcia Moutrie and Deputy City Attorney Barry Rosenbaun had evaluated the efficacy of the alternative means of dealing with current projects – from a legal point of view. Their preference was an interim ordinance that would cover only the industrial lands.

Several residents had spoken in favor of a city-wide moratorium.

When questioned by Genser and then Shriver, the attorneys continued to focus on the legal aspects, alleging that a city-wide moratorium would be hard to craft and defend.

Neither they nor other staff members addressed the advantages of a city-wide moratorium, though Fogarty’s staff report made a solid case for it, as Genser noted.

The other Council members, Mayor Pro Tem Herb Katz, who presided, Bob Holbrook and Pam O’Connor seemed uninterested in discussing the various questions raised by Genser, Shriver and the attorneys.

Ultimately, the Council directed staff to prepare an interim ordinance with revised development standards, a square-footage limit and a maximum number of units for a development agreement that would apply only to the industrial lands.

Shriver concluded by noting that if the City got the General Plan revision wrong, the negative impacts would be felt throughout the Westside, as well as here.

He’s right, of course. For generations, Santa Monica has been a Southern California icon, the pluperfect beach town – gorgeous, full of weather, naturally anarchic, low key. With Malibu, it was the epicenter of the surfing in its early days. In the era of great beach clubs, it had 11. In the 1930s, its north beach was dubbed the Gold Coast, perhaps because publishing powerhouse William Randolph Hearst, oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, Hollywood’s “boy genius” Irving Thalberg and his wife Norma
Shearer, four of the five founders of Hollywood and a flock of stars all had houses there.

Long ago, Santa Monica became one of those legendary places that everyone everywhere knows about – whether they’ve been here or not.

But, after years of heedless growth and mindless promotion, it’s chiefly notable for overdevelopment, traffic congestion and bad municipal manners.

And the revision of the General Plan is our last shot at restoring, preserving and refining the peerless beach town that City Hall hijacked some time ago.