A few hours ago, members of the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City turned in 10,295 signatures, or nearly twice the number needed, in support of a ballot measure to the City Clerk’s office. The deadline for the submission was today.

By law, signatures of 10 percent of registered Santa Monica voters, or 5,800 signatures, are needed, and the signatures must be verified by the City Clerk. Since the Coalition has submitted twice the requisite number, it is very likely that the measure will qualify for placement on the local ballot in November.

The measure, “Residents’ Initiative to Fight Traffic” (RIFT), would limit commercial development in Santa Monica to 75,000 square feet a year for fifteen years.

According to the Coalition, commercial projects generate three to four times as much traffic as residential projects.

More than 100 volunteers worked on the signature drive.

“We found that residents in overwhelming numbers agree with us that development and traffic in our city is ‘out of control’,” said Diana Gordon, co-chair of the Coalition. “Santa Monicans are tired of commercial erdevelopment and ever worsening traffic… If City Hall can’t choose the interests of residents over developers, we need to do it ourselves on the ballot in November.”

A number of other Southern California communities are putting traffic congestion and overdevelopment limits before local voters. Newport Beach, Thousand Oaks, Oxnard and Redondo Beach are either working on traffic-related initiatives or have enacted them in recent years.