RESIDENTS WILL SEE PROJECT WEDNESDAY

All residents who care about the future of this extraordinary beach town should attend a crucial   meeting on Wednesday, December 8, at 7 p.m. at Virginia Avenue Park (parking entrance off Pico at 23rd, and off Virginia Avenue, a block north of Pico) to review the  proposed Bergamot Transit Village Center, a proposed mixed use project on the former Papermate factory site)on Olympic Blvd. between 26th & 28th/Stewart Streets.

The proposed project would replace the existing 200,000 sq ft  Papermate building, which was  shut down some years ago, with several buildings totaling nearly one million square feet. Building heights would range up to eight stories or 86 feet. The proposal also includes nearly 2,000 parking spaces.

Traffic on Olympic, Cloverfield, 26th, 28th/Stewart, 10 freeway entrances and exits, as well as other streets in the area, which is already beyond capacity will approach gridlock.

In June 2009, the Santa Monica Planning Department wrote a comment on the Draft EIR for the proposed Bundy Village and Medical Park, a 1.3 million sq ft project at Bundy and Olympic, that was estimated to generate 20,000 additional daily car trips. Our Planning staff stated that 15 intersections in Santa Monica would be significantly impacted by the Bundy project, including: Ocean Park Blvd. at Centinela, and 23rd; Pico Blvd. at Centinela, Cloverfield, 23rd, and Lincoln; and various 10 freeway on-and off-ramps.

If a project at Olympic and Bundy in West L.A. would impact traffic in Santa Monica neighborhoods  that drastically, imagine what traffic chaos a similarly sized project in Santa Monica, at Olympic and 26th, would cause. But the City opposes the West L.A. project and supports the Santa Monica project.

In our anything but humble opinion, this is not a project Santa Monica needs or should want, but a
Texas developer has proposed and the City has tentatively accepted and the proposal has reached the
EIR stage — with minimal public review. The developer will make money for itself, and trouble
for us — more traffic in an area that already suffers from an advanced case of congestion, “mixed use”
taken to the lunatic level, out-of-scale, out-of-synch buildings, more public “benefits” that

do not benefit the public, a new street, less open space than there is now, and so on. Please attend

the meeting and speak up.
Hines, which currently owns the Lantana complex across Olympic Boulevard from its
proposed  new project, is “looking at creating a complete neighborhood in this area with the potential to actually live and work in the same area and also have access to services,” according to a City official quoted by Surf Santa Monica.
We don’t want Hines or any other developer “creating a complete neighborhood” in our town –especially a neighborhood that will wreak havoc with our own actual neighborhoods.
What we not only want but need are planners and Council members who don’t “buy” every
commercial project they’re offered — as long as there’s money in it for City Hall.

Comments made at the meeting and written comments on the scope and content of environmental information will be included in the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) must be submitted by December 15th and can be emailed to jing.yeo@smgov.net in the Planning Department. (see below).

NOTICE OF PREPARATION OF A DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR THE BERGAMOT TRANSIT VILLAGE CENTER PROJECT
(FORMER PAPERMATE SITE)
LEAD AGENCY: City of Santa Monica, 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401.
Contact: Jing Yeo, AICP, Special Projects Manager. Telephone: 310-458-8341.

The City of Santa Monica intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Report
for the Bergamot Transit Village Center Project.  The proposed project is for a transit-oriented, mixed-use village comprised of creative arts, residential and retail uses as well as public open space
amenities on a site currently developed with 206,000 square feet of vacant
industrial uses…The project site is located on the north side of Olympic Boulevard between 26th Street and Stewart Street…
Environmental factors which would be potentially affected by the project are: Aesthetics; Air Quality; Biological Resources; Climate Change; Construction Effects; Cultural Resources; Geology and Soils;
Hazards and Hazardous Materials; Hydrology and Water Quality; Land Use/Planning; Neighborhood Effects, Noise, Population and Housing; Public Services; Recreation; Shadows; Transportation and Traffic; and Mandatory Findings of Significance.
PROJECT APPLICANT: Hines 26th Street, LLC.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The proposed project is for a transit-oriented, mixed-use village comprised of creative arts, residential and retail uses, as well as public open space amenities. The approximately 7.1-acre project site (310,504 square feet) is a flat, irregularly shaped parcel, consisting of two legal lots bound by Olympic Boulevard to the south, 26th Street to the west, commercial office uses to north, and Stewart Street to the east. The proposed project site is located across Olympic Boulevard from the existing Bergamot Staton, renowned art gallery complex, and the future Expo Light-Rail station.
Implementation of the proposed project (Scenario 1) will require the demolition of the existing approximately 206,000 square feet of vacant industrial uses at the project site, removal of all parking areas, and removal of the limited on-site vegetation.

The demolished structures would be replaced by approximately 957,521 square feet of building area within five new buildings.
Buildings 1 through 5 would be oriented side-by-side from west to east along Olympic Boulevard,  ). Under the proposed project, a maximum of approximately 566,573 square feet of creative arts uses would be located exclusively in Buildings 1,2, and 3 on the western portion of the project site,
and a maximum of 344 residential dwelling units would be located exclusively  in Buildings 4 and 5 on the eastern portion of the project site.

Retail uses would be located on the ground floor of each of the proposed buildings, not exceeding approximately 83,712 square feet.

Buildings range in height from 55 feet to a maximum of up to 86 feet. While the proposed buildings currently programmed for the site are anticipated to be an average of six stories high, the shadows and aesthetics analysis will study a worst-case scenario height of 86 feet with a maximum of seven stories for the creative arts buildings and eightstories for the residential buildings.
Proposed vehicular access to the project site will be primarily from Olympic Boulevard with additional access points on both 26th Street and Stewart Street. As part of the proposed project, a 60-foot-wide north/south vehicular street would be constructed which would bisect the project, connecting Olympic Boulevard to the street at the back of the site. Emergency access, as well as refuse, recycling, and deliveries to the project site will be from this alleyway, accessible from both 26th and Stewart Streets, to be constructed along the northern edge of  the project site. Pedestrian access to the project site will e available from four north/south walkable plazas, a 15-foot-wide sidewalk that will circumvent the project site, except alon the north side of the project site, as well as one east/west pedestrian pathway.

Parking for the proposed project would be provided within up to three levels of subterranean park-
ing, including approximately 1,961 parking spaces. The subterranean parking would be accessible via multiples ramps from Olympic Boulevard, 26th Street, Stewart Street, the proposed north/south street, and the proposed, northern alley. Of the 1,961 parking spaces proposed, 36 spaces would be handicap and van accessible. Additionally, 104 bike parking spaces would be provided.

The proposed project includes approximately 179,513 square feet of open space. Open space amenities include two parks, four walkable plazas, a playground, and a kid’s room. Open space areas would be landscaped with a variety of  trees, shrubs, and grasses. The perimeter of the site along 26th Street,
Olympic Boulevard and Stewart Street would be lined with trees and a new sidewalk. The proposed north/south roadway would also be landscaped with trees and shrubs. The proposed open space areas and landscaping is intended to enhance the pedestrian environment in the area, in anticipation of the
future Expo Light-Rail station to be located on the south side of Olympic Boulevard.

The proposed project will be constructed in up to five phases (each phase consisting of the construction of one or more buildings and all or any portion of the garage) over a period of not longer than twenty
years.

An alternate development scenario (Scenario 2) will also be analyzed in the EIR and would include more residential uses and reduce overall building square footage by changing Building 3 from creative arts to residential. In this alternate scenario, Building 3 would include 144 dwelling units, compared to the proposed 145,654 square feet of creative arts uses. The proposed square footage and uses within all other buildings would remain the same as the pro- posed project. Overall, the alternate scenario would include a total of 946,476 square feet of building area, consisting of 420,919 square feet of creative arts uses, 488 residential welling units, and 83,766 square feet of retail uses.