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With all the development happening around the Southland, it often feels impossible to keep track of what's coming and going. The city of Santa Monica, however, wants to keep its residents in the loop as it prepares to draft its "Downtown Community Plan," which will lay the groundwork for what developers can and can't do for the next two decades.
As part of this effort, the city has unveiled two interactive maps on its community plan webpage. On one map, there is a 3-D rendering of what downtown Santa Monica should look like in 2030, as expected in the community plan. The yellow-colored structures signify a new development.
The second map provides a bird-eye view of what will (and probably will not) stay the same in the upcoming 20 years. This map is color coordinated, with the colors corresponding to the nature and purpose of the current structure, and thus the likelihood that they'll be redeveloped. Blue-colored areas are "not considered to have buildout potential" (meaning they're the likeliest to stay the same). Green areas are "considered to have unlikely potential for change." Yellow areas, however, "have potential for change."
There are different gradients for the colors too, and they each represent something different. For instance, navy blue corresponds with properties containing landmarks; these areas are also unlikely to change, as the new community plan is expected to "maintain and nurture Downtown's character and sense of the past" with the use of "landmark designation" and "context sensitive infill."
As noted by Santa Monica Next, it's not often that we see city officials go through this kind of legwork to relay this type of information to its residents (and in such a digestible way). The maps were made possible by synthesizing a lot of the information that had been gathered to draft the community plan. This information was culled from a number of methods, from field surveys to county assessor data, said Santa Monica Planning Manager Jing Yeo.
There will be a public discussion and workshop about the community plan on Saturday. It will take place at the Santa Monica Bay Women's Club from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A final draft of the community plan is expected to be presented to the City Council early next year for approval.
