ACTION Apartment Association

State Officials Release Earthquake Fault Map for Santa Monica

07/14/2017 7:47 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

July 14, 2017 -- For the first time, the California Geological Survey on Thursday released new draft maps that show the location of earthquake fault lines that run beneath the city of Santa Monica.

The map -- which includes Westside communities along the Santa Monica Fault -- will impact future development, since state law requires that those seeking to build in a fault zone hire a geologist to determine if their property is on the fault line, state officials said.

The final authority will rest with local building officials, who must ensure the buildings are not constructed on the fault line, officials said.

The release of the map comes less than three months after the Santa Monica City Council approved the nation's most extensive retrofitting effort.

and

https://patch.com/california/santamonica/new-map-fault-under-santa-monica-could-spell-trouble-building

Affordable Housing Bill by Santa Monica Lawmaker Clears Hurdle

07/14/2017 7:45 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

July 14, 2017 -- A bill authored by Assembly Member Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) that would channel more money to local governments to finance construction of affordable housing cleared a hurdle Wednesday.

AB 1568 -- which passed out of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee on a 5-to-1 vote -- allows local jurisdictions to use any increase of receipts for local sales and use taxes to finance affordable housing.

If enacted, the “Neighborhood Infill Finance and Transit Improvements Act” would require local governments to use 20 percent of the bounty for housing for extremely low- to moderate-income earners.

Plan for Santa Monica’s Downtown Receives Initial Nod from City Council

07/13/2017 3:06 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

July 13, 2017 -- The Santa Monica City Council Tuesday gave the initial nod to a plan to construct nearly 6,000 multi-family rental units downtown and potentially clear the way for a trio of mixed-use hotel projects as tall as 12 stories.

Fresh from a more than six-hour public hearing the night before, the council tackled the Downtown Community Plan (DCP) in a series of votes Tuesday, although the document does not receive a final vote by the council until July 25.

AND

http://smmirror.com/2017/07/santa-monica-city-council-unanimously-endorses-the-final-draft-downtown-community-plan-including-a-call-for-increased-housing-production/

Two Bills ... Win Key Committee Approval

07/13/2017 3:02 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

July 13, 2017 -- Bills sponsored by Santa Monica Assemblyman Richard Bloom to preserve affordable housing and create a new decal program for zero emission vehicles were approved by a key committee this week.

AB 1521, which passed out of the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee
on a 9-4 vote, requires owners of expiring affordable rental properties to accept market-rate purchase offers from "qualified preservation entities," Bloom's office said in a statement.

The new owner of the property must "intend to maintain" the affordability restrictions for multifamily rental properties of five or more units affordable to lower income households.

Both AB 544 and AB 1521 now head to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Unanimous Council move DCP forward

07/13/2017 6:54 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City Council has given preliminary approval to the Downtown Community Plan with instructions to bring a final version of the document for approval on July 25.

The council made a series of unanimous votes at the end of a six hour meeting to advance the plan with several revisions.

Council kept a trio of opportunity sites earmarked for larger development, maintained ground level commercial use in the downtown area and streamlined housing development up to 75,000 feet.

The DCP will require every housing project to contain between 20-30 percent affordable units on site depending on the overall size. Those requirements increase to 25 – 35 percent if the housing is built offsite.

City of Santa Monica Offers Rebates For Rainwater Storage Tanks

07/13/2017 6:48 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

In an effort to deal with California’s drought, the city has a program that pays residents for using a basin to collect rainwater for later usage.

AND

http://www.water.smgov.net/rebates

Expo Line to Santa Monica Hits Target Ridership 13 Years Ahead of Schedule

07/12/2017 11:23 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

July 11, 2017 -- Thirteen months after opening, the Downtown L.A.-to-Santa Monica Expo line has hit a ridership target it was projected to reach in 13 years, also posting a 40 percent increase in passengers in June that left the rest of the Metro Rail system far behind, according to L.A. Metro.

Estimated average ridership on weekdays jumped from 45,876 passengers in June of 2016 to 64,164 last month, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) said.

What not to do in a disaster

07/12/2017 11:09 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Survival is less about heroic actions than avoiding mindless mistakes.

Surprisingly, plenty of other people in deadly scenarios don’t act fast enough to save their own lives.

“No Section 8″ Policies By Landlords Now Unlawful In Santa Monica

07/12/2017 8:24 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

By 2015, however, in the midst of a deepening affordable housing crisis, many local landlords had adopted blanket discrimination policies against Section 8, even though their rents were at or below the Section 8 payment standard. The impact on low-income residents like Ellie was severe: they were spending time and money applying for such apartments, only to get turned away because of the voucher.

So in May of 2015, the Santa Monica City Council added “source of income” to the City’s list of tenant characteristics (such as disability and family status) that are protected from discrimination. (Race, religion and other classes are already protected by state and federal fair housing laws.) Adding “source of income” to that list now prevents landlords from refusing to rent to a person based on government-sponsored assistance like Section 8. It does not require landlords to reduce rents. The new law recently survived a court challenge.

Final Arguments Start in Bitter Battle Over Downtown Santa Monica's Future

07/11/2017 12:37 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

July 11, 2017 -- Rivals in the long, bitter battle over downtown Santa Monica's future began final arguments Monday, split by a call for a central public park and recommendations for more hotels, businesses and, especially, more housing.

More than 150 people asked to speak at the special hearing on the Downtown Community Plan (DCP), and the showdown was expected to lapse into the City Council’s meeting tonight. A final council vote is scheduled for July 25.