Answering Back
Responding directly to pleas from Sunkist Park neighbors feeling under siege from the South Sepulveda proposal, the Council declared its intention to sharply shrink the seemingly bloated density standard for residential units.
Offering general guidelines without supplying specific lower numbers, the City Council turned the project over to the professionals.
A Time to Survey
Speaking in wide and vacillating strokes, with community complaints echoing in their 10 ears, the Council members quickly agreed it was time to stop and reconnoiter the Culver City redevelopment landscape.
Noting that they were elected to serve all segments of the community, residents and business owners, along with developers, council members said they were striving for balanced standards.
They want to satisfy the aesthetic desires of neighbors on redevelopment projects while offering sufficient density to appeal to profit-minded developers.
A Driving Force
At the behest of Mayor Alan Corlin, they provided a working sketch for Sol Blumenfeld, the new Community Development Director, and his staff.
While we get our house in order, in the mayors words, he proposed that the several redevelopments currently under way segue into a pause mode.
In fact, Mr. Corlin used the term moratorium. But it was not evident whether there was the will to formally impose one.
Mr. Corlin expects the first proposed numbers to be ready for the five members of the City Council to review before July is out.
Half a Year
By Mr. Blumenfelds estimate, a full complement of revisions for the mixed-use ordinance should be achievable within six months, by the conclusion of the calendar year.
The exact degrees of specificity and flexibility remain unsettled, but that is the task of the professionals to refine.
The present city allowance of 65 housing units per acre is the maximal figure that ignited most of the fury Sunkist neighbors rained on the South Sepulveda project during the last seven months.
Behind the Protests
Residents loudly complained that the combination of 800 proposed condos, strung across the tops of 12 1/2 acres of commercial buildings, from Jefferson to Sawtelle, was not only aesthetically offensive but would obliterate their sky views.
Sunkist Park organizer John Wacker once again turned out his spirited citizens group, The Culver Alliance for Quality of Life.
In the last two weeks, the Alliance has presented 1300 signatures to City Hall, petitioning for relief from what it feels are building standards too generously tilted toward developers.
Applying Pressure
The traveling troopers are attempting to keep the heat on City Hall to dial down first the density and then possibly the height maximum for redevelopment projects.
They can spend the Fourth of July backpatting each other. Alliance members have had a big, doubly successful week.
While applause within the walls of Council Chambers long has been regarded as a breach of etiquette, unrestrained clapping broke out several times as clusters in the large audience felt the will of the people finally was gaining momentum.
Unanimity on Council
What is crucial today is that all members of the City Council appear to be in harmony over what several of them freely referred to as a watershed moment in this edition of the Council.
Councilman Gary Silbiger had a good evening, striking just the right notes several times, to tuneful applause from the crowd.
On a night of purely upbeat rhetoric, he positioned himself to take a panoramic perspective of Culver City.
Being Inclusive
We are at a point now to have a plan for the whole community, he said. We cant look at one development alone.
The crowd concurred, with its hands.
I agree there is no magic number for density, Mr. Silbiger said.
Returning to his trademark populist stance, he said that when this item comes back, the (main) questions will be about public participation and notification, two of his favorite themes for the last five years.
Pursuing Clarity
Once the Community Development staff crafts a new zoning ordinance and the document begins its journey through the system with the Planning Commission, Mr. Silbiger said I would like the Commission to make more specific recommendations than we have now.
Vice Mayor Carol Gross suggested that critics of the present standards may have been guilty of misappropriating their language. Our focus has been on density, she said. But I am not sure that is the issue. They really may mean the size of the project.
Vice Mayors Advice
Since last December, some of the most outspoken critics of South Sepulveda have said they just want to be left alone, Numerous others said they will support the rebuild if it is downsized.
You dont want to take the approach that we dont want to change anything, Ms. Gross said.
By far the most vociferous and most prepared councilman was Scott Malsin.
In the process of establishing a longevity record with a 23-minute presentation that did not escape critiques by colleagues, Mr. Malsin delivered a richly detailed account of his behind-the-scenes work of the last nine months to stem the perceived density crisis.
Not Too Late
If an error was made in stretching the residential unit density allowable to 65 per acre, I believe we have caught it in time, he said.
A visionary, Mr. Malsin said he sees Culver City evolving more like the East Washington part of town.
Moment to Remember
As the City Council ponders numbers-changes community-wide, Mr. Malsin was the first but not the last to say, This is a watershed moment for Culver City.
Mayor Corlin said the theme of the meeting was to send a message to the community that the City Council is committed to change.
The people of Culver City know how I feel about this and how the City Council feels, he said.
Fear of Moratorium
When I raised the possibility of a moratorium on projects, I tried to show that it is not a terrible thing. A moratorium is not apocalyptic.
The big thing right now is for (Mr. Blumenfelds) staff to get their heads around what we are trying to accomplish.
It is time for a re-inspection of our standards, and that is what we are doing.
