Plight of Developers
What, if any, words of comfort should City Hall utter to hamstrung developers during the necessarily months-long process of downsizing the number of residential units and the height of their projects?
Is it morally fair to developers to rearrange the rules in mid-stream that is, long after developers, in good faith, have submitted their outlines to the city?
On his way into a meeting this morning at City Hall, Mayor Corlin, freshly returned from a trip East, told the newspaper:
Mayors Meaning?
Our first responsibility is to the people of this town. Everyone else is secondary.
If the words are strong, their target is unclear.
Mr. Corlin declined to provide a definition or interpretation of his perspective.
Reading the Mayor
Did the Mayor mean that when neighbors stomp their feet loudly enough as they did in at least slowing down the redevelopments of South Sepulveda Boulevard and 9900 Culver Blvd. change should be reconsidered?
Was the message to developers a version of tough toenails, that they need to be flexible about the dimensions of their projects because extreme dissatisfaction of residents is a higher priority?
Who to the Left? Who to Right?
The revolving-door question on item A-1 on the agenda is:
Fifteen mixed-use projects are at various stages of development across Culver City. In which cases should the developers be held to the new standards scheduled to be voted on Oct. 8 and in which cases should the old guidelines apply?
What kind of litmus test will be employed to distinguish between the two sides?
Rose and Corlin Diverge?
City Councilman Steve Rose, voting for standards and for consistency, said this morning:
Government should be of laws, not of men.
You dont change the law each time a different person shows up.
Mr. Roses assertion appears diametrically opposed to Mr. Corlins.
I am not saying there should not be revisions in the Mixed-Use Ordinance, said Mr. Rose. But at a point, a line should be drawn when people have, in good faith, submitted their plans to City Hall.
Haunted by Their Choices?
Speaking as the lone Republican on the City Council, Mr. Rose said that choices voters make on Election Day may now be haunting residents.
Here is where the complexity of this issue comes in, he said. Residents vote for politicians with liberal views. But when the viewpoints of those politicians affect the city, or their neighborhood, residents say no.
The Council also will have the option of placing a moratorium on developments, but it is believed that is unlikely.
Handful of Choices
Five potential solutions will be arrayed in front of the City Council:
1. Allow all mixed-use developments in the development process to proceed.
2. Allow only mixed-use development projects that are subject to a Specific Plan to proceed.
3. Allow only mixed-use development projects that are subject to a purchase-and-sale agreement (by the Redevelopment Agency) or are Agency-sponsored to proceed.
4. Allow only mixed-use development projects considered by the Planning Commission or subject to administrative review and those submitted for preliminary project review and approved under these processes, but not built, to proceed.
5. To order a moratorium ordinance for mixed-use development.
