March 29, 2024 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

Letter To The Editor: Bergamot Transit “Travesty” – And How We Can Stop It:

Dear Editor,

After the approval of the “Hines Bergamot Transit Village” (BTV) by the City Council a few weeks ago, many residents are still scratching their heads.

Hines did their job: maximize profits for their investors. Four members of the Council, however, failed to do theirs: create a Development Agreement (DA) that insures the project’s completion, compatibility with the City’s fabric and its ability to mitigate the traffic it will generate.

If built as designed, the new Hines Project will have a net area of 765,905 sq., reach over 85’ in height and cover nearly three football fields.

At the meeting where the final approval was given, Council members seemed resigned to the project as the only viable alternative. Why?

In fact, there are many other options, all of them better than a project that will generate an additional 7,000 new car trips daily in our already congested city and strain our precious water resources at a time of drought.

The alternatives range from lower scale projects with less density to the adaptive reuse of the existing Paper Mate structure. An adaptive re-use project could be completed “in one go” and would bear the closest resemblance to the dynamic “Village” atmosphere envisioned by the LUCE. 

To describe the current BTV project as a “Village” is a joke.

If Hines were to complete only the large office structure (33% of the entire project), perhaps Bergamot Transit “Travesty” would be a better name for the Building that will not include ANY housing and will generate the MOST traffic. 

The fact that this building will also be the most profitable could reduce Hine’s incentive to complete the remainder of the project. After they have their office building, the promised housing and Community Benefits might never materialize.  

In a worst-case scenario, the community would be left looking at a large office building adjacent to a vacant lot and/or abandoned Paper Mate building for up to ten years… if no one steps up to complete the project. Are there any penalties or clauses that might prevent this from happening? No.

In fact, Hines has already written into their Agreement with the City that they are under no obligation to build anything further and will suffer no penalties it they decide not to do so.  

As it stands, Hines is getting everything upfront while the residents will be left with massive traffic and no assurances that they will ever get additional housing or community benefits.  

This is NOT a good deal for the residents of Santa Monica… and they are understandably upset by the City’s enthusiasm for a project that will increase the tax base but could forever change the City in the process.

What are the options for those who still oppose this ill-conceived project? 

There is only one — pass a Referendum by signing a petition that would annul the current Agreement or put it to a citywide vote. There are 30 more developers with similar projects in the wings waiting to see if the residents will be successful with this Herculean task.

If we fail the, floodgates could open. If we succeed, we will have regained our voice to shape the City’s future.

We urge all residents to FIND ONE OF THE MANY PETITIONS BEING CIRCULATED and SIGN IT! For more information visit Residocracy.org.

SMa.r.t.  (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow)

Thane Roberts AIA, Architect

Ron Goldman FAIA, Architect

Mario Fonda-Bonardi AIA

Robert H. Taylor AIA

Daniel Jansenson, Architect

Armen Melkonians, Civil and Environmental Engineer

Phil Brock, Recreation & Parks Commission

in Opinion
Related Posts

ARB Courage (Part 1 of 2)

March 24, 2024

March 24, 2024

On March 4, 2024, your ARB (Architectural Review Board) ruled in favor of the 521-unit Gelson’s Project at Ocean Park...

SM.a.r.t Column: Can California ARBs Balance Affordable Housing with Community Character in the Face of New Housing Laws?

March 17, 2024

March 17, 2024

By suggestion, I attended the March 4th ARB (Architectural Review Board) meeting that addressed the Gelson Lincoln Boulevard Project.  After...

S.M.a.r.t Column: On the Need for Safety

March 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Earlier this week, in the dark pre-dawn hours, a pair of thugs covered in masks and hoodies burst into the...

Film Review: The Oscar Landscape 2024

March 7, 2024

March 7, 2024

FILM REVIEWTHE OSCAR LANDSCAPE 2024A Look at the Choices – Academy Awards – March 10, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. on...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Five Saving Historic Santa Monica

March 3, 2024

March 3, 2024

Our beloved City is surrounded by many threats, from sea level rise to homelessness, to housing affordability, to cancerous overdevelopment,...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Gelson’s Looms Large

February 22, 2024

February 22, 2024

Our guest column this week is by SMCLC (the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City). SMCLC is a well-established...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Top Toady Town

February 18, 2024

February 18, 2024

Throughout history, from the ancient Romans and Assyrians to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, siege warfare has served as an...

S.M.a.r.t Column: The Sunset of Home Ownership

February 11, 2024

February 11, 2024

We are watching the sunset of our historical and cultural American dream of home ownership as we now are crossing...

SMa.r.t. Column: B(U)Y RIGHT

February 4, 2024

February 4, 2024

“By Right” state housing laws that give developers, in certain projects, the ability to ignore codes ‘by right.’ Well, that...

S.M.a.r.t  Column: Serf City

January 28, 2024

January 28, 2024

Homelessness is a problem in California, and nowhere is this more evident than in our fair city, where the unhoused...

S.M.a.r.t  Column: Bond Fatigue

January 22, 2024

January 22, 2024

Last week’s SMart article,  described two critical problems faced by our Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD): the declining...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Peace on Earth

December 27, 2023

December 27, 2023

We are all, by now, saturated with jingles, holiday cards, “ho ho ho’s,” countless commercial advertisements, and exhortations to feel...

S.M.a.r.t Column: On the Clock with Mayor Brock

December 17, 2023

December 17, 2023

I became Santa Monica’s Mayor on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, following a simple “switch of the chairs” transition with outgoing...

S.M.a.r.t Column: SANTA MONICA CITY COUNCIL 2024

December 10, 2023

December 10, 2023

Position:Seeking Santa Monica City Council Candidate(s) Introduction:Exciting opportunity for the right candidate(s) to work with like-minded Council members committed to...

S.M.a.r.t Column: ARB (NOT Ready to Build!)

December 3, 2023

December 3, 2023

Santa Monica City’s Architectural Review Board (ARB), established in 1974, acts “…to preserve existing areas of natural beauty, cultural importance...