By Ann K. Williams
Lookout Staff

June 14, 2011 – The City Council may be up until the wee hours Tuesday night as it negotiates an agenda chock full of items put off last month when council members studied Santa Monica's upcoming two-year budget.

As always, the Council will start off the evening in closed session, this time giving the City Clerk her annual job evaluation and reviewing a ruling against the city in its case against Expedia, Travelocity and other internet travel services in an attempt to get them to pay the city hotel room occupancy taxes.

Then a whopping list of 32 consent items – ranging from Big Blue Bus expenses to Palisades Garden Walk and Town Square site demolition to a nearly $12 million parking operations contract – will be up for a vote, before the Council gets down to the rest of its business.

After that, development is the order of the evening, as Council members review the Bergamot Area Plan, Yahoo Center parking, the Palisades Garden Walk and Town Square parks and other Civic Center development, and rules governing the construction of affordable housing.

Thanks to a federal Housing and Urban Development grant, city planners have been able to coordinate traffic, housing and other development around the future Bergamot Expo Line Station. ("Santa Monica’s Love/Hate Relationship with Bergamot Plan," February 22) Staff have compiled their work to date, including public input from a meeting last February, and now want the Council to weigh in.

Although the Planning Commission told the Yahoo Center last month that it was going to have to do more to reduce commuter traffic to its business park, city staff still recommends the Council allow the center to set aside fewer parking spaces to its employees. ("Planning Commission Wants Stricter Rules for Yahoo! Center Parking Leases," May 23) If the Council gives its go-ahead, Yahoo Center will be able to lease out more than 1,000 spaces to neighboring businesses, most notably St. John's Health Center.

Also fresh from the Planning Commission, designs for two parks proposed for the Civic Center will be presented to the Council. ("Planning Commissioners Unhappy with Changes to Town Square Project," June 10) The Palisades Garden Walk was received with enthusiasm at Wednesday's commission meeting, but plans for the Town Square Park met with a thornier reception.

Several other Civic Center items, including an increase in the size of a proposed early childhood education center and an agreement with the RAND Corporation necessary to provide for parking and pedestrian access to The Village private development will be up for Council review. A bond to fund 160 affordable housing units for The Village is also on the agenda. ("Plans for The Village Become Clearer as City Submits Developer's Drawings for Review," June 6 )

Staff also proposes a rule change requiring that off-site affordable housing be constructed concurrently with market rate housing so that the city isn't left in the lurch by developers who default before honoring their commitments.

Topping off the agenda are two requests by Council member Shriver, one to bring Chief of Police Timothy Jackman before the council to respond to the Office of Independent Review's conclusions about the police department's investigation of School Board Member Oscar de la Torre, ("Memo on Santa Monica Police Reforms Published," May 16) and another, brought with Council member Terry O'Day, to file an amicus curiae brief in support of litigation against the Veterans Administration requiring it house homeless disabled veterans ("Lawsuit Filed Against Local VA for Failure to House Homeless Vets," June 10).

And Gwynne Pugh's seat on the Planning Commission is ready to be filled, although the reasons that led to his resignation are still unclear. ("Pugh Leaves Planning Commission," May 20)

The Council will meet Tuesday, June 14 in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1685 Main Street. The public portion of the meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m.