Council Appoints Two Slow Growth Advocates to Planning Commission; Move Expected to Shift the Balance of Power

By Jorge Casuso

In an early morning decision that could rein in development for years to come, the City Council on Wednesday named two slow-growth affordable-housing activists to the city's powerful Planning Commission.

Longtime Ocean Park activists Geraldine Moyle, a member of the board of the affordable housing provider Community Corporation of Santa Monica, and former Rent Control Board member Julie Lopez Dad will replace Commissioners Mathew Kanny and Eric Parlee, whose terms expire June 30. Kanny said he is considering a bid for one of the four open council seats in November.

The appointments are expected to shift the balance of power on the board, which decides the fate of proposed developments and is viewed by the slow-growth council majority as putting the interests of developers before those of residents.

"This is strategically important because if big hotel and business money is successful in changing the council, this will leave a long-lasting presence of the slow-growth movement long beyond the November election," said Councilman Michael Feinstein.

"They are long-time members of the slow-growth movement in this community and will be very thoughtful when judging proposed development," Feinstein said.

"The Planning Commission's job should be not deciding how to get a project built, but deciding whether a project should be built," said Councilman Kevin McKeown, the council liaison to the Planning Commission. "We had a planning commission that was appointed during a recession. Now the challenges facing the city are different."

Moyle and Dad said they will bring a resident's perspective to the board, as well as expertise in the planning and zoning issues that both have tackled as members of the boards of Ocean Park Community Organization (OPCO) as well as Community Corporation.

"I think it will be much more from the point of view of residents," said Dad, an operations manager who has lived in Santa Monica for 26 years. "I see it as being more balanced because the basic concerns should be for the people who live here and vote here and give our money to the city. I think we'll put an interesting stamp on the city for the next four years."

"Neighborhood issues and resident interests are going to get attention," said Moyle, a UCLA teacher who has lived in the city for 27 years. "The slow growth sentiment was in the grassroots and it's what people voted for.... I anticipate a great deal of synchronization between the commission and the council."

One of the key issues both of the new members want to address is the liberal issuance of Conditional Use Permits that allow projects to be built that to not comply with development standards.

"CUPs are given out like candy on Halloween," said Moyle.

"We're not obligated in any way to say yes by right," Dad said. "There'll be no rubber stamping."

Affordable housing activists applauded the appointments. Joan Ling, executive director of Community Corporation, which builds, rehabs and manages affordable housing in the city, called Moyle, who has served on the group's board for 10 years, a "dye in the wool affordable housing supporter.

"She's just great to work with," Ling said. "She's positive, she's thoughtful and she's very funny. We get a lot done, and she's very effective picking through housing issues and land use issues and in willing to make hard decisions. I think she'll do really well."

Former Mayor Judy Abdo called the new appointees "strong leaders" with a commitment to affordable housing.

"I've worked with both of them since the early eighties," said Abdo, who headed OPCO when both Dad and Moyle were on the group's board. "They both bring strong support for housing, especially affordable housing.

"They are very intelligent and they have both been activists for many years in Ocean Park," Abdo said. "I think they're both going to be very supportive of the need for the community to have a place for diversity in its residents."

The appointments of Moyle and Dad give women three seats on a seven-member commission long dominated by men. The appointments also leave Ken Breisch, who announced his resignation last month, and John Zinner as the only members who have served more than one year on the commission.

Zinner said he was disappointed than Kanny was not re-appointed to the commission.

"I think he is a very able and dedicated commissioner," said Zinner, who finishes his second four-year term next year. "I will reserve judgement on the other commissioners, but I am the only one left with any experience. We'll see what happens."

The appointments come shortly before RAND is scheduled to come before the board with plans for a new headquarters that is considered one of the key new developments in the city. Moyle and Dad have both served on the OPCO board, whose turf is just south of the proposed RAND site.

"RAND is going to probably be a complex issue," said Dad, who said she has not taken a position on the proposed five-story building. "Yes, it has been scrutinized, and no, it's not going to be okay just because it's RAND."

Moyle called the RAND proposal "an enormously significant moment in the city's history. She added, "I'm looking forward to it. It's wonderful to be asked to do this."

"We're going into the Civic Center, the keystone of our downtown policy," McKeown said. "I'm thrilled to have two new commissioners with such deep background in Civic Center issues and such sensitivity to neighborhood and resident concerns."