March 27, 2013 -- Santa Monica's new zoning ordinance may require developers hoping to build mid-sized developments to pay several new fees for open space, traffic management and childcare.

Next Wednesday, the Planning Commission will look at a proposed update to Santa Monica's zoning ordinance that would also require developers who want to build Tier 2 projects to build more on-site affordable housing.

“To encourage projects in Tier 2, a simple, predictable, and effective community benefits system is needed,” staff said.

Tier 2 projects are defined by their density, measured as a Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The maximum FAR a project can have and still be considered Tier 2 is 2.25. Projects with an FAR under 1.5 are considered Tier.

In August, the Commission discussed implementing a menu system that would allow Tier 2 developers to pick and choose from a menu of community benefits they wanted to include in their projects.

But City officials are no longer recommending the menu system.

“We found that it was really too complicated,” said Deputy Director of Special Projects Jory Phillips, adding that the system also had other drawbacks.

Among those drawbacks was a possible imbalance in the type of community benefits developers opted to provide, a concern raised by then-Planning Commissioner Ted Winterer at the August meeting.

“What happens when we get through this sort of system and we get too much of one kind of community benefit?” Winterer asked at the August discussion.

By requiring the four criteria, City staff hopes to avoid that outcome.

Currently, community benefits are required for Tier 3 projects -- the largest developments allowed by the City zoning codes -- and those benefits are negotiated in a discretionary development agreement (DA), a process that can sometimes take years.

City officials hope that, if implemented, the proposed changes would allow the City to get more public benefits from Tier 2 projects without the DA process.

“We want to avoid negotiation at Tier 2 as best we can,” Phillips said. “If the applicant provides exactly what we're telling them to do in the zoning ordinance, their project should be approvable.”

With the City facing an unprecedented 35 DAs in the pipeline, the idea of looking to smaller projects for more community benefits resonated with planning commissioners in August.

Commissioner Jim Ries liked the idea because he believed that large, Tier 3 developments should be rare and “come with a heavy price tag.”

Santa Monica lost nearly 90 percent of its funding for affordable housing construction and vouchers when, in February last year, Governor Jerry Brown shut down redevelopment agencies (RDAs) throughout the state.

As a result, Santa Monica has been looking increasingly to private developers to build affordable housing.

The new fee system, staff hopes, will help the City get that and other benefits without the large developments.

“The approach may not be as flexible as what was envisioned during the LUCE process or in prior Planning Commission discussions on community benefits,” staff said, “but represents an approach that staff believes will be effective in attracting development to the Tier 2 level, and can be easily implemented.”