By Jorge Casuso
September 29, 2026 – The City Council last week voted to give final approval to an ordinance that allows tall high-end multi-family projects to replace 89 of Santa Monica's most affordable single-family homes.
The 4 to 2 vote last Tuesday was a major blow to residents who live in modest houses in the Pico Neighborhood's Gandara Park area, which for years has offered local residents the rare promise of owning or renting a single family home in an increasingly upscale city.
The Council majority tried to cushion the blow by adding an amendment directing staff to explore ways to spare some of the homes, but cautioned the residents who had been fighting the ordinance not to build up their hopes, since any proposal was unlikely to receive State approval.
In casting the final vote, the pro-housing Councilmembers addressed the neighborhood push-back against the development unleashed on the small mostly working class neighborhood by SB 79.
The state law the Council supported with a 6 to 1 vote early last year allows multi-family developments of up to five stories within half a mile of the city's seven major transit zones ("Council Poised to Give Final Approval to Controversial Housing Ordinance," September 21, 2026).
"I would just say I really feel just personally horrible. And I know that that doesn't solve any problems," said Mayor Caroline Torosis, who proposed the amendment. "We have people who are deeply, deeply afraid for their neighborhood, for what they've established in their community, and I completely get that."
In order to temporarily halt development in the zone around the Expo Bundy rail station -- the city's only area that lacked the necessary housing density to qualify for an exemption from SB 79 -- the Council had to choose between allowing the taller development to take place in Gandara Park's single-family neighborhood or on 66 parcels zoned multi-unit residential.
"We are not trying to destroy neighborhoods. At the same time, to me, there's a difference" between homeowners and "vulnerable renters," Torosis said. "If you are a homeowner who owns your home, you are going to be compensated for that home. And I know that that doesn't make the situation better. The whole situation is crappy."
Before the Council approved the ordinance on first reading on September 8, City staff, which had been criticized for failing to provide reliable data on who would be most impacted under the proposed options, noted that "there would be no or low displacement risk for all 66 parcels" zoned for multi-family housing.
One of the two opposing votes was cast by Councilmember Lana Negrete, the lone dissenting vote when the newly seated Council super-majority voted to make Santa Monica only one of five California cities to support a State bill opposed by 131 other cities.
"We have to look at things just beyond a map, and we're not looking at the historical harms in the way that we should be," Negrete said. "And I still think there was a lot more information and work that could have been done and now we're here."
Residents of Gandara Park viewed the Council's choice as yet another example of historically treating the Pico Neighborhood "as this city's dumping ground for uses no one else wanted," said an open letter to the Council from the Pico Neighborhood Association (PNA) Board ("OPINION: Stop Sacrificing the Pico Neighborhood," September 18, 2026).
The Council's approval of the ordinance on first reading two weeks earlier had opened the door for two proposed developments, including a 12-story condo building with 32 units that combined the State's Density Bonus Law with SB 79 to tower 138 feet above the surrounding one-story homes.
Councilmember Dan Hall advised residents not to expect the development to stop.
"I don't want people who are against what is happening tonight to get their hopes up that something might change in the future, because it seems pretty clear from all the evidence that we've gotten thus far" that "that will not be the case," Hall said.
Councilmember Natalya Zernitskaya joined Negrete in casting the other opposing vote, while Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Zwick, who heads a non-profit housing advocacy group, recused himself due to the conflict of interest.
"I feel like it gives folks false hope that we're going to be able to reduce the number of parcels impacted," Zernitskaya said. "I would prefer for staff to use their time on more pressing matters."