SANTA MONICA- Santa Monica City Council approved two Interim Zoning Ordinances on Tuesday, May 12 to facilitate smoother reopening procedures as part of the City’s financial recovery from the impacts of the health emergency. The Zoning Ordinances will reduce regulatory barriers to provide immediate relief and define new rules for local businesses as they make plans to re-open when it’s safe to do so.  

Staff have identified issues that new small businesses often confront when choosing to open in Santa Monica including land use regulations, alcohol service requirements, and parking and commercial loading standards. The Zoning changes to The Third Street Promenade seek to create more opportunities for nightlife, entertainment, and flexibility to experiment with different uses. 

Zoning area changes include:

  • Eliminating one year rule for abandonment of legal non-conforming use for retail and restaurant uses: 

Previously, when a tenant space sat vacant for more than one year, the use of their lot was considered abandoned. A new application would be required for the proposed use thereafter even for the same use. Due to the scale of the economic impacts associated with COVID-19, it has been projected that businesses will need longer than one year time frame to allocate financial resources. 

  • Requirements to provide additional parking and new loading spaces 

An increase in parking space will allow for better financial calculations to be made for as parking has been identified as a potential barrier in establishing a new business. City wide, businesses will:

  • Go from receiving 3 parking spaces to 10 spaces
  • Outdoor dining areas will be eliminated from parking calculations 
  • “Physical Training” in gyms will be reconsidered to improve the capacity of training students in each studio or gym class, lowering the parking requirements for gyms to match that of other commercial uses
  • Require a parking and loading operations plan in lieu of an on-site loading space where a change of use of up to 5,000 square feet is proposed
  • Reduce restrictions on restaurant size  

Certain commercial Zoning districts required a discretionary permit for restaurants above 2,500 sf, which posed a barrier to both new restaurants opening into large tenant spaces and existing restaurants that may be considering expansion into vacant adjacent tenant spaces. The adopted interim Zoning Ordinance proposed the following changes to reduce the burden that restaurant operators will face when reopening in Santa Monica: 

  • Restaurants will allow up to 5,000 sf in commercial space 
  • Remove the cap on the number of restaurants per block on Main Street 
  • Add multi-tenant Food Halls as conditionally permitted uses
  • Remove restriction on converting eating and drinking establishments to another use on the ground floor. 

Relaxed alcohol service regulations 

The modified Alcohol Exemption conditions aim to alleviate the need for a Conditional Use Permit when a restaurant proposes to serve alcohol concurrent with its primary food service. The previous conditions of approval proved to be financially burdensome for restaurant operators when all 26 conditions were not met. The new conditions seek to provide more flexibility in operations for restaurants (not bars, nightclubs or lounges) citywide, while allowing more flexibility for operations in the Third Street Promenade area. Changes include: 

  • Expanded alcohol service hours from 8 AM to 12 AM, seven days a week
  • Eliminate the cap on alcohol sales of 35% of gross revenue 
  • Continue to allow for delivery and take-out of alcohol if the operator holds a valid ABC license
  • Eliminate the opportunity to appeal AE determinations of over 50 seats.  
  • Remove restrictions on television screens and video or other amusement games. 
  • Eliminate the opportunity to appeal AE determinations. 

The work towards economic recovery is being conducted by the City’s Economic Recovery Task Force, comprised of a team of City staff across relevant departments. The plan will include business recovery and insolvency. This City team is primarily focused on:

  • Business Reopening & Retention 
  • Business Permitting 
  • Community Economic Development 
  • Communications and Marketing 
  • Allocating Federal, State, and County Resources 

There will be several opportunities for resident and community involvement, including town hall sessions and other virtual meetings to generate and vet ideas, along with community surveys and interactive tools on a forthcoming Economic Recovery website.