1 City Council Meeting: September 9, 2025 Santa Monica, California
RESOLUTION NUMBER (CCS)
(City Council Series)
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
DIRECTING THE PLANNING COMMISSION TO INITIATE AN AMENDMENT TO THE
TEXT OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE TO UPDATE APPLICABILITY THRESHOLDS
AND STANDARDS FOR RESOURCE AND RECYCLING ROOM DIMENSIONS IN
ORDER TO FURTHER ECONOMIC RECOVERY EFFORTS BY FACILITATING A
SELF-CERTIFICATION BUILDING PERMIT PROGRAM
WHEREAS, on March 13, 2020, the City Manager, as the Director of Emergency Services (“Director of Emergency Services”), proclaimed the existence of a local emergency pursuant to Chapter 2.16 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code to ensure the availability of mutual aid and effectuate the City’s response to the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”), and this local emergency was restated on March 14, 2020, through a revised declaration of local emergency to ensure compliance with all digital signature requirements (the “Executive Order”)’ and
WHEREAS, on March 16, 2020, the Director of Emergency Services issued a Third Supplement to the Executive Order, requiring the closure of a wide range of businesses including bars, nightclubs, on-premises restaurant service, movie theatres, live performance venues, gyms, fitness centers, spas, hair salons, nail salons, and massage parlors; and
WHEREAS, on March 19, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-33-20 directing all residents of the State of California to heed directives issued by the State Health Officer on the same date instructing all Californians to stay 2 home except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of the federal critical infrastructure sectors; and
WHEREAS, on March 19, 2020, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued an enhanced Health Officer Order, the Safer at Home Order for Control of COVID-19, amending and superseding its earlier March 16, 2020 Order, closing all nonessential businesses, and limiting gatherings to 9 people or less; and WHERAS, after March 19, 2020, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, on multiple occasions, amended and modified its Health Officer Order, recognizing the issues posed by community transmission of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, and, in response, maintaining public health measures that have, at differing times, included strict limitations on public gatherings, required closures of certain businesses, and strict limitations and protocols for the operations of businesses permitted to remain open; and WHEREAS, as of March 31, 2023, the local, state, and federal COVID-19 emergency declarations have concluded; and
WHEREAS, although the emergency orders have been lifted, the economic impacts of the COVID-19 closures of, and limitations on, businesses have been and continue to be devastating to the local Santa Monica economy, and various locations are continuing to experience economic uncertainty; and
WHEREAS, as the commercial and economic landscape evolves, the City’s economic recovery and competitive advantage will depend on its ability to deliver on a diverse range of business uses; and
3 WHEREAS, the City has an important governmental interest in maintaining a thriving business community and protecting the health, safety, and economic welfare of its citizens and businesses; and
WHEREAS, in connection with the City’s economic recovery efforts, on February 11, 2025, City Council directed staff to create a self-certification pilot program allowing building permits for “non-structural commercial tenant improvements, single-family home improvements, and accessory dwelling units” to bypass the normal plan review process and receive approval within one to five business days; and WHEREAS, the purpose of this direction is to facilitate the City’s economic recovery and reduce the workload on plan check professionals, allowing staff to focus on the more complex projects in the City that require their attention; and WHEREAS, the self-certification program will fully remove plan check review for certain identified project times and shift the responsibility for determining compliance with all codes to a pre-qualified licensed architect, who would certify that projects comply with requirements of the Building Code, Fire Code, Zoning Ordinance, and Public Works, including Resources, Recovery, and Recycling (RRR), Office of Sustainability and Environment, ad Water Resources; and
WHEREAS, streamlining the review process for certain projects will facilitate business recovery and generate increased sales tax revenue for the City; and WHEREAS, the initial stages of the Self-Certification Program will focus on commercial tenant improvements, which comprise approximately 36% of the building permits submitted to the City; and
4 WHEREAS, Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 9.21.130 provides Resource Recovery and Recycling (RRR) Standards in connection with General Site Regulations; and
WHEREAS, the proposed amendments to the RRR standards simplify the thresholds for when trash enclosure updates and review are required and otherwise revise implementation of resources and recycling room dimensions; and WHEREAS, one of the current applicability thresholds is based on outdated permit valuation standards and cumulative alterations made over the course of a twelve-month period; and
WHEREAS, these thresholds have consistently presented constraints to new businesses and amendments to these requirements are required to facilitate an effective Self-Certification Program and allow for additional economic recovery; and WHEREAS, the amendments will also address long-standing issues that will benefit all permittees, facilitate the City’s economic recovery, streamline the building permit process for a variety of projects, and provide more transparency with respect to permit requirements; and
WHEREAS, the amendment will also eliminate the standard pertaining to “Large Residential, Nonresidential and Mixed-Use Development” that gives discretionary approval to the Director of Public Works to determine trash room dimensions, as this is not an objective standard or process; and
WHEREAS, removing this language provides greater transparency and objectivity to trash enclosure standards; and
5 WHEREAS, additional amendments may be required to SMMC Section 9.21.130 in order to wholistically update other RRR standards and processes and to facilitate the City’s economic recovery, streamline the building permit process for a variety of projects, and provide more transparency with respect to permit requirements; and WHEREAS, City Council now wishes to direct the Planning Commission to initiate an amendment to the text of the City’s Zoning Ordinance related to RRR Standards.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Pursuant to Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 9.46.030(A), the City Council does hereby direct the Planning Commission to consider amending the text of the Zoning Ordinance to: (1) simplify the thresholds for when trash enclosure updates and review are required and revise implementation of resources and recycling room dimensions; (2) remove standards pertaining to “Large Residential, Nonresidential and Mixed-Use Development” that gives discretionary approval to the Director of Public Works to determine trash room dimensions; and (3) make other necessary updates to facilitate the City’s economic recovery, streamline the building permit process for a variety of projects, and provide more transparency with respect to permit requirements.
SECTION 2. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Resolution, and thenceforth and thereafter the same shall be in full force and effect.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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HEIDI VON TONGLEN, Interim City Attorney