 Bergamot: Why You Should Oppose it... Traffic!
When: Tuesday, January 28, 6:30 PM Where: City Hall – Park in the Civic Center Parking Structure on 4th Street at Civic Center Drive, between Pico and Olympic. What: The City Council will be discussing and voting on the development agreement (DA) for the Bergamot Transit Village Center. Also referred to as “the old Papermate site," “the Hines project," the proposed project will consist of at least 5 buildings, will stretch along the north side of Olympic all the way from 26th Street to 28th/Stewart (4 football fields). How much more traffic? With nearly 400,000 sq ft of office space and nearly 500 apartments, the “Village” will generate 7,000 new car trips per day. How to communicate with the City Council before the meeting? Send email to [email protected] and [email protected] or mail comments to: City Clerk, 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Include “City Council 1/28/14 agenda item 7-A” to get your comments into the public record. How to communicate with the City Council at the January 28 meeting: Fill out a speaker card and hand it to a staff member.When the mayor calls your name, you’ll get 2 minutes at the microphone. Two minutes goes quickly, so make your most important points at the beginning, before your time runs out. Remember, this City Council decision will impact Santa Monica residents for many years to come. The Board of Santa Monica Mid City Neighbors strongly opposes the current proposal of the Bergamot Transit Village Center for the following reasons: The project needs to be drastically reduced. It's too tall, it's too dense, there's too much office space, and the project will generate way too much traffic in an area that is already at gridlock. 7,585 new daily car trips are estimated in the EIR. This would result in significant and unavoidable impact at 25 intersections. Caltrans wrote that "the project will have significant impact on the 10 freeway." The LA Department of Transportation wrote that,"The project should remove these impacts through a scaled reduction.” Hines’ own Draft EIR states that the project is in an area that is largely built out, and that nearby intersections operate at or near capacity. A key goal of the LUCE is to "reduce future traffic congestion" and "reduce regional commercial uses." Is this what the LUCE meant by "preserving residential neighborhoods"? We think not. For these reasons, we strongly oppose the current Bergamot Transit Village Center proposal. Only a greatly reduced project with much less office space and less traffic would be acceptable. Take action now if you can, and Thank you for reading and for caring about your community and your city! Sincerely, The Santa Monica Mid City Neighbors Board of Directors
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