Santa Monica Daily Press

The council passed the IZO to try to keep Santa Monica’s smaller, more affordable homes from being replaced with mansions. Permanent modifications to the city’s development standards are likely to reflect that purpose, said Commissioner Shawn Landres. “We want to encourage remodeling rather than rebuilding homes, although we recognize there are situations where a rebuild […]

“It is clear with this type of approach there are opportunities to both amplify both the inclusion and the effectiveness and the street life that the Promenade represents,” said Commissioner Shawn Landres at the meeting.

Commissioner Shawn Landres said he favors restricting micro-apartments to permanent residents but feels that banning them entirely would not help alleviate the housing crisis. Tiny apartments might be the only market-rate housing in Santa Monica affordable to many people, he said. “I’m not interested in taking options off the table for people,” he said. “I

“To lose this type (of housing) would be a great concern to me,” said Commissioner Shawn Landres. “There are clearly folks experimenting with market rate housing types that are considerably cheaper” than other options. Landres added a friendly amendment to Lambert’s motion requiring that the units be rented for at least a year to ensure

Three of [the City of] L.A.’s top civic leaders—the mayor, controller and city attorney—identify as Jewish, but it’s often unclear how Jewish values can inform local policies and approaches, said Shawn Landres…. Landres is chair of the L.A. County Quality & Productivity Commission, which oversees the nation’s oldest and largest local government innovation fund and

Commissioner Shawn Landres said the project needs to plan around school buses as well, because the Rainbow Garden may eventually host schools that can’t walk, carpool or use city buses. …Every commissioner praised the project as a generous gift to the community before voting to grant it a CUP. Only Landres abstained from the final

Shawn Landres, a member of the Planning Commision speaking as a resident, urged for this kind of housing to be classified as a commercial usage. “We really need more tools like [definitions of] domicile [and] permanent residency [in the zoning code],” Landres said, “and we also need some clarity from council around how we can

“Adversarial processes aren’t necessarily unhealthy and this has led to a better project, even if it doesn’t completely fit what either party would like,” said Commissioner Shawn Landres. “It was (residents’) pushback that made this a better project, and I want to commend [the] applicant for being as responsive as you have been.”

I posted about how much I loved the movie “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” (on Netflix), and Santa Monica civic leader Shawn Landres asked whether I knew that the film’s producer Paula Mazur is a local. I didn’t, but he connected us and I’m delighted that he did.