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FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2013
Volume 12 Issue 203
Santa Monica Daily Press
BEV THE GREAT SEE PAGE 4
We have you covered
THE CRYSTAL BALL ISSUE
Lawmakers pass transgender-rights bill for schools DON THOMPSON Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. California lawmakers approved a bill Wednesday that would require public K-12 schools to let transgender students choose which restrooms they use and which school teams they join based on their gender identity instead of their chromosomes. Some school districts around the country have implemented similar policies, but the bill’s author says AB1266 would mark the first time a state has mandated such treatment by statute. Existing state law already prohibits SEE BILL PAGE 6
Daniel Archuleta daniela@smdp.com
UP: The Downtown Santa Monica skyline is in for changes once a new plan to guide development in the area is adopted by the City Council.
Opportunity for who? Daily Press Staff Writer
CITY HALL A proposal to study the environmental impacts of Downtown development will only look at building heights 135 feet and below, a ceiling that could spell trouble for those with hotel proposals that far exceed that limit. If approved by the City Council Tuesday, planners would look at relatively small changes to most of Downtown as part of a review required by the California Environmental Quality Act. Most of the changes would be concentrated in eight “opportunity sites,” locations sprinkled through Downtown that city officials have identified as places for more intense development in exchange for rich
community benefits. However, while proposals for three of those sites — the Fairmont Miramar, Wyndham and Ocean Avenue Project hotels — range from a low of 195 feet to a high of 320 feet, the proposed study would only look at heights up to 135 feet, a limit that would require all three of the proposed hotel sites to get amendments to the specific plan if adopted. That means expensive environmental work for the applicants that would otherwise have been avoided and an uncertain plan amendment process that would involve review from the Planning Commission and City Council. “It would be untruthful if I said that I wasn’t disappointed that they are not going to study the proposed height,” said Debra
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LAURA OLSON Associated Press
Feldman, vice president of capital transactions with Felcor Lodging Trust, the owners of the Wyndham, which was formerly a Holiday Inn. Feldman’s project includes three buildings, the tallest of which hits 195 feet. The others step down considerably, with the shortest at 63 feet. The project could still go forward, even if the proposed height is not included in the study, but the company would have to pay at least $500,000 for an environmental impact report to request a change in the Downtown plan. Feldman’s main concern remains that the proposed 135-foot limit for the study is actually a hint that officials do not want
SACRAMENTO, Calif. The president of the California Public Utilities Commission would be required next year to step down from two nonprofits created by the commission under legislation that passed the state Assembly on Wednesday, a provision created amid criticism that the nonprofits could be used to shroud how money is spent. Lawmakers passed the compromise as part of a larger budget-related bill. The two chambers had passed earlier versions of the PUC provision that didn’t agree on when it should be implemented. PUC President Michael Peevey is chairman of two nonprofits created by the agency, which work on clean-energy projects and Internet access. Under the legislation, he could not serve in those roles starting in June 2014. Opponents of the practice say the related nonprofits can be used to spend money with
SEE HEIGHT PAGE 8
SEE COMMISSION PAGE 9
Proposal sets building heights too tall for community, too short for developers BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD
Bill strengthens oversight of state utilities commission
Gary Limjap (310) 586-0339 In today’s real estate climate ...
Experience counts! garylimjap@gmail.com www.garylimjap.com
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