Compromise Reached in Trailer Park Negotiations

A tentative deal reached with the City Council would require the owner of Village Trailer Park to incorporate more "affordable" housing in his plans to replace most of the park with mixed-use development, the Santa Monica LookOut reported Thursday.

Mark Luzzatto has reportedly agreed to deed restrict 41 of 377 condo units at the future East Village to tenants with "very low" incomes. Under an earlier agreement—which was approved by the City Council Nov. 28 then rescinded two weeks later—Luzzatto was to set aside only 16 of the units.

City Council members and Luzzatto have been negotiating in closed-session meetings for the past two months.

According to the LookOut, the new development agreement will be voted on March 19 by the City Council (a public notice about the meeting is attached to this article). If approved, it would put an end to a $50 million lawsuit filed by Luzzatto against the city for rescinding the earlier deal.

Click over to the Santa Monica LookOut to read the full story, "New DA for Santa Monica Trailer Park Could End Two-Month Stalemate."

Before she was appointed to the city's Planning Commission, Sue Himmelrich, who is also an attorney with the Western Center on Law and Poverty, argued the earlier agreement violated the city's own Affordable Housing Production Program because it did not include enough affordable housing. She said the total number of affordable units should be 70.

That agreement was nixed after six years of negotiations when two new City Council members—Ted Winterer and Tony Vazquez—were installed, replacing former Mayor Richard Bloom, who had voted in favor of the development agreement in November and Bobby Shriver, who had abstained. 

Winterer and Vazquez joined McKeown and councilwoman Gleam Davis in voting 4-3 in favor of reopening negotiations with the property owner in the hopes of securing more affordable housing at the site.

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