CIVIC CENTER JOINT-USE PROJECT - Santa Monica … CENTER JOINT-USE PROJECT OVERIVEW! The Civic Center Joint-Use Project (CCJUP) expands the supply of publically accessible open space

CIVIC CENTER JOINT-USE PROJECT OVERIVEW!The Civic Center Joint-Use Project (CCJUP) expands the supply of publically accessible open space in the City of Santa Monica by adding 14.5 acres of the Santa Monica High School (Samohi) campus into the public domain by constructing:

! a 60’-wide pedestrian/ bicycle promenade, which connects the eastern portion of the City to the Civic Center (The Michigan Avenue Promenade)

! a new football/soccer/ rugby/lacrosse field with CIF track

! a new, regulation soccer/ rugby/lacrosse field with support spaces

! a new baseball/ softball field which can also be used for soccer, rugby or lacrosse

All fields are lighted and constructed with synthetic turf for nighttime, year-round use. The CCJUP provides:

! two new gymnasia: one practice and one full facility (with dance studio and weight room) for indoor basketball and volleyball

! a new Olympic-size indoor pool with locker rooms and support spaces ! six new lighted tennis courts with center court and viewing stand ! four, new, lighted basketball courts ! a fully renovated, state-of-the art 3000-seat amphitheatre.

The Project also provides a 490-stall, single-level subterranean parking structure under the football field/stadium and tennis courts with 12' ceilings to provide flexibility for future programming, and is day-lighted on three sides. It also includes a 450-stall, single-level subterranean parking structure with 12' ceilings under the baseball and

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Page 2 of 19 Civic Center Joint-Use Project February 25, 2009

softball fields which can be extended under 4th Street and open to a sunken Civic Auditorium Campus park. JOINT-USE PROPOSAL This Project is proposed as a partnership between the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD or “District”) using City Redevelopment Agency (RDA) funds and District property. Santa Monica High School (Samohi) is located within the Earthquake Recovery Redevelopment Project area (ERDP), is included in the Civic Center Specific Plan (CCSP) and is in the Civic Auditorium District of the draft Land Use and Circulation Element Update (LUCE). PUBLIC REALM BENEFITS The CCJUP reestablishes a connection between Samohi and the Civic Center dramatically opening up the school and all of its cultural and recreational facilities to the community and restoring historic vistas from the Samohi amphitheatre to the sea. It lowers the baseball field/softball field to street level, topographically uniting the two campuses. Furthermore, it softens the 4th Street streetscape, and alleviates congestion around the school campus by utilizing the 5th Street spur for parking and drop-off access and reduces surface parking. The Project fulfills the City’s mission of providing pedestrian and bicycle access to the Civic Center from the eastern neighborhoods. It adds an additional soccer field to the school campus, thereby alleviating the need for a formal field on the Civic Auditorium Campus, and thus allowing for more flexibility in designing and planning around the Civic Auditorium. JOINT-USE PUBLIC BENEFITS Public use of existing City parks (Palisades Park notwithstanding) is at its lowest use during the regular work/school day. This Project not only provides significantly increased public access to the cultural and recreational venues on the Samohi campus during non-school hours, it also produces maximum use in that all venues are used for school activities during the day, effectively doubling the cost-benefit of the project. The rejuvenation of the amphitheatre provides the opportunity for significant public programming. Combined with the already renovated Barnum Hall and the Civic Auditorium (both City landmarks) this cultural nexus in the Civic Center can be used for large, City festivals or as part of a programming consortium on the model of UCLAlive. Staffs of both agencies have begun to discuss ways to provide joint-use opportunities for local arts and cultural organizations within the City and region, as identified in the City’s Creative Capital plan (see below). Samohi’s entire campus has been used consistently by the community since its opening in 1913. It is the only facility with athletic and cultural venues that is not currently covered in any of the three Memoranda of Understanding between the City of Santa Monica and the School District. The existing facilities that are regularly used include Barnum Hall, Memorial Greek Theatre, cafeteria, seven tennis courts, baseball field,


football field, track, four outdoor basketball courts, south gym, and the Drake Pool. In general, athletic facilities are available to the public before and after school and team practice hours on weekdays and are open during weekend days during the school year. Since athletic teams practice during school breaks and the summer months, availability for the public is similar during these periods. The tennis courts, outdoor basketball courts, and the baseball field do not presently have lights, limiting access to daylight hours. More extensive use is available for the south gym, the football field, and the track which are equipped with lights. A survey of existing facilities was conducted in May 2008 to determine the hours each facility is available for use by the public as well as the number of users. The hours of public use were identified through interviews with the Director of Theatre Operations and Facility Permits, Site Administrators, and the Athletic Director. In addition, interviews were conducted with administrative, security and custodial staff at Samohi to gather anecdotal information about campus use. On-site observations were conducted during the week of May 25 – 31, 2008 during morning, afternoon, and evening hours. This analysis of current use and projected community use was included in the information provided to the City Council during the July 23, 2008 Study Session on Joint Use Opportunities. One change that is reflected in the following discussion is the extension of the facility operating hours to 11 p.m. The June 2008 report proposed a closing time of 10 p.m. which is consistent with the current operating schedule for Samohi. Since City park facilities are open until 11 p.m. the closing time for the facilities available for community use has been changed to 11 p.m. and this additional hour has resulted in an increase in the projected number of public-use hours with the Project. The City of Santa Monica has long considered the opportunity for connecting Samohi campus to the Civic Center area to create a vital and enlivened center of the City. The following discussion references many of the goals and recommendations of key planning documents that capture the community’s vision and priorities which are realized in the Project. JOINT-USE CULTURAL BENEFITS Creative Capital, the City’s plan for the development of arts and culture in Santa Monica, published in 2006, includes the following key strategy: 1. Retaining and Developing Cultural Facilities: The Civic Auditorium can also be viewed as the centerpiece of a cultural campus that includes but extends beyond the Civic Center to encompass Santa Monica High School and its cultural facilities…SAMOHI contains the recently-renovated Barnum Hall (1,250 seats) and the outdoor Greek Theatre (2,000 - 3,500 capacity), both of which will be frequently used by community groups under a plan recently adopted by the school district. Both of


these venues are potential supplements to the Civic Auditorium; however, one of the barriers to their use is the lack of urban design providing a connection. The Santa Monica Unified School District is in the process of developing a facilities master plan. The district’s planning consultants have already identified a need for arts facilities and expressed interest in exploring collaborations. The School District created the position of Director of Theatre Operations and Facilities in recognition of the enormous unrealized community benefit of having Barnum Hall and the Memorial Greek Amphitheatre available for public events. Barnum Hall, a 1,250-seat proscenium theatre and a Santa Monica historical landmark was built in 1931 and completely renovated in 1998-2005. The Memorial Greek Amphitheatre seats 2500 and was constructed in 1921. Both of these facilities were originally defined as public meeting spaces and for many years were the centers of cultural life in Santa Monica. In the last few years, the use of Barnum Hall for public events has increased twenty-fold. In the 2007-08 school year, Barnum Hall presented over sixty school events and over forty professional events. The public offerings ranged from classical music by New West Symphony, the new resident orchestra, as well as the Debut Orchestra, Live Nation Artist’s Mason Jennings and Missy Higgins, the annual Arts for All concert with Jackson Browne, the premiere of an avant garde opera piece by Musica Angelica with John Malcovich, and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy’s LA Tap Fest. This year, anticipates an increase of professional events to over seventy-five. There is room to grow in the future to one hundred rental events which has been determined by Samohi administration and the Director of Theatre Operations and Facilities Permits as the optimal balance between school program use requirements and community use. The Memorial Greek Theatre (the Greek) has no staging equipment, lights, or restrooms which limits its use as a performance venue. The “Greek”, the only outdoor venue on the Westside, and given the salubrious climate of Santa Monica has the potential to become a mini-“Hollywood Bowl” with concerts and presentations throughout the year. A refurbished and functioning Greek Theatre along with a fully programmed Barnum Hall will add over 3000 hours of new cultural opportunities for the community. This would fulfill the vision of a cultural consortium in the Civic Center of the City as proposed in Creative Capital. The following page from the Koning Eizenberg Architecture (KEA) presentation on future opportunities for the Civic Center illustrates these linkages. JOINT-USE RECREATIONAL BENEFITS In 1997, the City adopted the Parks and Recreation Master Plan to guide planning and development of recreational facilities over the next twenty years. The CCJUP implements several key strategies of this plan:

1) Expand the Community park system a. Implement the open spaces planned at the Civic Center


b. Develop school parks at up to five locations within the City – new fields as well as gathering spaces. In exchange for making site available, mutual acceptable agreement between City and School District with the City paying costs of improvements as well as the added cost of operation and maintenance.

2) Improve and Expand sports and recreation facilities a. Develop a new recreational pool in one of the centrally located park

within the City. Suggested sites include Civic Center. b. Develop additional playing fields c. Build additional new courts throughout the city d. Build a new City gym

Fields and Track There is currently heavy public demand for field use throughout at the City, particularly by Santa Monica youth soccer teams. Both the football field and baseball fields are used year-round for youth soccer. The track is used extensively by individual runners during early morning hours, evening hours and on weekends. Permitted groups, such as the Special Olympics hold annual events on the track. Table 1 below indicates a total of 5882 hours the fields and track are currently available for community use. Table 1: CURRENT Available Hours – Fields and Track

Facility School Year ( 38 weeks) Winter/Spring Break (4 weeks) Summer ( 10 weeks) Total Hours Public Use % Softball Field Not currently available Not currently available Not currently available N/A N/A

Baseball/ Multi-use Field M-F 6 pm to dusk Not available M - F 6 pm to dusk 1072 29%Sat. 2 pm to dusk Sat/Sun 8 am to duskSun. 8 am to dusk

Football/Multi-use Field M-F 6pm to 10pm except not Thur/Fri in Fall M - F 6 pm to 10 (winter break) Not Available - Re-seed Field 1794 35%Sat. 2 pm to 10 pm (fall); 8 am to 10 pm winter/spring M - F 8 am to 10 (spring break)Sun. 8 am to 10 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 10 pm

Track M - F 5am to 7 am; 6 pm to 10 pm M - F 5am to 7 am; 6 pm to 10 pm M - F 5am to 7 am; 6 pm to 10 pm 3016 59%Sat/Sun 8 am to 10 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 10 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 10 pm

Total Annual Hours 5882Available for Public Use

The CCJUP replaces the above three fields with lighted, upgraded synthetic turf fields that may be used for multiple sports and adds one new regulation soccer/rugby/lacrosse field. In addition, a regulation size track is included as part of the new football field/stadium complex. The number of hours for community use increases to 14,296 which represents a 143 % increase in the field availability for the community, as shown in Table 2.


Table 2: POTENTIAL Hours for Community Use – Fields and Track Facility School Year (38 weeks) Winter/Spring Break (4 weeks) Summer (10 weeks) Total Hours Public Use %

Softball Field M-F 6 pm to 11 pm M - F 6 p.m. until 11 pm M - F 6 pm to 11 pm 2632 72%(synthetic turf/lights) Sat. 2 pm to 11pm Sat/Sun 8 am - 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm

Sun. 8 am to 11pmBaseball/ Multi-use Field M-F 6 pm to 11 pm M - F 6 p.m. until 11 pm M - F 6 pm to 11 pm 2632 72%(synthetic turf/lights) Sat. 2 pm to 11pm Sat/Sun 8 am - 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm

Sun. 8 am to 11pmFootball/Multi-use Field M-F 6pm to 11pm except not Thur/Fri in Fall M - F 6 pm to 11 (winter break) M - F 6 pm to 11 pm 2592 51%(synthetic turf/lights) Sat. 2 pm to 11 pm (fall); 8 am to 11 pm winter/spring M - F 8 am to 11 (spring break) Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm

Sun. 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pmSoccer Field (Lacrosse and rugM-F 6pm to 11pm M - F 8 am to 11 M - F 6pm to 11 pm 3060 60%(synthetic turf/light) Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm

Track M - F 5am to 7 am; 6 pm to 11 pm M - F 5am to 7 am; 6 pm to 11 pm M - F 5am to 7 am; 6 pm to 11 pm 3380 66%Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm

Total Annual Potential Hours 14296Available for Community Use

Tennis and Basketball Courts The unlighted tennis courts are also popular with the public. Through an unwritten agreement, the City of Santa Monica currently permits the six tennis courts. The seventh court has an uneven surface and is used only for warm-up. Walk-on play is available to individuals if courts are not permitted or being used by the school. The courts are available to the public from 8 am to dusk on the weekends. The outdoor basketball courts are available after school and from 8 am to dusk on the weekends since there are no lights. Table 3 shows the total hours for these courts that is currently available to the community. Table 3: CURRENT Available Hours – Basketball Courts

Facility School Year ( 38 weeks) Winter/Spring Break (4 weeks) Summer ( 10 weeks) Total Hours Public Use % Tennis Courts M - F 6 pm until dusk M - F 6 p.m. until dusk M - F 6 p.m. until dusk 1308 36%

Sat/Sun 8 am - dusk * Sat/Sun 8 am - dusk Sat/Sun 8 am - dusk

Outdoor Basketball Courts M - F 6 pm to dusk M - F 8am to dusk M - f 8am to dusk 1980 54%Sat/Sun 8 am to dusk Sat/Sun 8 am to dusk Sat/Sun 8 am to dusk

Total Annual Hours 3288 The CCJUP provides new, lighted tennis courts with center court and viewing stand and new outdoor basketball courts. These will have lights so the use will be extended to the evening hours. Table 4 shows that the potential hours of community use will grow by 74% to 5720 hours. Table 4: POTENTIAL Hours for Community Use – Basketball Courts

Facility School Year ( 38 weeks) Winter/Spring Break (4 weeks) Summer ( 10 weeks) Total Hours Public Use % Tennis Courts M - F 6 pm until 11 pm M - F 6 p.m. until 11 pm M - F 6 p.m. until 11 pm 2860 78%(lights) Sat/Sun 8 am - 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am - 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am - 11 pm

Outdoor Basketball Courts M - F 6 pm to 11 pm M - F 6 p.m. until 11 pm M - F 6 p.m. until 11 pm 2860 78%(lights) Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am - 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am - 11 pm



Gymnasia The south gym is used on weeknights by the public for basketball and is available on the weekends to the public for basketball and volleyball. Currently the north gym is not used by the community. The weight rooms and dance studio are not regularly used by the public. Table 5 shows the current hours available for community use in the two gyms. Table 5: CURRENT Hours Available - Gyms

Facility School Year ( 38 weeks) Winter/Spring Break (4 weeks) Summer ( 10 weeks) Total Hours Public Use % South Gym Tues/Thurs 6 pm to 10 pm M - F 6 pm to 10 pm M - F 6 pm to 10 pm 1884 37%

Sat 2 to 10 pm( bb season); 8 am to 10 pm rest of year Sat/Sun 8 am to 10 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 10 pmSun 8 am to 10 pm

North Gym Not currently available Not currently available Not currently available NA N/A


The CCJUP provides two new gymnasia: one practice gym and one full facility with dance studio and weight room. The new gyms fulfill the objective of the Recreation and Parks Master Plan and will provide an additional 2,954 hours of community use over the current facilities, a 157% increase, as shown in Table 6. Table 6: POTENTIAL Hours for Community Use - Gyms

Facility School Year ( 38 weeks) Winter/Spring Break (4 weeks) Summer ( 10 weeks) Total Hours Public Use % New South Gym M - F 6 pm to 11 pm M - F 6 pm to 11 pm M - F 6 pm to 11 pm 2704 53%

Sat 2 to 11 pm( bb season); 8 am to 11 pm rest of year Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pmSun 8 am to 11 pm

New North Gym M - F 6 pm to 11 pm ( 2 nights per week) M - F 6 pm to 11 pm M - F 6 pm to 11 pm 2134 42%Sat 2 to 11 pm( bb season); 8 am-11 pm rest of year Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pmSun 8 am to 11 pm


Pool The Drake Pool is currently used by the public for lap swim for several hours prior to the start of the school day and in the evenings and on weekends. Table 7 below shows that the pool is currently available for community use for 3,016 hours per year. Table 7: CURRENT Hours Available – Pool

Facility School Year ( 38 weeks) Winter/Spring Break (4 weeks) Summer ( 10 weeks) Total Hours Public Use % Drake Pool M - F 5 to 7 am; 6 pm to 10 pm M - F 5 to 7 am; 6 pm to 10 pm M - F 5 to 7 am; 6 pm to 10 pm 3016 59%

Sat/Sun 8 am to 10 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 10 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 10 pm


The CCJUP provides a new Olympic-size indoor pool. This new centrally located pool will meet the objective of the Recreation and Parks Master Plan and will offer 624 more hours for community use, for a total of 3,640 hours, or a 21% increase, as shown in Table 8.


Table 8: POTENTIAL Hours for Community Use – Pool Facility School Year ( 38 weeks) Winter/Spring Break (4 weeks) Summer ( 10 weeks) Total Hours Public Use %

New Pool M - F 5 - 8 am; 6 pm to 11 pm M - F 5 - 8 am;6 pm to 11 pm M - F 5 - 8 am; 6 pm to 11 pm 3640 71%Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm

Available for Community Use 3640 OPEN SPACE The City adopted the Open Space Element of its General Plan in March, 1997. It establishes a long-range vision for future development of parks and open spaces within the City. It also focuses on reinforcing the social, environmental, cultural and recreational role of open space within the City. The Civic Center Joint Use Plan embodies the following five objectives included in the Open Space Element and certain associated policies. Objective 1: Develop and maintain a diversified and balanced system of high quality open space.

Policy 1.3: Acquire and develop new public open space throughout the City, giving priority to accessible locations within the geographic heart of the community.

Policy 1.5: Expand public gathering places within the City. Objective 2: Expand the open space system through use of pubic properties: collaborative planning to expand facility sharing among City, SMMUSD, and SMC should be given the highest priority. Policy 2.2: Expand open space role through shared use of certain facilities. Policy 2.3: Improve school sites as public open space. Objective 3: Establish a system of linked central parks: series of large public parcels that together represent a significant concentration of publicly oriented activities.

Policy 3.1: Expand and develop the open space role of the Civic Center – relationship to Samohi should be examined in light of potential opportunities to improve and strengthen the connection between the High School and Civic Center.

Objective 4: establish a citywide system of pathways and linear open spaces. Policy 4.2: utilize streets to form open space linkages within the City. Objective 10: Incorporate art and cultural events in public places. Policy 10.3 Provide open space venues for small, informal cultural events. Open Space/Pedestrian/Bicycle Use During the nearly one hundred years since the Samohi campus was first opened, its role as a vital center of the community has been diminished to its current appearance as a


walled facility that appears inaccessible and unwelcoming to the community. A key component of the CCJUP is the re-connection of the campus to the community which is accomplished in several ways. The central element is the Michigan Avenue Promenade opening from East (7th Street) to West (4th Street) allowing for Samohi campus use during school hours and public use including bike and pedestrian paths in the afternoons, evenings, and on the weekends with a secured campus north and south of the Commons. The Michigan Avenue Promenade will once again provide pedestrian and bicycle access to the Civic Center Campus, the Pier, beach, and Palisades Park for the underserved Pico neighborhood. The creation of the Seventh Street Promenade, connecting the resurrected 7th Street overpass with the new Michigan Avenue Promenade will connect the downtown and north side of the City to the Samohi and Civic Center campuses. In fact, this will create a full bicycle path from 7th Street through the downtown and Civic Center to the beach and back up to 7th Street. Table 9 details the 6,880 hours of new recreational use for the community. Table 9: POTENTIAL Hours for Community Use – Open Space

To be consistent, the table above shows the Promenades open until 11 p.m. It is expected that they will remain open during all non-school hours. The diagram below, from the KEA Joint-Use presentation, demonstrates the open space network realized in the CCJUP:

Facility School Year (38 weeks) Winter/Spring Break (4 weeks) Summer (10 weeks) Total Hours Public Use %

Michigan Ave. Prom. M - F 4 to 11 pm M - F 8 am to 11 pm M - F4pm to 11 pm 3440 67%(bike/ped path) Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Seventh St. Prom. M - F 4 to 11 pm M - F 8 am to 11 M - F4pm to 11 pm 3440 67%(bike/ped path) Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm Sat/Sun 8 am to 11 pm



PHASING/TIMLINES The CCJUP consists of three phases. Phase I has two alternatives, either of which could be built first. Phase I Alternative 1: 1. Begins with the demolition of the

existing baseball field, tennis courts, basketball courts and Olympic access road and relocates the main transformer and power distribution station.

2. Constructs a new Michigan Avenue

Promenade that reopens Michigan Avenue between 7th and 4th Streets to pedestrian and bicycle access. This tree-lined, 60’-wide promenade can be secured during school times and late evening hours yet remain open for public use at other times. It leads directly to the heart of the Samohi Campus and on to the Civic Auditorium Campus.

3. The current football field will change

orientation and be relocated to where the baseball field and soccer field are currently, becoming an east/west synthetic football/ soccer/rugby/lacrosse field with full CIF track, field house with concession stands, and a 2000-seat stadium. Sixth Street will move east and six, new, lighted tennis courts with center court and viewing stand will be constructed to the south side of the stadium.

4. Constructs a new single-level, semi-

subterranean parking structure under the football field for approximately 490 cars that is accessed from the 5th Street spur and the 6th Street access drive, thus reducing street congestion. Pedestrians will exit the parking structure directly onto the Michigan Avenue Promenade with easy access to Barnum Hall, the Greek, all


recreational venues and enjoy a tree-lined walk to the Civic Auditorium Campus. The south and west sides of the structure will be open allowing in natural light and ventilation. This parking level designed with a 12’ ceiling to allow for future uses should our dependence on cars decrease. Art studios, dance studios, City offices, additional classrooms are only a few of the possible future uses. This design follows the model that RAND incorporated at the Water Gardens, where they converted 13,000 s.f. of a subterranean parking structure to house their publications, print and distribution services. It is still in use.

(A second level of subterranean parking could be constructed adding approximately 490 more spaces to accommodate future needs.)

Timeline: July 2009 - June 2014. Estimated total Phase I cost: $58.1 million in June 2008 dollars Phase 1 Alternative 2:

1. Constructs a new regulation-sized, lighted soccer/rugby/lacrosse field with synthetic turf on the site of the current north parking lot and science and Tech buildings.

2. Beneath the soccer field,

taking advantage of the slope of Prospect Hill, constructs a new, full-facility gym, practice gym and Olympic-sized pool with locker rooms, weight

room, dance studio and support spaces. This complex will have floor-to-ceiling windows facing west across 6th Street and the new football/soccer/rugby/ lacrosse field. Users will enter at mezzanine level with the gym floors and pool below grade.

Timeline: July 2010 – June 2015. Estimated total project cost: $118.3 million in June 2008 dollars.


Phase II:

1. Demolishes the existing gyms and pool and lowers the field space to the level of 4th Street, reuniting the school with its community and improving linkage between the two campuses.

2. Constructs new synthetic turf

softball and baseball fields (combined for use as a soccer/rugby/lacrosse field) and four, new, lighted basketball courts.

3. Constructs a new, single-level 450-

space subterranean parking structure under ball fields.

4. Construct new truss-stage for the amphitheatre, support buildings, and lighting and sound infrastructure.

5. Upgrades storm water management for the site. 6. Upgrades the Greek Theatre with a new loading dock accessed from Pico

Boulevard, new restrooms underneath a redesigned cafeteria and in a new field house; full under-grounding of all sound and light infrastructure, and a new open frame proscenium and new changing rooms. With the removal of the gyms and pool building the historic vista to the sea will be restored.

(A second level of subterranean parking could be constructed under the ball fields adding approximately 450 spaces to accommodate future needs.) Timeline: July 2011 - June 2016 Estimated total project cost: $58.6 million in 2008 dollars COST ESTIMATES AND STAGING Total project costs, timelines and 2009-10 estimated funding needs prepared by R. L. Binder FAIA Architecture and Planning, are shown on the following three pages.


PROJECT BACKGROUND In December 2007, staff from the City of Santa Monica, Santa Monica College and the District met to explore joint-use opportunities on the Civic Auditorium and Santa Monica High School (Samohi) campuses. Subsequent to that meeting, the City issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for a joint-use planning study for these two campuses and in January 2008, awarded the work to Koning Eizenberg Architectures (KEA), whom the District had also selected to do the planning and design work for John Adams Middle School (JAMS) as part of the District’s implementation of its Measure BB facilities bond project. It was the nexus of the City’s implementation of the Civic Center Specific Plan (CCSP) and the November 2006 passage of the District’s Measure BB bond issue that prompted the initial meeting in December. In spring of 2008, staffs from the City and the District worked together with KEA on this study effort. This included holding focus group meetings with interest groups regarding Childcare, Culture, Samohi, Parking & Traffic, and Recreation to receive input regarding joint-use opportunities for the two sites. These information-gather sessions were very productive. Additionally, on April 12, 2008, a public workshop on joint-use opportunities was held in the Samohi cafeteria beginning with a mapped, self-guided tour starting at the Civic Auditorium, crossing 4th Street, through the Samohi campus and ending at the top of the Memorial Greek. Coincident with this effort, the Board of Education selected R. L. Binder Architecture and Planning for the Measure BB project at Samohi. In realizing the significance of the joint-use possibilities of the two campuses, the School Board awarded an additional contract to Binder to do a full siting study of the Samohi campus and to examine joint-use opportunities for the Samohi site. This siting study was given three important guidelines: (1) provide a pedestrian/bicycle pathway that re-opens Michigan Avenue from 7th Street to 4th Street, (2) add a soccer field, and (3) find ways of opening up the campus to the public. These parameters were drawn from public comments received from the City’s Land Use and Circulation Element Update meetings that were held beginning in 2006 and continuing. The pedestrian/bikeway had long been sought by the community to reunite the east side of Santa Monica with the Civic Center and the beach, and to further the City’s plan to increase bicycle-friendly lanes and also as a result of the Safe Routes to School work that was developing. The second parameter was added in response to comments received that the placement of soccer field on the Civic Auditorium Campus greatly limited community cultural planning and uses on the site. Without reservation, there was a desire to reunite the Samohi campus with its community, especially along 4th Street as well as restoring the original view from the Memorial Greek Theater (once a community meeting place) and view to the sea from the steps of the History Building.


This siting study produced Concept A – Final Buildout, which was overwhelmingly supported by the Samohi Measure BB site committee, the Measure BB District Advisory Committee and the Board of Education. This plan is the basis for the joint-use concepts in the CCJUP. The KEA joint-use study incorporated goals and objectives of the City’s Open Space Element, Civic Center Specific Plan, Creative Capital, draft Land Use and Circulation Element, and the District’s draft Facilities Master Plan. This study resulted in a PowerPoint presentation, which included Binder’s Concept A. This PowerPoint and was presented during spring 2008 to the City’s Recreation and Parks Commission, Arts Commission, Commission on the Status of Women, Child Care Task Force and the Panning Commission as well as the District’s Visual and Performing Arts District Advisory Council, Samohi Measure BB site committee and the District’s Measure BB Advisory Committee for comment. In every presentation, without exception, the reception of the presentation was positive and enthusiastic. Both the KEA PowerPoint and the Binder Concept A were presented to the City Council on July 23, 2008. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE The 26-acre Samohi campus of Santa Monica High School (Samohi) opened in February 1913 with freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes totaling 545 students. The campus grew over the next seventy years, but sustained heavy damage in the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake. With the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, it suffered severe cutbacks in its maintenance department and has not met community standards since that time. Improvements and significant repairs were made in the 1990s with the passage of District general obligation bonds. Its historic Barnum Hall was fully renovated to its original condition by donations from the City, the community and the District in the late 1990s and is listed as a City Landmark. Samohi celebrates its centennial on Prospect Hill in 2013. The planned four-year celebration will be marked with the opening of some new facilities with each graduating centennial class beginning with the opening of the District’s Measure BB project, the new Science and Tech quad in 2013. Completion of each of the phases in the CCJUP will commemorate the following three graduating classes in 2014, 2015, and 2016. REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY Samohi falls within the boundaries of the City’s Earthquake Redevelopment Project Area. This proposal meets the Community Revitalization goals for the Civic Center in that it provides additional public open space, new and renovated joint-use outdoor recreational and cultural venues, and improved pedestrian and bicycle access. The


CCJUP provides new joint-use indoor recreational facilities. The mobility and public realm improvements further realize these goals. At their meeting of April 8, 2008, the City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency Board, directed RDA staff to “evaluate how Redevelopment funding eligibility of shared use community facilities on the school and college campuses and return with an analysis and associated considerations”. Subsequent to this Council meeting, RDA staff requested a list of potential joint use/ community benefit projects and an assessment of current and future community access opportunities of these facilities. Those reports, Joint Use Opportunities and Summary of School Use and Community Use of Santa Monica High School Facilities were prepared and delivered to the RDA staff in June 2008 and were included as information provided to the City Council at its study session of July 23, 2008. On February 6, 2008, a draft project description and associated cost estimates and phasing for the CCJUP were submitted to RDA staff in lieu of this proposal to assist in their immediate meeting plans for capital project funding. CIVIC CENTER SPECIFIC PLAN The CCJUP directly addresses the Key Planning Issue of providing additional open space, improving existing open space and making significant improvements to the pedestrian and bicycle circulation system (Michigan Avenue Promenade). It realizes CCSP Planning Principles by overcoming insular development and limited accessibility in opening the campus to the west by removing the existing gyms and pool, and lowering the fields along 4th Street. The Project meets all ten of the Plan’s General Development Policies. It specifically addresses the Plan’s priority regarding creating spaces for “cultural, educational, and community-oriented activities.” The Samohi Siting Study’s inclusion of an additional playing field was done to meet the community’s needs for the playing field that was provided for in the Plan, thus allowing flexibility in planning for the Civic Auditorium Campus. This new field has been endorsed as meeting that goal by the City’s Sports Advisory Council. LAND USE AND CIRCULATION ELEMENT (LUCE) The draft LUCE notes that the Samohi campus is an integral part of the Civic Center District and specifically identifies the potential for educational and cultural joint-use opportunities. It calls for the synchronization of efforts “to provide both joint use opportunities and [to] re-establish the visual open space connection between the high school center and the Civic Center.”


The LUCE Vision speaks of “East-west bicycle linkages through the [campus] to connect with existing bike paths such as Michigan Avenue …to provide direct access from the rest of the City to the Beach.” “Creating enhanced linkages between the Civic Center and Santa Monica High School is one of the goals for the [Civic Center] District.” The CCSP calls for the redistribution of “Civic Center uses to allow for a more meaningful connection between the Civic Center and Santa Monica High School by improving access and permeability of the high school’s campus, and opening both sides of Fourth Street to provide the high school with an active presence in the [Civic Center] District.” It further recommends reconsideration “of the proposed Civic Center playing field location to create a joint use open area (meadow/plaza) between the High School an the Civic Center.” The LUCE includes in its Actions the improvement of pedestrian and bicycle access between the two campuses that “support potential joint use activities”. The Michigan Avenue Promenade directly addresses the goals of the Bicycle Network and Transportation sections. The Promenade also provides for the linkage with a rebuilt 7th Street Overpass that serves to connect the north side section of the city to the Civic Center. The LUCE also states that, “Santa Monica schools and educational facilities are among the City’s most important assets” and the Plan encourages the incorporation “of the joint-use planning effort between the City, Santa Monica College and the High School”. Staffs from the City, District and the high school have worked diligently with the architect to meet these goals of the draft LUCE. PARKING, TRAFFIC AND CIRCULATION The CCJUP provides 940 parking spaces in two subterranean parking structures. The District has contracted with Crain and Associates to determine the on-site parking requirements in the circumstance that there are events utilizing all the joint-use venues during the same time period (e.g. festivals, tournaments, etc.) and expects findings from that study by late spring 2009. As was noted earlier, these structures are being designed for flexibility in programming future uses should our dependence on the automobile decrease. Following on the idea of ‘dig once, dig deep’, the site will accommodate a second level of parking for each structure, bringing the total on-site parking capacity to 1,880 spaces. The LUCE calls for a “…comprehensive strategy that addresses the current and future parking and circulation needs of the Civic Center District in relation to Downtown and the High School.


During the initial meetings between the City, College and District staff there was unanimous agreement that a comprehensive parking, traffic and circulation study was needed. There are many factors that must be addressed regarding this study before a final parking and circulation plan can be developed. Among those are:

! KEA, in their presentation to City Council, recommended a new, 50,000 s.f. building footprint for a new structure to provide for future cultural, social and support services needs as well as space for the Early Childhood Center.

! Both KEA and the LUCE call for a re-opening of the Civic Center Specific Plan

which may include new design considerations for the Civic Auditorium Campus (e.g. lowering the green space, making the area three-dimensional).

! The City has long planned to relocate on-site Pier parking, and park-and-ride

needs for the planned Expo have yet to be explored as well as other possible considerations.

The following diagram is taken from the KEA presentation and illustrates possible circulation options using the CCJUP.

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Page 18 of 19 Civic Center Joint-Use Project March 4, 2009

SUSTAINABILITY The City of Santa Monica is a national leader in placing sustainable development principles at the core of its planning and building policies. At the District’s Sustainable Design Charrette in February 2008 attended by more than sixty architects, engineers, City staff and community members, a mission statement committing the District to “healthy performance facilities of enduring quality, sustainability and efficiency” and to enhancing the City by being “stewards of our environment and natural resources to ensure that they are sustainably managed for current and future generations.” Indeed, the School Board adopted a resolution making the Collaborative for High Performing Schools (CHPS) standard District policy. CHPS is the education community’s equivalent to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEDS). The CCJUP realizes the highest goals of CHPS. CONCLUSION The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District is pleased to present this proposal to the Santa Monica City Council acting as the Redevelopment Agency, and seeks full Agency funding of this joint-use project. The District feels it demonstrates an exemplary collaboration of agencies, befitting our times. This proposal realizes many of the City’s goals, objectives, principles and visions as referenced, above. It represents a truly joint-use project. LUCE Section 3.5 Schools, Public Facilities and Services states: “Santa Monica seeks to have high quality, highly accessible educational and public facilities, recognizing that these services underlie the city’s continued long-term success.” Funding for the Civic Center Joint-Use Project realizes that vision. The Civic Center Joint-Use Project realizes a double cost-benefit for the residents of Santa Monica in that it provides significantly expanded cultural and recreational benefits as described herein, while also greatly improving the campus of Santa Monica High School. The District believes that this proposal embraces the wishes and hopes for “City as park” that has been voiced by its residents in the many workshops on urban development and planning over the past twenty years. In all the presentations of the CCJUP over the past year, there has not been one voice of dissent. There are many milestones in the making today. The Civic Auditorium recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary, the treasured Pier will soon celebrate its centennial, and Samohi graduating classes of 2013 through 2016 will enjoy four years of celebration marking 100 years on Prospect Hill. With the effective and cooperative partnership of the District and the City, each of these classes, now 5th through 8th graders attending our elementary and middle schools, will participate in a new era for Santa Monica by

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Page 19 of 19 Civic Center Joint-Use Project March 4, 2009

participating in the completion of some new phase of construction for our high school and our Civic Center. The Civic Center Joint-Use Project presents a legacy opportunity for all of Santa Monica. The District and Board of Education are eager to continue working with City staff and the City Council to realize this unique and historic vision. Appendix 1 – Civic Center Joint-Use Project overview rendering Tim Cuneo, Superintendent Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District 1651 16th Street Santa Monica, CA 90404 (310) 450-8338 District liaison: Michael Hill Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District 1651 16th Street Santa Monica, CA 90404 (310) 450-8338 ext. 263 [email protected]

CIVIC CENTER JOINT-USE PROJECT - Santa Monica … CENTER JOINT-USE PROJECT OVERIVEW! The Civic Center Joint-Use Project (CCJUP) expands the supply of publically accessible open space

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