Planning Commission reviews recent accomplishments and plans for 2025

As part of its final meeting of 2024, Culver City's Planning Commission reflected on its progress over the past six months while looking ahead at the projects and policies it hopes to tackle in the first six months of 2025. 

At Wednesday's meeting, city staff highlighted 16 projects at varying stages of development that the Planning Commission hopes to approve in the first half of 2025. Around 3,750 housing units are currently in the development pipeline, with more than 500 being affordable.

One of these projects is the Jeff Hotel, which has been planned for 11469 Jefferson Blvd. for over three years. This past July, the project entitlements were given a third extension, postponing their expiration until July 12, 2025. These entitlements permit applicant Nakada+ to pursue a five-story, 147-room boutique hotel building initially approved for 175 rooms in 2021.

However, Nakada+ Principal Steve Nakada stated in their extension request that the group is "taking a new development approach with a new developer."

"We are determined to bring this project, as entitled, to the neighborhood of Culver City," the request to the city from Nakada reads.

While the official application for the Jeff Hotel has been submitted, most projects that the Planning Commission has considered for the next six months have only submitted a preliminary project review.

These include affordable housing pursuits like the proposed project at 11304 Culver Blvd. — the site of the old Culver Automotive Center at Sawtelle Boulevard and Culver Boulevard — that would create an eight-story multifamily development with 143 units, all of which would be designated as affordable.

Many of these buildings in the pipeline are mixed-use, reflecting a new approach brought on by a shift to mixed-use zoning in many areas of Culver City. Projects the Planning Commission is expected to review include:

• A four-story, 250,000-square-foot media production site at 9401-9449 Jefferson Blvd.
• A five-story mixed-use project with 508 units and 14,000 square feet of commercial space at 10950 Washington Blvd.
• A four-story commercial building at 13123 Washington Blvd.

On top of these projects, the Planning Commission will take on several policy decisions in 2025. The update of Objective Design Standards to help streamline development and a Citywide Density Bonus Ordinance update that are both expected to come to the Commission in January, an update to ADU policy and others impacted by state legislation, and a Sign Code Update are all zoning code policy pieces that the Commission hopes to address in the first six months of the new year.

Additionally, city staff hopes that a Subdivision Ordinance Update — which focuses on subdivisions in city maps like lot lines and parcel maps — will be brought to the Planning Commission in February, while a Transportation Demand Management Ordinance Update is targeted for Quarter 1 of 2025.

Planning Commission Chair Andrew Reilman and Commissioner Stephen Jones expressed excitement about these plans in the pipeline. Reilman is looking for a strong finish to his eight-year term on the Commission, which ends July 1, 2025. 

"We can always do more than we think comes to us," Reilman said. "We can do as much as you can throw at us."

A map of the projects included in Wednesday's discussion is included above.