Martin Feinberg, Culver City Realtor, is not surprised to learn that Protect Culver City, a recently formed group focused on rent prices in the Culver City Real Estate area, has given notice of intent to the City Council to propose amendments to the Culver City Municipal Code. The proposed amendments are related to a prohibition on passing of rent control without voter approval.
According to the group’s website, the proposed amendments are:
Section 1. Statement of Findings and Purposes (a) The City Council of Culver City, California has passed an urgency ordinance establishing rent control at 3% per year because they believe that there is going to be an increase of 5,749 new employees to the local job market over the next four years and thus cause substantial pressure on future rental options for residents of Culver City. (b) Rather than resolve the purported rental unit shortage by providing for the immediate building of more housing units in Culver City, the City Council has decided to restrict the rights of owners of residential property by imposing rent control – thus encouraging the sale and further reduction of affordable rental units. (c) The City Council has also created a new rent registry program whereby Culver City is to maintain a massive new database that contains the information of all the rental units in Culver City, the rent amounts, and the tenancy information. (d) By passing this ordinance, the City Council broke their campaign promises to not impose rent control on the city. (e) Therefore, the people hereby amend the Culver City Municipal Code to require voter approval of the recent rent control ordinance and any future attempts to impose rent control on the residents of Culver City.
Section 2. Voter Approval of all Interim or Permanent Rent Control Measures Section 2.1. Section 15.09.060 is added to Title 15 to the Culver City Municipal Code to read: (a) The City Council shall not pass any ordinance establishing either an interim or permanent rent control measure or a prohibition on the increase in residential rents unless and until that proposed rent control measure is submitted to the electorate and approved by a majority vote. (b) All ordinances that establish either an interim or permanent rent control measure or prohibit the increase in residential rents imposed after Jan. 1, 2019 shall cease to be imposed unless and until approved by the electorate.
Martin Feinberg, Realtor, notes that once a notice of intent of given, the California State Elections Code requires a review by the city attorney. Protect Culver City will also be required to collect enough signatures from registered voters within the Culver City community to get the amendments placed on the ballot.
According to City Clerk Jeremy Green, the number of signatures required is dependent on several different issues but is normally somewhere between 10 and 15 percent.
In related news, Ron Bassilian, the current head of Protect Culver City, has also announced his candidacy for the 37th Congressional District. That district seat is currently held by Congresswoman Karen Bass.
