Developers in Santa Monica are not feeling the LUVE.

That’s the Land Use Voter Empowerment initiative, a proposed November ballot measure that would give residents approval over major development projects in the city.

If enough signatures are gathered and the measure is passed, voters would have the final say on nearly all new projects approved by the City Council that would rise more than 32 feet – basically anything three stories or higher. And in Santa Monica, where residents have a long history of resistance to development, that migth effectively forestall new larger office and residential projects.

It follows growing opposition in the beachside community-turned-tech capital to the rapidly changing look of Santa Monica.

Proponents of the initiative – mostly longtime residents – say they are seeking the power to veto decisions by the council because it has turned a deaf ear to their pleas to stop major development projects.

“The developments that are coming down the pike in Santa Monica are just too much,” said initiative co-author Armen Melkonians, a civil engineer who co-founded Residocracy, a group of residents opposed to further development.

Those planned developments drawing fire include a 22-story condo tower designed by famed architect Frank Gehry and an expansion of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel.

But developers and the broader business community say the measure is so extreme that it will halt residential and mixed-use development, force up rents and drive many residents and startup businesses away.

“I call this ‘LUVE kills,’” said Dave Rand, partner in West L.A. land-use law firm Armbruster Goldsmith & Delvac, which represents several developers with projects pending in Santa Monica. “The casualties of LUVE will be the market-rate and affordable housing that Santa Monica so desperately needs.”

Long-running battle

This is not the first time a measure to limit growth has come before Santa Monica voters, who soundly rejected a 2008 initiative to restrict commercial high-rise development. But since then, dozens of new projects have come forward. Several have been approved; others are at various stages in the entitlement process.

Residocracy did succeed two years ago in blocking one major project next to Bergamot Station. The then-nascent group launched a referendum campaign to overturn City Council approval for a 765,000-square-foot residential, commercial and office project next to the Expo Line station adjacent to the collection of art galleries. Before the referendum could be placed on the ballot, the council reversed its approval.

Melkonians said that victory, coupled with dozens of newly proposed projects angling for city approval, spurred the initiative.

“After the general plan was amended back in 2010, the city received as many development applications over the next two-and-a-half years as had been projected for all of the next 20 years,” he said. “The city can’t handle so much growth so rapidly. It would have devastating impacts on the traffic, infrastructure, the quality of life and the character of the existing city.”

Residocracy and initiative proponents have highlighted several major developments they say would overwhelm the city’s infrastructure.

Among those: the $255 million proposed redevelopment of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel, including a new 21-story condo-hotel tower; the 22-story Gehry-designed Ocean Avenue condo tower project being developed by a partnership of Worthe Real Estate Group and M. David Paul Associates; and a downtown redevelopment project at Arizona Avenue and Fourth Street by Metropolitan Pacific Capital, DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners and Clare West Development that calls for a 12-story complex containing a 225-room hotel, 96 residential units as well as a mixture of office and retail spaces.

It’s likely these projects would face citywide votes unless their entitlements were completed before the proposed initiative went into effect. The only exemption the initiative grants is for projects with fewer than 50 units consisting entirely of housing that meets federal affordability standards. Such projects are rare in Santa Monica, given the price of land.

If the initiative were to pass in November, developers would have to wait for the next election after the council approval of their project or foot the bill for a special election, a prospect that could cost at least $200,000.

Opponents say the initiative is misguided.

“Ironically, it’s the megaprojects that are most likely to get voter approval, because the developers have the deep pockets to wage a million-dollar citywide campaign,” said Rand, the land-use attorney. “The small and midsized projects will simply get dropped, because the developers won’t have the money to mount a campaign and because of the uncertainty over the outcome.”

Housing projects dropped?

Indeed, one developer with several mixed-use projects in the works said that if the initiative passes, he will switch his developments in the city entirely to one-story retail projects that won’t require a vote.

“This initiative would be a disaster,” said Michael Sorochinsky, founding partner at Brentwood’s Century West Partners, which has three mixed-use projects already approved in Santa Monica and is seeking entitlements on three more properties on Lincoln Boulevard.

“No developer is going to take small-scale projects like these to a vote,” he said. “The cost to run a campaign and the uncertainty over the outcome are just too great. Instead, developers will simply build single-story retail structures in a city that already has too many ugly retail buildings.”

Sorochinsky said he’s already built a few single-story retail projects in the city; if the initiative were to pass, he said he would likely have to drop the residential plans for the three properties on Lincoln and move forward only with retail product – if at all.

And it’s not just residential projects at risk. There’s also concern that few, if any, commercial projects would be able to get built. With little new commercial/office space coming on line, there is concern that rents would soar in existing commercial space. And that, business leaders fear, could further spur an exodus of tech firms seeking cheaper rents in nearby Playa Vista or other parts of the region.

“By limiting housing options, it will force employers to look to other cities where their emplowyees are able to live in the communities they work – a concern I hear again and again from tech companies,” said Laurel Rosen, chief executive of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce.