School District to Present Feasibility Study on the Civic Auditorium During Public Meeting

The future of Santa Monica’s Civic Auditorium continues to be an urgent topic of debate and discussion in the community. The City has offered the Civic as surplus land and the School District (SMMUSD) is a current proposer.

Finally, after months of closed-session meetings, we have a detailed picture of SMMUSD’s vision for the historic property, in the form of a Feasibility Study. The results of the study will be formally presented tonight (August 17) at a public Board of Education meeting, beginning at 5:30 p.m. The public may attend the meeting in-person at the District Administrative Offices (1717 4th St., Santa Monica, CA) or via Zoom webinar (meeting ID: 876 8239 0636; passcode: 420935; call-in number: 669.900.6833). The meeting will also be live-streamed to the SMMUSD YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/SantaMonicaMalibuUSD.

In addition to making public comment at the meeting, community members can make comments and ask questions about the proposal through Let’s Talk at www.smmusd.org/Superintendent. Click on the “Santa Monica Civic Auditorium Discussion” button.

The Conservancy’s current priority is that the nationally significant building retains its Landmark designation by the City of Santa Monica. We are carefully analyzing the Feasibility Study to determine if the SMMUSD’s proposal would lead not only to the successful adaptive reuse of the landmark, but to a function that serves the community’s longstanding desire to see the Civic function in its historic use as a public venue.Click here to read our letter to the SMMUSD Board of Education stating our current position on the study.Click here to read the SMMUSD’s Feasibility Study.