At the May 26, 2026, Culver City Council meeting, the council voted to pass the Fox Hills Site Specific Plan, including designs for neighborhood improvements. The controversial ‘hotel zone’ was excluded.
Vice Mayor Bubba Fish and Council Members Dan O’Brien and Albert Vera, Jr. voted in favor. Mayor Freddy Puza and Council Member McMorrin were required to recused themselves, as they are both residents of the Fox Hills area.
The plan follows the adoption of the Culver City General Plan 2045, which identified Fox Hills as a special study area and re-designated certain commercial areas for mixed-use development.
Set on the agenda as Public Hearing # 4, the item was overseen by Vice Mayor Fish, as the Mayor was recused.
Council members received 1,441 emails in regard to the approval of the plan, which had been in discussion for months. Despite the late hour, residents were there to express their opinions to the council, some citing the fact that the Planning Commission had already recommended against the hotel zone.
Judi Sherman, speaking to the meeting, said “It was a relief and a surprise that the Planning Commission disapproved of the hotel zone, given their previous actions….I consider it a small miracle.”
As part of the legislation, the council also adopted an ‘Addendum to the General Plan 2045 Environmental Impact Report under CEQA’ and directed staff to return with a future agenda item on the 1990 citywide height ordinance, its impact on Fox Hills, and the potential hotel additional height zone.
The plan that was approved includes a community center adjacent to Fox Hills Park, wider sidewalks, and improved public accessways.
The community has often spoken to council about the traffic issues that impact the neighborhood, and the plan includes a focus on ‘complete streets’ – Raised crosswalks (like the one on Coombs Avenue between the edge of Vets Park and the Wende Museum), narrower lanes to slow down cut-through traffic, protected bike lanes, and other street amenities.
This work is tentatively scheduled for construction in early 2027.
The plan also included an upgraded transit center. The transit center at Westfield Mall is proposed to be moved and upgraded, offering better aesthetics and faster transit connections. In addition, plans for neighborhood-serving transit hubs are also included so that residents can be better served by shuttles, buses, microtransit, and/or bicycle share facilities.
Both the transit center and the neighbor hood hubs are aspirational, as there is currently no funding attached to these plans.
Judith Martin-Straw
