Class action: Cities solving parking woes BUNDY OPEN FOR BUSINESS
SMC — A parking and traffic crisis that’s been simmering all summer for Santa Monica College will likely be paved out in time for classes this fall.
Officials from City Hall, SMC and West LA met last week to begin addressing messy traffic and parking issues related to the airport shuttle lot and SMC’s nearby Bundy satellite campus. As a result of the meeting, SMC will begin using Beach Parking Lot No. 5 as a temporary solution for parking and shuttle service to and from SMC’s main campus at 1900 Pico Blvd. Meanwhile, City Hall continues to restrict SMC students from having vehicular access to the Bundy campus.
Both West LA and City Hall have a history of concerns with the way SMC manages its growth. Likewise, the meeting was considered by many a first of its kind, a summit in which all the major players were represented to begin hashing out their issues.
City Hall this summer prevented vehicular access onto the Bundy campus site from Santa Monica entry and exit points, in response to neighborhood complaints related to the college’s expansion plans. City officials have said that restriction will be indefinite unless other agreements are made.
Meanwhile, college officials contend their plans for the Bundy campus site have been scaled back to accommodate neighborhood concerns. College officials would like to have vehicular access to the Bundy campus, at entry and exit points located within Santa Monica and West LA.
The goal of the Aug. 11 meeting was to find ways to provide college students with parking and shuttle lot service for fall classes, which start Aug. 29. The meeting also was an opportunity for City Hall, SMC and West LA to begin addressing long-term access, traffic and parking concerns at the Bundy campus, which opened this summer.
For years, SMC used the airport shuttle lot along Airport Avenue to bus students to and from SMC’s main campus. However, City Hall is planning to begin construction on a new park in the area in November, so SMC has been in need of a new parking and shuttle lot.
Construction on the Airport Park will take 15 months and likely hinder traffic access on Airport Avenue during that time, city officials said.
Assistant City Manager Gordon Anderson, who helped organize the meeting, said the negotiations, however complicated, are moving in the right direction.
“There were key officials that came together in earnest to talk about solutions for the main objectives of all parties.,” Anderson said. “It does look like we are going to be able to come to a positive solution that will be beneficial.”
Beach Parking Lot No. 5, located south of Ocean Park Boulevard on Barnard Way, will be open to SMC students from 6:45 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
The airport shuttle lot will be open during the day for students enrolled in classes at the Bundy Campus. The shuttle lot will also be open for shuttling service during the evenings and all day Friday.
City Hall considers SMC’s shuttle service at the beach lot — which will be free — a short-term solution for the college as it works to secure its own permanent shuttle lot.
The college says it’s working diligently to find one.
The Bundy campus, which has enrolled 460 students this summer, is planned to provide classes to some 800 students once it is fully online, SMC officials said.
The site has a 100,000-square-foot, four-story building housing classrooms intended for nursing, teaching and community education courses. In addition, Bundy has a 30,000-square foot, two-story building the college is not using, and a surface parking lot capable of holding 609 cars, which SMC officials said will meet the needs of expected campus operations.
However, vehicular access to Bundy is currently limited to college staff and the disabled. The satellite campus is buttressed against the city of Los Angeles to the east, with a small road that permits turning in and out of the site from Bundy Drive. The Bundy campus is also fronted by Los Angeles to the south and east, on the corner of which is Stewart Avenue, a north-south neighborhood street the college has agreed not to use for campus access, except in the case of emergencies.
Bundy is also buttressed against the city of Santa Monica to the north, lined with commercial buildings City Hall leases, which separate the Bundy campus from Airport Avenue, a two-lane east-west road that leads to 23rd Street.
SMC’s agreement with City Hall comes after weeks of escalation, which reached a climax at the July 28 City Council meeting when college officials publicly requested extended use of the Airport lot, as well as be granted Bundy campus access from City Hall. SMC officials also met earlier that week to discuss possible litigation against City Hall.
City Councilman Richard Bloom, who has long been critical of SMC growth strategies, said he is “cautiously optimistic” City Hall’s relationship with the college is improving.
Tom Donner, SMC’s interim president, shared similar sentiments with Bloom, while cautioning there is more work ahead.
“Traffic is the biggest issues on people’s minds,” Donner said. “I can understand why the Santa Monica and Mar Vista people are looking at traffic impacts.
“At the same time, they need to take a look at the educational impact of what’s going on here.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 19, 2005. Read the original PDF.