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# Bayside presses city over parking
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/bayside-presses-city-over-parking/
- Published: 2005-03-26T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T23:44:50.000Z
- Author: Ryan Hyatt
- Tags: Government & Politics, Downtown, #archive-import

*Grand design: 1,000 more spaces on way*

DOWNTOWN — After years of planning ways to improve downtown parking, business leaders challenged city officials this week to come up with short-term solutions in an effort to end the headache of traveling to the Third Street Promenade.

But city officials who presented a 10-year parking plan to the Bayside District Board — a group that oversees downtown Santa Monica, in conjunction with City Hall — warned the bureaucratic process isn’t always that swift.

City staff provided Bayside board members on Thursday with a status report on the plan.

Bayside board members questioned city officials on what can be done before the upcoming summer season, when millions of tourists are expected to flock to downtown Santa Monica. Board members said local employees and customers will continue to feel impacts of the parking crunch until better measures are in place.

“I think what we’re seeing now are a lot of the long-term, but not short-term parking solutions,” said John Warfel, Bayside vice chair. He, along with his colleagues, suggested that a tram be used so people could park a few blocks outside of downtown and be shuttled to the Promenade.

City officials said that might be a possibility, but it likely wouldn’t happen until new parking structures away from the Promenade are in place.

THE $91 MILLION PLAN A downtown parking task force was formed in 2000 to determine if additional parking was needed. In April 2002, the City Council approved the task force’s recommendations that were designed to shape downtown with a “park once, pedestrian first” theme so visitors would have to drive as little as possible.

Currently, there is a four-year waiting list to obtain a monthly parking permit, according to city parking coordinator Bill Bortfeld. The city owns 3,200 parking spaces in the downtown area, the majority of which can be leased for $82.50 per month. There are a total of 10,000 private and public parking spaces available downtown altogether, according to Bayside.

On Friday, Bortfeld said those city-owned spaces are often used by employees who work downtown. He said just 200 people on the list have been granted parking over the past three years.

“I know it seems like the list isn’t moving, but whenever a space becomes available we call the next person on the list,” Bortfeld said. “If he or she doesn’t want it, they still stay on the list.”

Bortfeld said one reason why a person might not want a parking space is because it is too far from work.

Bayside board members insist that employee parking is a problem that has yet to be resolved.

“People who work in Bayside support Bayside,” said board member Joannes Van Tilburg. “As an employer, we should be able to provide adequate parking.”

The parking project recommendations include retrofitting, rebuilding and adding 1,700 new parking spaces downtown over the next few years.

One-thousand more spaces would come from two new parking structures, to be located at the Santa Monica Library, which is scheduled to be completed in January 2006, and at the Civic Center, expected to be completed the following summer.

The plan also includes three parking structures that will be completely rebuilt, providing an additional 712 spaces.

The estimated cost of the project is $92.1 million. The city has earmarked more than $84 million, with $7.8 million yet to be secured. A majority will be financed from City Hall’s general fund and some state money, to be recouped through various fees and assessments.

Part of the recovery costs may come from charging motorists extra for temporary and long-term parking use. The task force suggests some paid-meters jump from 50 cents to $1.50 per hour, while monthly permits would possibly increase from $82.50 to $105 per month.

Developers also might be charged an “in lieu fee,” expected to add $2.5 million to the project.

Once all of the funding for the parking project is secured, the City Council will be able to approve the plan, expected some time in the fall, according to city staff.

Of the $7.8 million still needed for the project, about $1.1 million includes the cost of a tram Bayside wants available to shuttle employees and visitors year-round from distant parking structures to and from the Promenade, which would be available for use at a cheaper rate than preferred parking downtown.

Fearing the parking structures might go up without a shuttle service, Bayside officials want City Hall to make sure the tram is a priority. Bayside wants an open-air tram that is fun and geared for people who don’t want to walk, Warfel said.

Bayside Executive Director Kathleen Rawson said the tram is necessary for a host of reasons, not the least of which is safety.

“A woman getting out of work at 11 p.m. may not want to walk to her car at one of these parking garages away from the Promenade,” she said.

In order for the project to begin, City Hall needs to finish an environmental impact report, making sure the project falls within the guidelines of a new city transportation plan, and identify the final funding sources.

The environmental impact report is expected to be released in June. It will discuss the eight parking project options and how they might affect the city.

The new transportation plan will dictate policy in Santa Monica for, at least, the next two decades. City Hall is currently encouraging public comment on the transportation plan, which should be proposed to the City Council in September.

In the meantime, Bayside board members said they are concerned how traffic and parking congestion will be managed downtown until the new parking spaces are available, especially with the summer tourist season fast approaching.

Three parking structures are to be seismically retrofitted to help withstand earthquakes. The first to undergo construction is the parking structure at 1440 Fourth St., set to begin in April.

While that structure is being retrofit-ted, city officials said they will try to minimize traffic and parking disruptions. The contractor will be restricted to the use of 50 parking spaces in the structure on weekdays and 25 on weekends during construction, which is expected to last six months.

The other two structures will be retro-fitted on a rotating basis over the next three years.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 26, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/032605.pdf?ref=smdp.com)