SM BEACH — The “big dig” just north of the Santa Monica Pier is aimed at preventing any-more sinkholes in a nearby parking lot.
The Los Angeles County Public Works Department is spending a few hundred thousand dollars to replace a major segment of the storm drain, which has proven to be the culprit of repeated sinkholes and flooding at a beach parking lot off Pacific Coast Highway, said Craig Perkins, director of the city of Santa Monica’s environmental and public works management.
“Over the past few rainy seasons, that drain has been causing a lot of problems in the parking lot,” he said. “They are replacing a major segment from the PCH to the outfall at the ocean.”
The flooding of the parking lot has cost City Hall several thousand dollars, Perkins said, adding that the county has reimbursed a portion of the cost. Also as a result of the flooding, fewer parking spaces have been available to the public and it has caused liability issues for the city, Perkins said.
He added that officials from the county’s public works department expedited the project to ease Santa Monica’s problems.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 22, 2005. Read the original PDF.