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# Curb appeal: Parking comes at a price
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/curb-appeal-parking-comes-at-a-price/
- Published: 2004-02-27T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:52:29.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: Business, Downtown, #archive-import

*Who will shoulder burden for more spots?*

DOWNTOWN — An ambitious plan to add nearly 2,000 parking spaces downtown over the course of the next decade is moving forward, but who will ultimately foot the bill remains to be seen.

The costs will most likely be passed on to drivers, as well as developers and business owners, who operate in the downtown area.

The plan was signed off by the City Council in 2002 after nearly a year of research and discussion by a task force specifically created to address the shortage of downtown parking. A consultant was hired for $150,000 to help the task force find potential parking places and figure out how to finance them.

It’s estimated that the additions will cost about $72.5 million, which would be self-financed through revenue bonds paid for by increasing parking fees and downtown property assessments.

The plan would add 1,712 new parking spaces from Fifth Street to the Third Street Promenade. By rebuilding and retrofitting existing parking garages, 2,931 current spaces will be upgraded. The new spaces will come from rebuilding and adding to three garages, which will produce 712 slots and another 1,000 by constructing two new structures near Fifth Street. Those structures will have street-level retail and be used by monthly parkers so short-term visitors can park closer to the Promenade.

But it may become a moot point if City Hall doesn’t find a way to pay for the land, that is, if there is any left by then.

It’s a concern for City Councilman Ken Genser, who said earlier this month that many of the properties initially pinpointed have since been bought and are under other development. Genser and Councilman Herb Katz said it’s a priority for them this year to find funding and land so the plan they approved isn’t scrapped for something else.

“Our goals are the same, but now it’s a matter of money,” Katz said. “We only have so much money and what do we want to do with it?”

> “Our goals are the same, but now it’s a matter of money. We only have so much money and what do we want to do with it?” — — HERB KATZ City Councilman

City Hall is currently facing a $4 million deficit for the upcoming year and a balanced budget is expected to be adopted in June.

Monthly parking rates in the garages are expected to be increased from $75 a month to $105, and short-term rates would increase to $1.25 every 20 minutes after the first two free hours, with a maximum of $10 for the day. The current maximum is $7.

As far as the assessments are concerned, the task force considered tacking on an extra 50 cents per square foot to existing properties and expanding the assessment district to include an additional 1.9 million square feet in commercial space. That district would include north of Wilshire Boulevard, the east side of Sixth Street, the north side of Colorado Avenue and the east side of Ocean Avenue.

The task force reasoned that property owners would benefit from the additional spaces and therefore should help pay for them. New commercial development in the Bayside District already pays into a shared parking fund and is not required to provide separate parking. The downtown area has seen about 50,000 square feet of growth per year in the past eight years.

The task force also recommended increasing on-street meter spaces from 50 cents to $1, something already done in efforts to close City Hall’s budget deficit last year.

There already are 3,311 spaces in eight garages, 1,085 private off-street spaces and 236 metered spots downtown. Those totals don’t include parking in the two garages attached to Santa Monica Place, which are currently being retrofitted.

Before the task force convened, City Hall asked the public through a telephone survey about downtown parking. The vast majority of residents said finding a parking space is difficult and nearly two-thirds thought it should be increased.

Research by the task force backed that sentiment up — there are 2.1 spaces per 1,000 square feet of commercial space, considered low given the high proportion of regional retail, local retail, entertainment uses and the attraction of the Promenade, officials said. Most other comparable cities have nearly twice the amount of spaces, according to city documents.

City Hall is currently doing an Environmental Impact Report on the plan, which should be completed by the fall, said City Hall’s assistant director of plan-ning, Ellen Gelbard. She added that a financial feasibility study should help provide a roadmap for where the money will come from.

“The idea was not to use general fund money,” she said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 27, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/022704.pdf?ref=smdp.com)