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# Locals want more parking attached to expansion
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/locals-want-more-parking-attached-to-expansion/
- Published: 2005-04-15T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T06:38:37.000Z
- Author: Ryan Hyatt
- Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*City staff to evaluate parking situation*

CITY HALL — An $80 million bus-barn expansion will move forward despite attempts by nearby property owners to open it up for public parking.

The City Council voted 6 to 1 on Tuesday to deny an appeal by developer Craig Jones to modify already-approved plans to expand the Big Blue Bus facility on the 600 block of Colorado Avenue. However, councilmembers said they would reconsider adding public parking in the area if they find it feasible.

Residents and business owners argued for more public parking, a more pedestrian-friendly street and a design that would deter homeless individuals who already dominate the area.

The facility expansion plan — conceptually approved by the City Council in February of 2001 and funded 65 percent by the state and 35 percent by city transit funds — was appealed by Jones, and other nearby residents and business owners.

Opponents believe the first level of the facility’s underground parking garage should be open to the public because downtown Santa Monica faces a shortage of parking and the project is funded by taxpayer money. They also argued that Colorado Avenue and Seventh Street need to appeal more to pedestrians.

“It seems like there are a lot of wasted resources to keep this parking structure vacant at night when parking is such a problem in the city,” said Robert Kerr, owner of Fritto Misto Italian restaurant on Colorado Avenue, across the street from the proposed expansion site. “We want to maintain a residential neighborhood that is pedestrian oriented, not having to face a big, blank monolithic wall.”

The City Council decided to hold off on additional public parking until city staff determine how much it would cost and how long it would take.

The expansion will include a 76,000-square-foot, three-story administrative building at 612 Colorado Ave. with three levels of parking underground that would accommodate 353 parking spaces. The facility also would include a 63,000-square-foot, two-story vehicle maintenance building along Seventh Street between Colorado Avenue and Olympic Boulevard.

Also part of the plan is a 10,000-square-foot, two-story facility to house the Ocean Park Community Center and SWASHLOCK operation that would provide daytime services to the homeless population. OPCC already operates a daytime drop-in facility at the corner of Seventh Street and Colorado Avenue.

Kerr said he regularly supports the homeless through food and coffee from his restaurant, but some aspects of the expansion would increase homeless activity in his neighborhood, an issue he said is not being addressed by City Hall.

“I’m a businessman who employs 50 people in Santa Monica,” Kerr said. “I also try to be a fair man. I understand the needs of the homeless, and I support those needs. But my neighborhood has a disproportionate number of homeless.”

Jones said it would be a shame if an $80 million public project couldn’t have additional parking with minimal cost because the project was being driven too much by bureaucracy, and not logic.

City Councilman Bobby Shriver was the only dissenting vote for that same reason.

Mayor Pam O’Connor said the Big Blue Bus facility expansion plan was intended to have a public benefit, and added it’s important that the site meets the strictest government guidelines to ensure future funding and maximum security.

“This is a site which provides a benefit to the public,” O’Connor said. “This is not a commercial project. This is a maintenance and storage facility for fueling and securing vehicles.

“It’s not designed to be opened up to the public.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 15, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041505.pdf?ref=smdp.com)