Experimental plan to put business traffic in neighborhoods during day
City Hall giveth, and City Hall taketh away.
Just as Santa Monica residents started getting used to their exclusive access to curbside neighborhood parking, elected leaders Tuesday night unanimously agreed to start letting local merchants back on the block.
At stake are what’s known as preferential parking areas, nearly 100 specially zoned sections of Santa Monica where it’s illegal to park without a special permit from City Hall. Those permits historically have been given only to neighborhood residents.
“I don’t think it’s a perfect solution, but I think it’s the best one we can come up with,” City Councilman Ken Genser said. “We have to try and somehow find solutions for businesses, particularly smaller businesses that are directly affected by preferential parking zones.”
The debate over parking pits residents, who have fought hard for their special parking areas, against local merchants.
Business owners complain the city’s major roadways are clogged with cars, turning off potential customers and leaving their employees with no place to park. Residents say they’re forced to spend hours circling their own neighborhoods because outsiders use their streets as parking lots.
Officials hope there’s room for compromise. By limiting the number of permits given to businesses and restricting the hours they can be used, officials hope to maximize use of the spaces with minimal conflict.
Resident Chuck Allord, an outspoken critic of City Hall, said the plan was sure to meet resistance in the community.
“If you approve this, commercial parking in residential neighborhoods … you’re going to have a huge backlash,” said Allord, one of just two people to speak to the council on the matter. Allord added the proposal may lead to a loss of handicapped spaces and increased parking in alleys.
Though it agreed unanimously to try giving merchants preferential passes, the City Council made no long-term commitment to it. The issue is expected to resurface later this winter, when council members also will address how many permits should be handed out and in which areas.
When discussing the matter in June, members of the Planning Commission indicated the passes for merchants should be restricted, according to a city report.
“Several commissioners generally did not support this concept,” a city staff report reads. “It was recommended that if the city agrees to a demonstration program, the provision for employee permits should not exceed 20 percent of the spaces … Further, it was suggested that conditions should be attached to the employee preferential parking permit such as not being allowed to sit in parked vehicles during lunch/breaks and not being allowed to play car audio equipment or dump trash.”
The controversial idea to share resident-only parking zones with neighboring merchants was floated Tuesday during the City Council’s review of parking issues along the city’s major east-west roadways, including Montana Avenue, and Wilshire, Santa Monica, Pico and Ocean Park boulevards.
Also agreed upon were proposals to minimize the impact of valet parking stands; shorten time limits at public lots on Wilshire Boulevard; allow businesses to build underground parking lots on Pico, Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards without a long approval process; allow one-story, enclosed lots in residential areas behind businesses on Wilshire Boulevard; study long-term plans for pedestrian and bicycle flow; and get rid of excessive red curbs.
Genser and City Councilman Herb Katz both expressed frustration at inconsistencies in the size of parking spaces and red curbs throughout Santa Monica. By way of example, Genser said five new parking spaces could be created on his office block, mostly by making the size of the spots uniform. Genser suggested each area be reviewed before city workers repaint a curb or parking space.
City Hall staffers countered that the current, complaint-driven process for re-evaluating parking spaces seemed to be working well, adding there were budget and workload limitations hindering the city from re-evaluating red curbs and parking spaces citywide.
“It would be good to remember a couple things,” City Manager Susan McCarthy said. “When you consider the kinds of comments that we get about service levels from our departments … truly, this is not something that they can do systematically, without another increment of resource and a special project.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 11, 2004. Read the original PDF.