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# Thanks a lot: SMC to increase parking capacity
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/thanks-a-lot-smc-to-increase-parking-capacity/
- Published: 2006-11-24T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T23:09:46.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Dearth of parking an issue*

SMC — The students here might have to find another excuse as to why they’re late to class.

A 250-space parking lot for Santa Monica College students could soon be in the works after the Board of Trustees authorized the college president to enter into an agreement to purchase a 2.35-acre lot on Exposition Boulevard.

Using money from Measure U, a $160 million bond measure that voters passed in 2002 for capital improvements to SMC, the college is expected to purchase the property at 2909 Exposition Blvd., about 1.2 miles from the main campus.

President Dr. Chui L. Tsang expects to execute the contract with Verizon, the property owner, in December for approximately $17.3 million.

The new lot is expected to alleviate a long-standing parking problem at the college, which has leased a city-owned satellite lot on Barnard Way, south of Lincoln Boulevard near the beach, since the summer of 2005.

Approximately 7,000 students purchased the $75 permit to park at the commuter school for the fall semester. Unlike other schools in the area with parking shortages, such as UCLA, where the coveted permits are granted on a needs basis, SMC sells the rearview mirror ornament to any student who wishes to purchase one.

Students have access to approximately 2,000 parking spaces during the day and about 2,500 spaces at night on the main campus. There are also 1,400 additional parking spaces available at the satellite lots. Though 7,000 students do have permits, not all of them park on campus at the same time.

The new lot is seen as attractive because of its location in an industrial area close to the college.

“The disturbance to neighbors will be minimal,” Tsang said on Wednesday. “It will also shorten the distance a shuttle bus would have to travel.”

Since most students travel from the east end of the city, the location of the new lot would be more convenient than the beach lot located further west of the campus.

Since Verizon uses the lot to store its trucks, there will be very minimal, if any, changes to the layout of the lot. As of now, the lot would be used for surface parking and there are no plans to build a structure, Tsang said.

“We haven’t heard any concerns from residents,” Tsang said.

It’s a different story from when the college first began leasing the beach satellite lot in Ocean Park, causing neighbors in the area to voice concerns about the increase in traffic.

During the busy times of the day, the shuttle stops by the beach lot every 15 minutes.

Parking has been an issue at SMC since 1988, when the city first implemented a residential street permit parking system in areas around the college, said SMC Public Information Officer Bruce Smith. SMC began offering a shuttle parking system at Santa Monica Airport until 1993, when a new structure opened at 16th Street and Pico Boulevard.

The parking situation seemed solved until the 1994 Northridge earthquake, when one of the parking structures on campus was destroyed.

“We went back to the airport shuttle lot system (after the earthquake),” Smith said.

When the city began plans to build a soccer field at the airport site, SMC began leasing the city-owned lot near the beach at Barnard Way for $6,400 a month.

Students who park at the 400-space parking lot reach the campus two miles away via shuttle,which costs the college approximately $300,000 a year to operate. Though there are up to 400 spaces available,only about 250 students park in the lot at any one time.

The operating cost of the shuttle is not expected to change once the satellite beach lot closes and the new lot on Exposition Boulevard opens.

The college will examine ways to lessen the impact the new parking lot would have on the neighborhood and identify routes to avoid residential areas, said SMC Board of Trustees Chairwoman Nancy Greenstein.

“We’re trying to arrange parking for the students in the least impactful way possible for the community,” Greenstein said. “This hopefully is part of a long-term strategy.”

“This is great news,” said Joel Brand, vice president of the Ocean Park Association, upon learning the news on Wednesday that SMC students will soon be driving their cars to Exposition Boulevard, not Barnard Way.

When the school first approached the city about leasing the beach lot, the neighbors were assured it would be temporary, for one semester. The lease was extended for an additional semester and the neighbors were once again told the students would be gone within months, Brand said.

That lease was then extended again. In the meantime, the neighbors saw an increase in traffic to an area already crowded area.

“The college has taken a number of steps to help address those concerns, but it took a long time for the college to get to that point,” Brand said.

The neighbors started seeing changes and improvements once Tsang became president of the college in February.

“Moving away from the beach and closer to campus makes a lot of sense, both in terms of the impact on the Ocean Park neighborhood, the point of view of the students at the college and the environment” Brand said. “It didn’t make sense to have 1,000 students drive all the way through Santa Monica to be bused back to the college.”

The shuttle operates for free for students on Monday through Thursday, from 6:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. The shuttle does not operate on Fridays, when the college only offers a few classes.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 24, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/112406.pdf?ref=smdp.com)