For Old Towne Orange, planned structure could ease years of parking woes

Finding a place to park in Old Towne Orange may finally involve fewer trips rotating around the city’s picturesque plaza for an open spot.

After nearly a decade of work, 2017 is anticipated to be the year that crews will break ground on a 611-space parking structure to serve the various populations utilizing Orange’s historic downtown core.

The facility at 130 N. Lemon St. — about a three-minute walk from Plaza Park — would replace an existing city-owned flat lot near Orange’s Metrolink train station. The project is expected to cost about $20.5 million, $3.7 million of which is coming from Orange. The remaining funds are from the Orange County Transportation Authority.

The structure already has approval from Orange’s City Council, but is awaiting a vote from OCTA’s board on picking a construction firm. That could happen as soon as Monday, said OCTA spokesman Joel Zlotnik.

The structure comes after years of continued parking problems for Old Towne, a historic district distinctive in Orange County for its small-town charm and rows of well-kept, pre-World War II Victorian and Craftsman homes.

Kelly Borgen knows the problem first-hand. In her blog, I Heart Old Towne Orange, she professes an unabashed love for the area.

But sometimes she circles around the plaza, hoping during the passes to find a spot suddenly open up.

“The parking is terrible,” Borgen said. “A lot of people just go somewhere else. I’ve done it myself.”

Old Towne has 940 public parking spaces available on 13 lots, 172 of which are on the Lemon Street property where the structure is planned to be, said city spokesman Paul Sitkoff.

Borgen and city officials say demand is expected to increase with new businesses coming in and others remaining popular. One new establishment, Urth Caffé, is moving into a currently vacant building across from Plaza Park.

Efforts to handle the current demand are being addressed under a pilot valet parking program the council approved in May.

City officials are still working out the details of when the program will start. The service is expected to cost $6 and be available daily during lunch hours and after 5 p.m. From the drop-off point at 230 E. Chapman Ave., cars will get parked at one of the city-owned lots off Almond Avenue, Grand Street or at Orange City Hall.

The Old Towne Preservation Assn. and Orange Chamber of Commerce have each given a thumbs up for the parking structure. The association has been involved with it since the beginning, said its president, Sandy Quinn.

“Parking is an issue that is serious to the residents and to visitors,” he said. “That’s why we’ve supported it.”

Given the historic nature of Old Towne — whose historic district contains some 1,400 structures constructed before 1940 — the association had concerns about the parking structure’s height and overall appearance, Quinn said.

After years of community workshops and meetings, the end result is a five-story structure, with two of the stories underground, said Sitkoff. It will have a full-brick veneer over concrete, a design style inspired by what’s near it.

“It’s probably one of the most researched parking structures in city history,” Sitkoff said.

The structure has since been a continual effort beginning around 2009. Conceptually, it was included in various city studies and, at one point, two structures were proposed. In addition to using the Lemon Street property, the city considered building over the flat lot west of the train platform. The proposal was eventually scrapped because Metrolink officials had concerns about construction in close proximity to the railroad tracks.

Like all of Old Towne, which doesn’t have meters, parking in the structure will be free, at least initially.

There are no current plans to charge for parking, though the infrastructure for doing so will be included in the designs.

A significant number of spaces will be reserved for transit users, though a parking management plan has yet to be finalized, Sitkoff said.

Borgen said she hasn’t written about the structure yet on I Heart Old Towne Orange. She’s waiting until it’s closer to fruition.

“I’m really excited about it,” she said. “I think we desperately need a parking structure.”

bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint