Cheers Greet ‘No’ Vote on Santa Monica Parking Garage

Amid loud cheers and applause, the Santa Monica City Council did an about-face early Wednesday and rejected a staff-recommended, four-story parking garage that included units of affordable housing on trendy Main Street.

After a marathon session with more than 100 people speaking against and for the project, the council voted 5 to 2 to scuttle the proposed garage and investigate other alternatives for parking.

About half the audience wore red to show opposition to the structure, which would have occupied a two-block lot on Neilson Way between Hill and Kinney streets.

Many also sported fluorescent green stickers that said: “No Structure of Any Kind.”

“We’d have to rename that part of the city ‘Concrete Park’ or ‘Granite City,’ ” said Femmy DeLyser, a resident opposed to the garage. DeLyser showed the council slides of yellow balloons that had been flown 42 feet in the air on the street where the garage would be built, in an attempt to demonstrate the height of the proposed project.

For more than a decade, the council has debated solutions for the parking congestion along Main Street.

But at Tuesday’s meeting, held to discuss the proposal, many area merchants questioned whether a parking problem exists.

“If we are going to be the main beneficiaries of this project, and the majority of us don’t want it, then who is it for? “ argued Susan Lieberman, who owns the Paris 1900 antique clothing store on Main Street.

Affordable Housing

Last February, the council gave preliminary approval to develop the garage structure, including offices, 158 parking spaces and 49 apartment units for low-income families.

Mayor Dennis Zane was a councilman then, when he requested the inclusion of affordable housing in the project. His aim was to prevent developers from building on top of the structure and to partially alleviate the city’s low-income housing shortage.

The seven-hour meeting, which began Tuesday and dragged on into Wednesday, centered on two issues: parking and affordable housing. Many opposed to the structure stressed that they were not opposed to low-income housing, and some suggested that it had been included for purely political reasons.

The common concern of both merchants and residents opposed to the project was aesthetics. Both groups said the character of Main Street would be changed by a large parking structure. Others said the proposed building would be too tall and could block sunlight and sea breezes. Some referred to the “open space” feeling that the street has maintained.

“Main Street has a charming atmosphere of its own, which is inviting to people who want an alternative to the mall,” said Renee Ellis, an area resident who argued against the project.

“We are saving something that could perish, and that is the beauty of Santa Monica,” said Dolores Sloan, another resident. “We have a priceless heritage here.”

Others argued that a new parking structure would not alleviate traffic and parking problems but would, in fact, worsen them by creating the illusion that parking was abundantly available.

‘A Real Solution’

Many merchants also said their businesses would not survive the estimated six months of construction at the proposed intersection. Some opponents claimed the construction would take even longer, up to a year and a half.

Richard Orton of the Ocean Park Community Organization warned the council that its vote would indicate whether or not Santa Monica was a “medieval fiefdom under control of a few wealthy landowners.”

But Russell Bernard, president of the Main Street Property Owners Assn., said the structure would be “a real solution that will have long-term benefits” to the community.

“This has gone on a long time,” Bernard said of the parking debate, “and it’s not going to go away.”

While some merchants defended the need for additional parking and voiced support for the structure, most who spoke in favor of the project were advocates of affordable housing.

Elena Popp, director of Westside Legal Services, said there are 10,000 homeless people on the Westside. “Affordable housing is a real need,” she said. “I encourage the council to reject the ‘not-in-my-back-yard’ attitude.”

After voting against the project, the council passed a motion to consider alternative parking solutions, including building a partially subterranean garage that would not exceed 10 feet in height.

The council also unanimously approved Councilwoman Christine Reed’s proposal to create new parking spaces by redrawing the lines on Santa Monica Pier to make parking spaces diagonal, and re-designate some red curb zones.

Reed, who voted against rejecting the project, said she was skeptical of the argument that there is no parking problem on Main Street.

“We’re setting the street up for failure in the long run,” Reed said, adding that she has not forgotten the parking “crisis situation” on Main Street that existed 10 years ago.

Joining Reed in dissenting was Councilwoman Judy Abdo.

The city Planning Commission has anticipated a demand for 350 additional parking spaces on Main Street. Other alternatives to be studied include the reinstatement of a shuttle to encourage use of often-empty beach lots, and a re-examination of the Main Street trolley service.