Santa Monica OKs City College Parking Project

Despite claims from neighboring residents that the traffic analysis for the project was flawed, the Santa Monica City Council has approved an agreement that would allow construction of two four-story parking structures at Santa Monica City College.

After nearly four hours of discussion, which took the meeting past 1 a.m. Wednesday, opponents of the project could convince only two councilmen, Ken Genser and William H. Jennings, that the environmental impact report was flawed and that there may be other ways to provide parking for the 38-acre campus with its 24,730 students, many of them part time.

Councilwoman Christine Reed said the two garages, which would provide 1,274 new parking spaces on campus, are needed so that area residents can continue to get preferential parking.

Last year, permit parking for residents was established for a 15-block area around the campus, but only if the college and the city reached an agreement allowing the garages to be built. Had the council had not approved the agreement, preferential parking would have been revoked and students would once again have been allowed to park on neighboring streets.

“This is part of a long continuum,” Reed said. “Frankly, it’s frustrating to have heard hundreds of people with anecdotal evidence of the abusive behavior of college students asking for preferential parking and on-campus parking, and then to have a new group of residents come in and say they want something else.”

Residents near the campus had argued for the continued use of shuttle-served off-campus parking. But current off-campus parking sites at Santa Monica Municipal Airport and at Olympic and Cloverfield boulevards, which cost the city about $450,000 a year, are scheduled to be developed soon, and city officials said they could not continue to fund the service for more than three years.

College officials said they have looked for other sites, but none were economically feasible.

The two garages--one with an underground level--are estimated to cost about $9 million and are expected to be completed in late 1991.

Residents said college officials did not seriously consider alternatives to the garages or perform adequate traffic counts. They said additional traffic from the garages would pose a hazard, particularly to children at nearby elementary schools.

Residents have threatened to challenge the adequacy of the environmental impact report in court. They said Councilman Herb Katz was guilty of a conflict of interest in voting because he is married to college Trustee Ilona Katz.

City Atty. Robert Myers, however, announced before the 4-2 vote that the marriage did not prohibit Katz from voting.