El Monte : Frustration Over Parking

Frustration with the city’s worsening parking problems surfaced at the City Council meeting during discussion of a proposed 11-unit housing development on Elliott Avenue.

Although the Planning Commission had unanimously recommended approval of the project, the council held out for more parking than the three spaces per unit required by code. The council voted 3 to 2 to approve the development with condition that developer Davy Leung work with the Planning Department and insert as many more parking spaces as possible.

Leung asked the council not to “change the rules in the middle of the game,” noting that his project met all code requirements.

Speaking out against the growing parking shortage, Mulhall Street resident Rito Magallanez said: “We have been here 30 years and we’re ready to move. We’re disgusted.” In some cases, Magallanez said, four or five families rent one house and maintain seven or eight cars.

A special joint meeting of the council and the Planning Commission will be held Monday to discuss concerns over development, density, parking and open space issues.