How Tall Is Garage? Jury May Rule

Multiple choice question: Is this parking structure

(a) three stories?

(b) four stories?

(c) five stories?

(d) one continuous spiral?

(e) a case for the Los Angeles County Grand Jury?

City officials pick “e” and are drafting a letter they hope will persuade the grand jury to resolve the matter once and for all.

Some irate residents near the Garfield Medical Center’s parking structure count five stories, and say it violates the city’s three-story maximum for that area. The height limits are part of Proposition A, which was passed by voters in October, 1987.

City officials, who approved construction of the 40-foot-high parking lot last year, say it is legal because it is a parking structure, not a commercial building, and is exempt from the three-story provision.

The structure “actually consists of one large spiral,” attorney Stephanie R. Scher wrote last year in a memo to City Manager Mark Lewis. Scher is with the Los Angeles law firm Brown, Winfield & Canzoneri, which provides legal services for Monterey Park. “Because of the spiral structure of the floors of the parking structure, it would be impossible to apply the definition of story as found in the Municipal Code.”

But a handful of residents still are not satisfied, and have accused the city and medical center of using semantics to defend an illegal project. Week after week, they have shown up at City Council meetings to complain that the parking structure has generated more traffic, crime and gang activity in their neighborhood.

“It’s just a play on words,” said Robert Lujan, who lives near the hospital. “It’s ridiculous to say, ‘These things are ramps and we can’t tell how many stories there are.’ ”

So, last week, the City Council, at Mayor Judy Chu’s request, decided to ask the grand jury for a second opinion.

“We are at a complete stalemate with nobody to arbitrate,” Chu said Tuesday.

Grand jury officials could not be reached for comment on whether they will take the case.