PCH Parking Ban in Hermosa Delayed

Hit the brakes, Hermosa!

After announcing that its long-sought parking ban on Pacific Coast Highway in Hermosa Beach would become effective next week, Caltrans officials said Thursday that they will give the city until June 3 to get used to the idea.

“The city has requested time to notify everybody and make sure they all know it’s going to happen, and we’re trying to be sympathetic with their desires,” said Dave Gilstrap, a Caltrans senior transportation engineer.

“So we’ll just give everybody a little grace period in there so they aren’t hit with it all at once.”

The postponement means that, beginning June 3, anyone who parks on the west side of PCH between 3 and 7 p.m. on weekdays will be subject to towing, city officials said.

Signs ordering the ban are to be erected along the highway this weekend, but will be covered with a notice saying the new restrictions won’t become effective until next month.

The ban, which is to be re-evaluated after a year, is intended to improve safety along Hermosa Beach’s 1.7 miles of PCH, and to clear one of the South Bay’s most notorious commuter bottlenecks.

However, it has been opposed for more than 20 years by Hermosa Beach merchants and city officials, who say clearing a third lane for PCH commuters will eliminate parking crucial to merchants along the coastal thoroughfare and turn the city’s major street into a speedway.