SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Depot Parking Lot to Get a 2nd Level

A downtown parking lot next to the historic Capistrano Depot soon will get a new level of parking spaces for Amtrak commuters, the City Council decided this week.

The council voted 4 to 0 Tuesday night to approve a conceptual plan for a new $1.23-million parking deck. Mayor Gil Jones, who lives in the Los Rios Historic District nearby, abstained.

As envisioned by the council and city staff, the deck will be a 10-foot-high cap over the existing 78-space parking lot at the east side of the depot. Under the current plan, the deck will add 71 parking spaces for all-day parking.

“I think we can keep the same configuration,” said Douglas D. Dumhart, a city staff spokesman. “We probably won’t even re-stripe it if we don’t have to, just put a cap on top of the existing lot.”

Downtown parking, which is already limited, must now accommodate an estimated 280 Amtrak commuters daily, a number that is expected to grow to 1,000 by 1995, according to city staff estimates.

State funds from two 1990 bond acts voters approved have already been appropriated to pay for the deck construction, Dumhart said. The city has chipped in $384,000 to buy the parking lot right of way from individual property owners, Dumhart said.

“This is the best deal we have had come along in some time,” Jones said. “We have a free gift from the state, and if we don’t make this happen, we’re crazy.”

The council vote approved the parking deck in concept only. Proposals will be sought for actual design and construction work and for an engineering firm “to carry the project through the process,” Dumhart said.

Dumhart estimated that it could be at least two years before the project is completed.