BOYLE HEIGHTS : Parking Facility OKd for Chicago Street

In an effort to ease parking problems, a city zoning administrator last week approved construction of a second parking facility in the congested Chicago Street commercial area.

The surface lot will provide 47 metered spaces from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily to serve neighboring businesses, said Patricia G. Cunningham, senior management analyst with the city Bureau of Parking Management.

The parking lot will be on St. Louis Street. Drivers will be able to enter it from Chicago Street.

“I believe this lot is going to be of great value to the community,” Cunningham said at a hearing before Associate Zoning Administrator Daniel Green.

Because of a city hiring freeze, the landscaping will be done by an outside contractor, Cunningham said, and the bidding process will delay construction, which probably will not begin for about one year. The cost for building a landscaped, one-story structure usually runs $3,000 per parking space, she said.

The facility will have six-foot-high walls and a wrought-iron fence, in addition to drought-resistant landscaping. The city will contract with a security company for guards, Cunningham said.

“We will have a very active enforcement presence at this lot,” she said. “They will let us know if the lot needs extra cleaning or if there are things we need to do that we aren’t. We also need the community to be our eyes and ears and say that they will be active in this lot and protect it as their own.”

Green approved the request for a conditional-use permit, which was necessary because the facility will be on a residential street, on the condition that the Los Angeles Police Department review the plans for security and physical layout and make suggestions for improving safety.

The city recently started reviewing bids for construction of a parking facility on Chicago Street south of 4th Street that will have approximately 98 metered spaces.