Sherman Oaks : More Parking Spaces Due Near Boulevard

A public parking lot that has been closed for more than a year--putting pressure on Ventura Boulevard businesses and sending overflow parking into residential neighborhoods--will be partially reopened within the next two weeks, according to the developer.

About 50 spaces, contained within a new parking structure, should be available by then, said Howard Katz, housing consultant for Sherman Oaks Community Housing Corp., which is building a senior housing project above the parking structure at Dickens Street and Cedros Avenue.

The remaining 159 spaces will probably be opened to the public by early August, Katz said.

Even when the parking structure is fully operational, construction will continue overhead on the senior apartments, which will occupy two stories above two levels of public parking. The apartment building itself is slated to be completed in the spring or summer of next year, Katz said.

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., said he hopes the Housing Corp.--an affiliate organization of the Jewish Federation Council--will take steps to make the parking structure inviting to motorists. Close noted that drivers often perceive enclosed parking garages as being less safe than open lots.

Katz said that along an alley running parallel to and just south of Ventura Boulevard, the garage has a number of large openings that give it an airy, open feeling.

Close said he also would like to see a good lighting system, surveillance cameras and other safety features installed in the garage.

The garage has lights but no cameras, Katz said.

Such safety features “are not our responsibility. That’s the city’s responsibility,” Katz said.