Structure Planned to Ease Parking Crunch

Area residents should be able to spend more time shopping and less time looking for a parking space once the new police parking structure near the Civic Center is completed.

Planning for the estimated $4-million project was finished last week, police officials said. The design calls for 2 1/2 levels of parking on the corner of Tyrone Avenue and Sylvan Street, near Van Nuys Boulevard and the Civic Center. The structure will provide parking for 500 vehicles--a combination of police vehicles and the employees’ private vehicles.

On most days, officials said, the spaces lining Van Nuys Boulevard are filled with the officers’ cars before businesses even open.

“This area has a colossal history for being a terrible place to park,” said Officer Steve Hatfield, acting commanding officer of the facilities maintenance division of the LAPD. “There is no doubt this will improve the situation.”

Funds for the project have been obtained through 1989’s Proposition 2, the Police Facilities Bond measure.

Hatfield said the project will probably be put out to bid in early January to avoid the holiday season. “It’s always hard to get something like this going this time of year,” Hatfield said.

The police parking structure is just one part of a planned overhaul of the Civic Center area. Plans are in motion to create a Business Improvement District, said a spokesman for City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who represents the area.