MTA Plan Would Increase Parking at 2 New Stations

Facing a parking crunch caused by higher-than-expected subway ridership, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials Wednesday proposed a $500,000 project to increase parking at the North Hollywood and Universal City stations.

The plan, which involves re-striping both existing lots and paving a new lot in North Hollywood, would add 279 spaces to the current 847 at the North Hollywood station and 77 to the 330 at Universal City.

MTA administrator Julian Burke developed the proposal at the request of county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, an MTA board member, who said the agency also will increase enforcement against drivers who park in the lots but don’t use the subway. Their cars will be towed.

The proposal may be presented to the MTA board today, Yaroslavsky said, although a spokesman for Burke said it may not be ready for action until September.

Yaroslavsky also proposed that the MTA hire a consultant to come up with a long-term solution to the parking problem.

“This is a significant step in the right direction,” Yaroslavsky said. “It’s going to help. It will produce several hundred new spaces so people won’t have to circle around looking for a place to park their car.”

Since the last leg of the Red Line subway system opened in June, parking has been hard to find during peak hours at the two stations, officials say. The MTA said that average daily boardings and arrivals at North Hollywood reached 15,902 last month.

Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Homeowners Assn., said he knows of people who have decided against using the subway because they fear they will have no place to park.

“To heavily promote a state-of-the-art transit system and not provide adequate parking to use it is a folly,” Lucente said.

At Universal City, a large part of the problem is caused by ongoing construction of a bridge. Construction equipment is taking up space that eventually will be available for parking.

“This [plan] is a good interim step, but the best thing they can do is complete construction” as soon as possible, Lucente said.

Additionally, Lucente said some people are parking at the subway station and taking a tram to Universal Studios to avoid having to pay for parking there.

MTA officials estimate that up to 20% of the people using the parking lots at the two stations are not using the subway, so enforcement of parking rules could free up dozens of spaces, Yaroslavsky said.

The biggest addition of spaces will come from paving about 2.5 acres that the MTA owns at the old train depot across Lankershim Boulevard from the subway station.

That project will cost up to $500,000 and provide 205 additional spaces, Yaroslavsky said.

Word of the plan was welcomed by business leaders in the area, including Loretta Dash, president of the Universal City/North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

“I’m thrilled,” Dash said. “My husband has found he has to get to the station by 7:30 [a.m.] or he doesn’t find a parking space.”

However, she questioned how the MTA will determine whose car should be towed.

Dash said the MTA underestimated how many people would use the subways.

Yaroslavsky agreed.

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” he said.

“The response to this Red Line exceeded everyone’s expectations.”