Plan Would Add Parking at Valley Subway Stations

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

The plan, which involves restriping both existing lots and paving a new parking lot in North Hollywood, would add 279 parking spaces to the existing 847 at the North Hollywood station and would provide 77 new spots to complement the 330 at Universal City.

MTA Administrator Julian Burke developed the proposal at the request of county supervisor and MTA board member Zev Yaroslavsky, who said the agency also will step up enforcement against those who park in the lots but don’t use the subway, with scofflaws having their cars towed.

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

Yaroslavsky also proposed that the MTA hire a consultant to come up with a long-term solution to the parking problem at the two San Fernando Valley stations.

“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 in 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 leave their car.

“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, which requires construction equipment to be staged from land proposed to eventually become parking.

“This [plan] is a good interim step, but the best thing they can do is complete construction ASAP,” 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.

*

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 could free up dozens of spaces, Yaroslavsky said.

About 30 spaces will be gained at each station by restriping the lots to provide more smaller spaces in the next few months.

A large road down the center of the North Hollywood lot is wide enough to allow striping for 44 diagonal parking spaces, the supervisor said.

The restriping of the two lots will cost about $50,000.

The biggest addition of spaces will come from the paving of about 2 1/2 acres that the MTA owns near the old train depot across Lankershim Boulevard from the subway station.

That project would cost up to $500,000 and provide 205 additional parking 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 subway.

Yaroslavsky agreed.

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” he said. “The response to this Red Line exceeded everyone’s expectations.”