MTA to Add Rail Station Parking Lot

In an abrupt about-face, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to pave over an empty lot adjacent to the North Hollywood subway station to ease the chronic parking shortage that has annoyed commuters.

Red Line riders were relieved at the news, even as they hunted for a rare empty space Friday.

“It will help,” said Lorenzo Guzman, 20, after circling the Lankershim Boulevard lot for nearly 10 minutes to score a spot. But, “They should build a two-story structure. This isn’t going to cut it.”

Since the subway station at Chandler and Lankershim boulevards opened in June, the 847-space lot has been filled to capacity by midday. MTA officials initially refused to open a second lot, even when their own surveys showed gridlock, saying motorists should find other ways to get to the subway.

The MTA did take other measures, such as re-striping lanes to add 72 spots. After finally caving in to public pressure, the agency now plans to use one of several empty lots nearby to increase parking by about 25%.

In August, Los Angeles county supervisor and MTA board member Zev Yaroslavsky said that limiting parking would be a way to change commuting behavior and encourage people to use other means to get to the subway.

“Whatever I said, I don’t believe it’s all or nothing,” Yaroslavksy said Friday, in applauding the plan to provide more parking. “It’s not ‘no parking’ or ‘limited parking’ or ‘Everyone has to use the bus.’ ”

Even with additional parking, meeting demand will be a challenge, he said. “I hope we encourage people over time to use public transport, but we can’t withhold parking to get them to do it.”

MTA officials said they do not want the North Hollywood station--the end of the Red Line in the Valley--to become a giant parking lot. But the agency is expected to approve a plan next week to pave and add lights to a 2.6-acre parcel it owns across Lankershim from the station.

The dusty patch of land bounded by Chandler, Lankershim and Tujunga boulevards is also home to an historic rail station that dates to the 1890s. The wooden structure was also in various eras a Red Car trolley station and a lumber warehouse for Hendricks Builders Supply Co. It will stay fenced off, awaiting preservation efforts.

Motorists will have to be patient for the new lot. The MTA said it expects the $352,000 conversion, which will add 220 spaces, to be completed in two to three months.

And though the new lot is eagerly awaited, it will be only temporary. The MTA believes a second parking area will be unnecessary after a proposed rapid busway along Chandler Boulevard is built, said Jim de la Loza, MTA’s executive officer of planning and programming.

Instead, subway riders would be funneled off the new busway. They could park cars at small lots along the bus route and then hop aboard the bus to reach the subway, instead of driving all the way to the North Hollywood station.

Parking is also in demand at the Universal City station. Re-striping has added 39 spots to the 312-space lot, said MTA spokesman Ed Scannell, and by month’s end, another 39 spots will be added.

In the meantime, parking remains a major concern of many commuters.

“There needs to be more spaces, if they want more riders,” said Barbara Kleinschmitt of Mission Hills, who grabbed a spot at the North Hollywood lot Friday.