Council Green Lights College Parking Structure; Gives Final Go-ahead to RAND

By Teresa Rochester

Santa Monica College is one step closer to replacing a parking structure damaged beyond repair in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

On Tuesday night, the Santa Monica City Council voted unanimously to approve in concept the 131,600-square-foot parking structure that would be situated on the current site of the City's municipal swimming pool.

"We're very pleased with the vote of City Council members," said SMC President Dr. Piedad Robertson. "We applaud the work that was done by City staff. They were instrumental in getting this completed and successfully presented to the City Council.

"It is a magnificent step forward on behalf of the students and the Board of Trustees," Robertson said. "I join in thanking the City Council for the right vote."

The Council also voted 5 to 2 - Mayor Ken Genser and Councilman Kevin McKeown dissented - to certify the final Environmental Impact Report for the project that will replace parking spaces lost in the temblor.

"The traffic impacting the Pico neighborhood wasn't adequately looked at," Genser said after the meeting. He pointed out that a number of the 27 speakers that addressed the Council said they were worried about the impacts the structure would have on the neighborhoods north of Pico Boulevard.

The five-level, 486-space parking structure will be located along Pico Boulevard and 17th Street, between the Technology and Physical Education buildings with an entrance at that location.

The old structure (which is the site of the new pool) was accessed via both 16th and 17th streets. The current entrance along Pico will be widened to accommodate access to the new structure and will be reconfigured to improve internal campus access to another parking structure and the new pool, according to a staff report.

Genser and McKeown also voted against a statement of overriding consideration that would allow some traffic mitigation measures that would have their own negative impacts. One such mitigation measure included the possible installment of a left turn lane on Pico Boulevard to the College driveway entrance. The turn lane would have resulted in the loss of 13 metered spaces on the street.

In July the City's Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council certify the EIR, but in a 4 to 0 decision the commission recommended that the Council look at alternative ways of mitigating the traffic generated by the proposed structure.

Since the loss of the 374-space parking structure in the 1994 earthquake, the College has attempted to alleviate the parking crunch by offering shuttle services, satellite campuses with their own bookstores and distance learning opportunities, including classes via the Internet.

"I was impressed with the progress the College was making to reduce car trips to the college," said Councilman Paul Rosenstein after the meeting. "They gave us an impressive list of things they're doing to minimize traffic."

Tuesday night's meeting marked the first time SMC President, Dr. Piedad Robertson has gone before the City Council since unveiling a controversial plan that calls for, among other things, the City to provide $18 million annually to the College and Santa Monica public schools.

In a separate measure, the council approved the Development Agreement between the City and the RAND Corporation, paving the way for RAND's development of a new headquarters building near the corner of Main Street and Pico Boulevard.

The agreement includes several modifications made by the council after it certified the Environmental Impact Report for the project last month. The modifications relate to thresholds for administrative or Council review of potential future tenants, addition of a pedestrian pathway on the property, a city option to require future relocation of the Main Street driveway to Olympic Drive and provisions to reduce construction effects on neighbors.

In addition, RAND will work in good faith with the city to explore several "green building" energy and water conservation features for the development. Second reading and adoption of the implementing ordinance is scheduled for Oct. 10.