Council
Zones Out High School Drivers
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By Anita Varghese
Staff Writer
September 14 -- A residential
neighborhood near Santa Monica High
School got some parking relief Tuesday,
when the City Council voted 4 to 1
to designate the streets used by students
during school hours a restricted parking
zone.
The neighborhood south of Pico Boulevard and
west of Lincoln Boulevard, across the street from
the high school, was the last remaining neighborhood
adjacent to the campus to not have preferential
parking regulations.
“I am a prisoner in my home maybe eight
months out of the year,” said resident Jennifer
Hornstock. “I cannot leave my home during
the day for fear that I will not be able to park
anywhere near the street I live on when I come
back with bags full of groceries.”
Residents to the east of Lincoln, both north
and south of Pico, have been granted preferential
restrictions over the last five years, shifting
more demand for parking into the neighborhood
surrounding the Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica
Hotel.
This area has not been granted restrictions because
it is located in the California Coastal Zone,
and the California Coastal Commission had previously
indicated that additional daytime restrictions
would not be approved.
However, the commission recently indicated that
City staff could ask for parking restrictions
if staff clearly finds parking demand is from
the high school and not related to beach access.
“This is an area where people are experiencing
parking occupancies that make it hard for them
to park on the street,” said Lucy Dyke,
the City’s transportation planning manager.
“Some people in the neighborhoods a little
further away are concerned about the impact of
regulations on them and that conditions might
get worse in their areas,” she said.
The council action comes six years after residents
of the 600 and 700 block of Bay Street, between
Lincoln Boulevard and Sixth Street, filed a preferential
parking petition.
The entire area south to Ocean Park Boulevard
and west towards, but not including Fourth Street,
also was pre-approved for preferential parking
restrictions.
In creating Zone U, the City can now enforce
a set of specific regulations -- no parking between
7 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, except
by permit, on Bay Street between Lincoln Boulevard
and Sixth Street and Sixth Street between Pico
Boulevard and the eastern portion dead end.
A two-hour parking limit between 7 a.m. and 6
p.m., Monday through Friday, except by permit,
has been established for the following streets:
- Bay Street between Sixth and Fourth
Streets
- Grant Street between Lincoln
Boulevard and Sixth Street
- Pacific Street between Lincoln
Boulevard and Fourth Street
- Strand Street between Seventh
and Fourth Streets
- Kensington Road between Seventh
Street and Beverley Avenue
- Hollister Avenue between Beverley
and Fourth Street
- Seventh Street between Grant
Street and Ocean Park Boulevard
- Beverley Avenue between Kensington
Road and Ocean Park Boulevard
- Fifth and Sixth Streets between
Bay Street and Ocean Park Boulevard
“Zone U is not a single-family
neighborhood, but a multi-family neighborhood,”
said Grant Street resident James Duford.
“Parking restrictions will not
be a complete solution, but at least
it will offer some relief.
“Even when school is not in session, there
would be days where parking is difficult, but
we can find a spot one block away,” he said.
“When school is in session, it is more like
three blocks away.”
A group of Santa Monica High School students
wanted the Council to delay approving Zone U until
the School Board hears a proposal to subsidize
student parking at the newly built Civic Center
Parking Structure.
The high school currently uses a lottery to issue
permits for 40 spaces available at the school’s
own parking lot for 12th grade students.
“We understand the concerns of the homeowners,
but for the four years we attend SaMo, it is like
a home to us too,” said student Ben Walker.
Gordon Anderson, assistant city manager, said
he had two meetings with school district officials
to discuss reducing rates so that students could
park at the Civic Center Parking Structure.
Students pay a fee that amounts to $25 per month
to park at the high school.
Any Santa Monica resident for $75 plus tax can
purchase a Civic Center Parking Structure monthly
pass.
“There is a parking option for students
and parents to avail themselves to at the Civic
Center Parking Structure,” Gordon said.
Dyke said if progress is not made by school district
officials to utilize the Civic Center Parking
Structure, City staff will look at opportunities
for students to receive a reduced parking rate
at the cheaper Main Library Parking Structure.
Council member Pam O’Connor cast the sole
vote against Zone U, predicting it would push
the parking crunch to neighboring streets without
parking restrictions.
“What we are going to hear, in a number
of years or so, is that other adjacent neighborhoods
will start to have a parking problem,” O’Connor
said.
“I can support a two-hour parking restriction
sometimes, but I especially don’t
support the no parking restriction,”
she said. “This zone just pushes
the problem somewhere else.”
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