City Council scheduled to move forward on Bicycle Parking Facilities

At tonights meeting , City Council is due to move forward on the plan for the Grant-Funded Bicycle Parking Facilities in Parking Structures 7 & 8 at just under $1.4 million dollars.
See tonights agenda here.  Staff report here.
Here is an excerpt of the staff report concerning this project:

Background

The City’s Downtown Urban Design Plan adopted in 1997 emphasizes balancing the streets to accommodate mixed modes of traffic, making streets bicycle-friendly, and providing bicycle parking throughout downtown with activated storefronts to enliven the pedestrian experience.  The City’s Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) adopted this year identifies an increase in bicycling as necessary for the City to reach its goals of reducing auto trips, meeting its greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments, and promoting active living.  Facilities listed in the LUCE to support increased bicycling include secure bike parking and bicycle-transit centers with additional amenities such as showers and repair services.

Is this really the beginning of what we’ve been asking for?  It’s certainly a start.  I have to wonder what happened to the initially proposed plan that included Parking Structure #2. That would ultimately seem to have been better because it afforded facilities at both ends of the of the Promenade.  We can add that to our wish list.

Tomorrow night, Major Santa Monica Development,
SuperBlock at the old PaperMate Site

Wednesday night, City officials will hold a public meeting at Virginia Avenue Park at 7pm to discuss the Bergamot Transit Village Center Project. Officials are set to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the mixed-use village comprised of creative arts, residential and retail uses on the site of the old PaperMate Plant .  The Development Agreement from a special meeting of the Cities Planning Commission back in January can be found here in section 5-A.

See the article in the todays LookOut News, which describes in more detail the sheer magnitude of this project and how it will likely impact this already congested area.

I paraphrase what Allison Kendall, of Kendall Planning + Design recently had this to say about this the proposed project.

This PaperMate site is enormous, and nearly as critical to bicycle and pedestrian access to the Expo station as the Agensys site.  …..Currently, the fact that the current development doesn’t include a sidewalk on Olympic and forces a strange geometry on the 26th and Olympic intersection means lots of high speed car traffic and danger for both pedestrians and cyclists, especially those coming South down 26th to Bergamot station , ….

Inserting 1 million square feet of mixed use development onto an area which already has some of the worst congestion in the city will call for some amazingly effective disincentives to driving and amenities for other modes.  A full scale BikeStation and bike sharing/rental facility, plus showers, widened and improved bike lanes in all directions, major subdivisions of the “superblock” and onsite eating and retail might be among the amenities.

There is also an obvious need to provide frequent future transit service along 26th and probably Stewart as well to serve the Expo station and the transit village.  Amenities for transit riders and provision of free monthly Metro or BBB passes to all employees and residents provided by employers or building owners should be a requirement—this was very effective in Santa Clara County with the “EcoPass”.

It’s also been noted that it’s not just the sheer volume of parking but the fact that parking costs are “bundled” into housing unit costs rather than paid for as an amenity by car owners.  This drives up the cost of the units for all tenants regardless of whether they have a car or not and does nothing to promote the car free lifestyle the city has stated they want to support.

Come out to hear first hand what the city has planned with this SuperBlock project and how they propose handling the congestion it will surely bring to the surrounding area.  Will the city make good on all the talk about committing to active living and bicycle infrastructure?

Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Virginia Avenue Park.