Pier Parking Plan Moves Spaces to New Garage

The Santa Monica City Council will spend $300,000 to draw up preliminary designs. The 280-stall structure would do little to solve the parking problems along the gridlocked beach front.

A three-story parking garage—perhaps like the airy cement structure in Miami that doubles as a glamorous event venue—could be the city’s solution to getting cars off the congested Santa Monica Pier deck.

Public works staffers propose wiping out 270 parking spaces at the deck and replacing them with a 280-space garage at a city-owned plot north of the pier, adjacent to Lot 1N. Formerly home to the Deauville Beach Club, the site is currently used to store unsightly beach maintenance equipment.

The existing sidewalks on the shoulders of the roadway leading to the pier deck are often jammed, leaving little room for the disabled and parents pushing strollers, city officials said. But their proposal would only add an additional 10 spaces when umpteen more are needed to solve the parking woes plaguing the beachfront, residents and businesses say.

“The idea here is to separate cars and vehicular movements from heavy pedestrian use on the pier, increasing safety and freeing up 24 percent of the pier deck for other uses,” said City Manager Rod Gould.
Other uses could include additional visitor services, attractions, or the deck could be kept as open, public space with amenities for families.