Councilman Paul Krekorian’s Metro Motion Brings More Parking at the NoHo Red Line Station
We’ve got good news for the NoHo Arts District! The Metro Board of Directors approved a project proposed by City Councilmember and Metro Director Paul Krekorian that will provide 200 new parking spaces for transit riders at the Red Line station by converting nearby vacant property.
“The lack of parking spaces is a well-known problem at the North Hollywood Red Line station,” said Councilmember Krekorian. “Right now, we have 951 spaces that are nearly 100 percent full by 9 a.m. each day. That leaves hundreds of potential riders without a place to park, causing them to drive to work in heavy traffic instead. This program will add 20 percent more parking to the station and encourage more riders to take Metro.”
The project has a $1.4 million budget and will be completed by June 2015.
According to the Metro report on Councilmember Krekorian’s NoHo Red Line parking motion: “The Metro Red Line North Hollywood station parking consists of 951 spaces that daily operate at an over 95% use. Staff estimates that approximately 1,000 potential riders do not use our system per day due to the lack of available parking. Converting the available parcel to approximately 200 spaces will help meet this demand and serve Metro’s sustainability agenda.
Metro staff reviewed parking surfaces that have low installation costs, low removal costs and do not require extensive drainage or costly improvements to help water run- off or water capture. Staff determined that it is not feasible to recapture the full costs of installing conventional paving material given the high construction costs of asphalt or concrete surface parking lots, demolition of the parking lots and ongoing operating costs for the parking site within 10 years (see Attachment B for detailed material/cost analysis). Therefore, at the March 20, 2013 meeting staff recommended and the Board approved a demonstration project using temporary parking surface material for the construction that was more cost-effective and feasible for short term use.
Staff has acquired the required environmental clearances and the City of Los Angeles has completed the design review for the Metro Red Line North Hollywood Station Chandler park and ride demonstration lot. Since this project is not included in the Capital Program approved by the Board in May 2014 as part of the FY 2015 Adopted Budget, Staff is requesting the Board’s authorization for the Life-of-Project (LOP) and budget amendment to fund this capital project in FY 2015. Upon approval of the budget amendment, staff will initiate the procurement immediately. It is estimated that the construction of demonstration parking lot will be completed in June 2015 or five months after contract award.”
For more details: http://media.metro.net/board/Items/2014/10_october/20141002rbmitem20.pdf
Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, represents Council District 2, which includes the east San Fernando Valley. He is also one of two LA Councilmembers on the Metro Board of Directors. His website is cd2.lacity.org, where you can sign up for news updates. Visit him on Twitter (@PaulKrekorian) or Facebook.
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