Parking Garage

Although plans to build a parking structure in the newly renovated downtown of Hermosa Beach have received approval, construction of the 385-stall parking garage will be delayed by the prospect of El Nino winter storms. Construction of the parking facility was delayed while a group opposed to the garage sought to get a referendum on the November ballot. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of residents.

Federal funds for a 12,000-space parking structure, that is considered by the Walt Disney Co. to be pivotal in its plans to build the Westcot Center project, are expected to be included today in a massive national transportation bill now wending its way through the House.

City officials could move another step closer to building a badly needed downtown parking garage Monday when they consider an agreement outlining the construction and management terms for the proposed structure. The City Council already has approved a plan and earmarked money for the structure to be built near the northeast corner of California and Santa Clara streets. A design has not been chosen.

Turning aside complaints from several nearby residents, a Los Angeles City Council panel voted Tuesday to allow Paramount Studios to build a parking garage in Hollywood on land zoned for apartments. By a unanimous vote, the Board of Referred Powers overturned a zoning administrator's decision to block construction of the 5-story structure near the studio. The zoning official had ruled that the 953-space garage would "dramatically change" nearby residential areas and hurt property values.

When the Pageant of the Masters opened last summer in Laguna Beach, it took some people 90 minutes to drive eight miles along Laguna Canyon Road to the site of the annual summer extravaganza. This year, the congestion should be a little easier to live with, city officials say, thanks to expanded park-and-ride service and a new downtown parking garage.

Vandals punctured tires on about 60 foreign cars, including Mercedes-Benzes, Jaguars, BMWs, Volvos and others, on the fourth level of a parking garage at O'Hare International Airport, authorities said. Only two U.S.-made cars were vandalized, a garage supervisor said. Security was increased to prevent a repetition.

Buildings on Brand Boulevard are scheduled to be demolished next week to make way for construction of a shopping arcade linking the boulevard with a new city parking garage, said Susan Shick, Glendale's deputy redevelopment director. The project was jointly approved Tuesday by the City Council and the Redevelopment Agency. The buildings at 128 to 136 N. Brand Blvd. will be replaced with two 4-story buildings.

McDonnell Douglas Realty Co. won Long Beach City Council approval this week for a downtown redevelopment project that includes a 36-story office building, a parking garage and the option to build a 450-room hotel near Ocean Boulevard. Under terms of an agreement between the city Redevelopment Agency and McDonnell Douglas, the company will construct the office building on land it owns at the southwest corner of Golden Shore and Ocean Boulevard. It will pay the city $12.

Despite objections that it "will mar the integrity of the landscape," the Board of Port Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a revised proposal for a new Seaport Village parking garage. Richard Alexander Burt, the attorney for Seaport Village, said he hoped construction on the facility could begin by next spring. Don Wood, a spokesman for Citizens Coordinate-Century III, a local urban planning group that is the leading critic of the project, conceded that Tuesday's 6-0 vote was "a setback" and "a bitter disappointment" but not the final action.

Opponents of a planned $2.7-million, five-level parking garage in West Hollywood Park have questioned the need for the project, saying that hundreds of public parking spaces at the Pacific Design Center across the street from the park go unused. "It doesn't make sense for the city to talk about spending money for a parking structure (in the park), when you've got all this parking across the street that nobody is using," community activist Ralph Feeley said. City officials announced last week that the garage, which would accommodate up to 314 vehicles, represents a first step in the construction of the city's long-planned civic center and an effort by city officials to fulfill a promise to the business community to provide much-needed additional public parking.