Limited and inefficient parking has historically been identified as one of the district’s biggest liabilities. The original Smoky Hollow Specific Plan attempted to balance the need for more effective parking with the desire by area business owners to maintain tighter parking regulations that allowed for better site design and maximum site utility. While demand for business space in Smoky Hollow has increased significantly since adoption of the original Specific Plan, the area has not been able to absorb the increased parking demand. This is largely due to two factors. First, in Smoky Hollow the existing on-street parking is free, with no time limits. As a result, this common good has been occupied as an extension of private properties for parking vehicles that are being serviced by local automobile repair businesses and overnight large vehicles such as RVs. Second, new businesses in Smoky Hollow that have been replacing industrial operations are more employee-intensive and thus have somewhat different parking and infrastructure demands.

At the same time, many property owners have cited the high cost associated with providing more on-site parking—together with physical site limitations—as reasons to defer expansions, renovations, rehabilitation, and changes of use. In addition, standard strategies to address parking needs are slated for a significant shift as autonomous vehicles, ride-share, and transit decrease demand for parking.

3.3.1 Short-Term Parking Strategies

3.3.1.1 On-Site Parking Development Standards

Recognizing these constraints and long-term trends, the Specific Plan establishes parking regulations that are tied to building area, not use, to allow for flexibility and change over time (see Section 2.3.1.H: Private Parking Standards). The City has also completed analysis towards a parking in-lieu fee for Smoky Hollow, which provides flexibility for developers and funding to increase parking in the district. In addition, strategies to address existing parking deficiencies are discussed below.

3.3.1.2 Optimize Curbside Parking

In the short term, existing rights-of-way will be restriped to significantly increase parking supply, resulting in an estimated increase of 185 parking spaces (see also Section 3.2.1: El Segundo Boulevard and Section 3.2.4: North/South Streets).

• Implementing one-way traffic patterns on north/south streets, coupled with 60-degree angled parking configurations on one side of the street, is estimated to add 85 additional parking spaces.
• Restriping El Segundo Boulevard to provide on-street parking along the north curb of the roadway between Standard Street on the west and Kansas Street on the east would add an estimated 101 parking spaces. Reconfiguration was not considered for areas outside of the specified extents to limit intersection capacity impacts at intersections to the west (Main Street) and east (Sepulveda Boulevard).

3.3.1.3 Overnight Curbside Parking

Overnight parking in Smoky Hollow will be prohibited between 2:00 and 6:00 A.M. Curbside parking for recreational and oversized vehicles (including trailers) will be limited per the El Segundo Municipal Code (Title 8, Article G).

3.3.2 Long-Term Parking Strategies

Long-term parking strategies seek to increase the supply of parking with a fiscally sustainable approach that may include a parking district and development of parking structures as private ventures or public/private partnerships.

• The City will support development of shared/public parking structures for use by workers and visitors in the district. While two potential locations have been identified, centrally located at the northeast and northwest corners of the Maryland Street/Franklin Avenue intersection (see Figure 3:1: Zoning Districts), the provision of parking structures would also be considered in other parts of the Specific Plan area. The provision of structures that can be shared (i.e., parking for commuters during the day, and visitors/patrons in the evening and weekends) can maximize the use of the parking structure, reduces the amount of parking to be built, and financially supports the facilities’ capital and operating expenses.

  Parking Structure

  
• In the long term, the City will also explore establishment of a business parking permit district or parking management program to ensure fairness and continuity of access for the managed curbside parking. The business parking permit district may distribute parking passes to local businesses and reserve certain on street spaces for visitors only. The business parking district will manage on-street parking in the district, with associated fees, rights, and penalties.