by Mark McDermott
The Manhattan Beach City Council Tuesday night rejected a proposed pilot program that would have extended the sidewalks outside three downtown restaurants. Later in the meeting, the Council also approved the demolition of Parking Lot 3 and the creation of 90 temporary parking spaces throughout the downtown area.
The two issues were separate agenda items but connected by at least one aspect — the City’s many looming infrastructure costs, and the Council’s hope that a half-cent sales tax on the November ballot will be approved and help pay for such projects.
“This just feels very piecemeal to me, and without knowing where the sales tax is going,” said Councilperson Steve Napolitano. “If you want Parking Lot 3, we are going to have to get the sales tax passed. To do outdoor dining, we need that sales tax passed. So I am sorry for anyone who is disappointed in this tonight, but if this does not move forward you should pick up the mantle of that sales tax and tell everyone it needs to get passed. Because what is the point of a pilot project if we can’t afford to take the next step a year from now?”
The pilot project grew out of proposals generated by the 15-person task force appointed by council to develop a permanent outdoor dining program. A larger proposal that was presented to Council in February included widening sidewalks by eight-feet throughout downtown and implementing angled parking, but came with a steep price tag of an estimated $20 million. The pilot program would have utilized lower-cost modular sidewalk extensions, to be installed in front of three restaurants on the west side of Manhattan Avenue between Center Place and Manhattan Beach Boulevard: Dash Dashi, Tacolicious, and Nando Trattoria. The estimated cost was $136,605.
Acting City Manager Talyn Mirzakhanian told the council the pilot program was developed before the City faced the emergency closure and impending demolition of the aging Parking Lot 3 structure downtown, which contained 146 parking spaces. But according to the staff report, the pilot program would result in no net loss of parking spots, because it includes implementing angle parking on the opposite side of Manhattan Avenue.
“Staff does understand that the circumstances in downtown have significantly changed, which is why the tenor of our staff report and our presentation was [that] we’re offering you this, but we understand things have changed… We understand the parking challenges,” she said. “But the idea here was we would try to recapture as many parking spaces as we could while bringing this project forward as a test.”
Councilperson David Lesser said it would not make fiscal sense to approve the project prior to the Measure MMB sales tax ballot measure’s approval, or disapproval, by voters. The sales tax increase would generate an estimated $5.3 million annually and would be earmarked for over $200 million in projected infrastructure needs, including a new Parking Lot 3, which is estimated at $30 million.
“We have so many unmet needs for infrastructure,” Lesser said. “We need to actually preserve our funds and prioritize. And right now, our priority is Lot 3, and that includes finding parking where we can.”
The council tabled the pilot project without a vote but were unanimous in agreeing that the timing was not right.
“It pains me, because I really do want to keep exploring how we can provide some sort of outdoor dining program,” said Mayor Pro Tem Amy Howorth. “But I don’t think right now this is the right answer.”
The council unanimously voted to approve the emergency demolition of Lot 3, which was shut down after inspections in July revealed structural damage to its steel pipe columns, likely resulting from its proximity to salty ocean air. The range of the five bids the City received was startlingly wide, from a low bid of $190,000 by American Wrecking to a high of $1.85 million by Lekey Land Clearing. Civil engineer Jeff Fijalka said an outside consultant arrived at an estimate closer to the higher end of the spectrum, but said that American Wrecking had several advantages, due to owning its own equipment and potential reuse of the concrete removed, which allowed the company to bid lower.
“They have identified a site that needs essentially recycled concrete, so they’re proposing to take the concrete directly from our site in larger chunks, haul it off to a site relatively nearby, in Hawthorne, where it would be crushed and used in a different construction project,” Fijalka said. “That’s a large portion of [the lower bid]. Another is larger demolition contractors have larger equipment and specialized equipment, which means they often own the equipment — they’re not paying to rent large equipment. And also they can do the work faster, so there’s less labor involved.”
The demolition is estimated to be completed by December 10, possibly earlier. After that, construction of a temporary surface lot will occur, which will provide 70 parking spaces. In the meantime, staff identified ways to add 90 parking spaces downtown, along 15th Street, Valley Drive, Morningside Drive, and Manhattan Beach Boulevard. The council approved the temporary spaces, as well as the temporary move of the Tuesday Farmers’ Market from its current location on 13th and Morningside — adjacent Lot 3 — to the Civic Center Parking Lot and parts of its plaza. ER
