by Mark McDermott\u00a0<\/p>\n
Any given Manhattan Beach City Council agenda will have several items that few souls in the city, outside of city government and a handful of residents and business owners, give an iota of attention to, but most will be impacted by.<\/p>\n
Parking issues are Exhibit A of this phenomena. The City of Manhattan Beach\u2019s recently completed parking study, and council\u2019s deliberations upon it at last week\u2019s meeting, is far below the public radar but of direct import for anyone who lives or works locally.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s last comprehensive parking study was completed in 2008. Previous studies were done in 1984, 1990 and 1998 \u2014 roughly every eight to 10 years. This time the gap stretched to 18 years, in part because of COVID delays.<\/p>\n
A lot has changed.<\/p>\n
The $250,000 study, conducted by Walker Consultants and managed by City Traffic Engineer Erik Zandvliet, collected parking data in the summer and fall of 2024 and for the first time included the North Manhattan Beach commercial district, alongside downtown. It found a parking system under pressure not just in summer, but year-round.<\/p>\n
At peak on a Saturday in July 2024, downtown parking hit 96 percent occupancy and North Manhattan Beach hit 98 percent \u2014 effectively full, with the only remaining open spaces being ADA, loading or otherwise restricted. Downtown had as few as 67 available spaces out of roughly 1,600; the North End had as few as eight out of 459.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything over 85% is considered full\u2026during the summertime, beach parking overloads into all of these areas, including the residential sections,\u201d Zandvliet told the council.<\/p>\n
But the more significant finding was what happened in the off-season. Fall 2024 parking demand was comparable to summer 2008 demand \u2014 the last time anyone studied the system. Peak demand hours have stretched from 1 to 5 p.m. in 2008 to 1 to 7 p.m. today. Downtown\u2019s year-round commercial parking need, not just its summer beach overflow, now drives the problem.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the system that manages all of this has not kept pace. Enforcement still relies on manual tire chalking. More than half of metered downtown spaces had vehicles parked beyond the two-hour limit. The $53 fine for common violations is, according to the study, too low to deter noncompliance. Merchant\/employee parking permit utilization has increased 137 percent since 2008.<\/p>\n
Zandvliet noted one bright spot: the city actually has more downtown parking spaces now than before the Lot 3 parking structure was demolished. Staff scrambled to add 58 on-street spaces, built a 70-space interim surface lot and added 26 spaces at the recently acquired US Bank property at 400 Manhattan Beach Boulevard.<\/p>\n
\u201cTotaling all that up, we actually have more parking spaces now than we\u2019ve ever had in downtown,\u201d Zandvliet said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Councilmember Amy Howorth pressed the point \u2014 more spaces doesn\u2019t mean the problem is solved.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo now there\u2019s empty parking spots? Or are those spaces utilized?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s unequal as far as how it\u2019s being used,\u201d Zandvliet said. \u201cThere are some underutilized lots that are farther away from downtown. There\u2019s still the need for merchant parking, and that hasn\u2019t been addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Remote lots have available spaces while the core stays jammed \u2014 and the employee parking shortage that drives much of the merchant permit demand hasn\u2019t been touched by the additional supply.<\/p>\n
The study projects the city will need up to 295 additional spaces downtown and 80 in North Manhattan Beach \u2014 a combined gap of 375 spaces. That number accounts for commercial properties being redeveloped at higher density, which would generate more customers and employees than the current parking supply can serve.The number also accounts for general growth in foot traffic and business activity; and existing demand that already goes unmet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Notably, the projections don\u2019t address peak summer weekends. The strategies are designed to manage the summer crush through pricing, enforcement and alternatives to driving.<\/p>\n
The Council voted 5-0 to adopt a Coastal Development Permit approving the study and its 33 recommended strategies. They range from replacing the city\u2019s 500-plus individual parking meters with multi-space kiosks and launching a mobile payment app \u2014 both are already underway. The recommendations also include longer-term measures, such as new parking facilities, establishing a parking benefits district and pursuing public-private partnerships for additional supply. The study identifies several potential sites for new parking, including the US Bank parcel, the Lot 3 site, a Chevron-owned lot in North Manhattan Beach that once held roughly 110 parking spaces, and Lot 4 in North Manhattan Beach, which is nearing the end of its useful life and could be rebuilt with additional levels or a puzzle-stacker system.<\/p>\n
Of the 38 strategies Walker originally proposed, the council had rejected five at a November meeting \u2014 most notably the elimination of parking minimum requirements in commercial districts, and real-time dynamic pricing, both of which failed unanimously.<\/p>\n
The more contentious issues last week involved two pricing questions staff brought to council for direction: whether to establish an automatic annual escalator for parking meter rates, and what to do about the merchant parking permit program.<\/p>\n
The merchant permits have become a friction point. In April 2025, the council raised monthly permits from $27 to $45 and six-month permits from $160 to $250. And it eliminated bulk discounts. The study recommends raising six-month permits to $600. Revenue is up 109 percent since the increase, but about 28 six-month permits have gone unsold and there is no longer a waitlist for the Metlox parking structure.<\/p>\n
Downtown business owner Mike Zislis urged the council not to raise merchant permit rates further.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t raise the rates on merchants,\u201d Zislis said. \u201cAs you can see from his report, the merchant parking is available because you\u2019ve hit the top of the market. It went from $100 a spot to $250 for six months\u2026This is not Westwood, or Century City. This is Manhattan Beach. The employees who work in our retail outlets and our restaurants are not lawyers and doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zislis argued the employees who need the permits generally commute from outside the city and can\u2019t realistically bike or rideshare to work. He urged the council to direct rate increases to street meters instead, and said parking revenue should be used only for building and maintaining parking infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Kelly Stroman, executive director of the Downtown Manhattan Beach Business Association, echoed the concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time you guys do this, it really affects the hire-ability of a lot of the small businesses, because not all the small businesses can afford to pay for the passes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Stroman also flagged a longstanding issue: no new merchant permits have been issued for Lot 1 \u2014 behind Manhattan Avenue businesses between 9th and 11th streets \u2014 since 2008, even though spaces sit empty. Zandvliet confirmed the prior study called for sunsetting those permits as businesses turned over, and said the issue would be revisited as part of the comprehensive merchant permit review.<\/p>\n
Council\u2019s direction was to hold merchant permit rates at their current levels and bring the entire program back for a thorough review \u2014 including who qualifies for permits, how many each business can get, how to accommodate part-time employees, and how to handle businesses required by their use permits to purchase large numbers of permits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all agree that the threshold is where it needs to be,\u201d Councilmember Steve Charelian said.<\/p>\n
Howorth pushed for future increases to be phased in gradually rather than imposed in large jumps.<\/p>\n
Charelian also directed staff to examine outdated provisions in the city\u2019s Local Coastal Program \u2014 specifically the roughly 100 free, long-term parking spaces near Live Oak Park and 50 near the Shade Hotel, which he said haven\u2019t been revisited in 35 years and aren\u2019t being used for their intended purpose. \u201cIt\u2019s for beach access,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s anything but beach access.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not here to just do things because we\u2019ve done them this way in the past,\u201d Charelian said.<\/p>\n
On meters, staff asked whether council wanted to authorize incremental annual rate adjustments tied to a cost-of-living index, with a maximum cap, so the city wouldn\u2019t need to return for a new Coastal Development Permit each time. The study recommends seasonal rates ranging from $2 per hour on off-peak weekdays to $4 per hour on summer weekends for downtown on-street parking. Council was receptive but took no specific action; the meter rate question will return alongside the merchant permit review.<\/p>\n
Resident Paiwei Wei spoke in support of the study\u2019s microtransit strategy, noting that parts of the city near Mira Costa High School are underserved by transit. Wei asked that any future microtransit service connect to the Metro K Line stations at Douglas and Redondo Beach, both less than a mile from the city border.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s going to really give seniors, and kids who don\u2019t have the ability to drive, access to the rest of the city,\u201d Wei said.<\/p>\n
The council took a step toward that vision later in the evening, approving a six-month microtransit pilot with Circuit Transit. The company will deploy five electric vehicles, citywide, with service extending to the Metro K Line\u2019s Douglas Station in El Segundo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Long-time resident Jim Burton said the study\u2019s language on residential neighborhood protections lacked anything specific.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking for meat and teeth, something that we can do,\u201d Burton said. \u201cI\u2019m looking for something for residents. This city is surrounded\u2026We\u2019re one of the only coastal cities in all of California where you need to drive through a residential area in order to get to commercial. I think maybe Balboa Island and Carmel might be close seconds, but Balboa Island is not on the ocean. Whatever happens, tonight\u2019s direction to staff should be to make sure that residential uses are protected.\u201d<\/p>\n
The approved study\u2019s 33 strategies will be implemented over the coming years, with high-priority items first. Staff will return to council for individual strategy approvals, including funding requests and additional Coastal Development Permits. ER<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Mark McDermott\u00a0 Any given Manhattan Beach City Council agenda will have several items that few souls in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-199952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-manhattan","9":"tag-manhattan-headlines","10":"tag-manhattan-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}