Parking Plan OKd for San Pedro Shops

Shoppers in downtown San Pedro would be able to park in an 89-space lot on 7th Street and reach shops along 6th Street through a pedestrian passageway, under proposals endorsed Thursday by Los Angeles city transportation officials.

The proposals, which would cost $1.4 million, are regarded as an important part of plans to resolve a severe parking shortage on 6th Street, the heart of downtown San Pedro. Merchants have long complained that some shoppers avoid the area because of inadequate parking, and a study in 1987 identified a deficiency of up to 120 spaces on the street.

If approved by the City Council, the proposals would create a $1.3-million deficit in the city’s parking revenue fund for council District 15, which extends from San Pedro to Watts. Transportation officials said they would have to borrow from the $25.8-million citywide parking fund.

“We need the parking that bad,” said Ann D’Amato, deputy to Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, who represents the area.

In a unanimous vote, the Los Angeles Board of Transportation Commissioners recommended Thursday that the city purchase a brick building, a small parking lot and a wood house on the 400 block of W. 7th Street to expand an adjacent 48-space city-owned parking lot. Under the proposal, the structures would be demolished to make way for 41 additional spaces.

In a separate but related vote, the commissioners waived city parking requirements for the expansion of two buildings on W. 6th Street, directly behind the city parking lot, which would have compelled their owner to provide 17 new spaces. In exchange, owner Howard Sheldon agreed to set aside 2,000 square feet of the new Harbor Office Supply complex to create a one-story pedestrian passageway from the 7th Street lot to 6th Street.

Commissioner Larry B. Faigin voted for the deal, but only after expressing some reservations about giving up 17 spaces when the city is paying $1.4 million to provide more parking.

“I am concerned that 17 spaces is a lot of spaces to lose,” he said.

But city transportation officials said they are willing to trade the spaces for the passageway because most shoppers will not park on 7th Street and walk around the block--via Pacific Avenue on the west or Mesa Street on the east--to shops on 6th Street. The pedestrian corridor will be the first public access to 6th Street from the parking lot, they said.

“It represents such a major enhancement to the project that we are willing to waive the 17 spaces,” said Margaret Sullivan, a management analyst for the city’s Department of Transportation.

Rick Gaydos, president of the San Pedro Revitalization Corp., a nonprofit group of downtown merchants, said the link between parking on 7th Street and shops on 6th Street is vital to the continued renaissance of the downtown.

“I agree it is expensive,” Gaydos said. “But if we didn’t encourage businesses by waiving parking requirements, we wouldn’t have anyone coming to town.”

The agreement with Sheldon must also be approved by the Planning Department. The recommendation to purchase the 7th Street properties will be forwarded in the next few weeks to the City Council, which is expected to approve it. The council has already set aside $825,000 to expand the parking lot, and Flores supports spending the additional $641,000.