Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation Parking topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commission approves parking garage serving Family Justice Center with pedestrian safety condition
Summary
The Downtown Design Commission approved design for an open parking garage adjacent to the Family Justice Center and required the applicant to demarcate the sidewalk across the garage drive entrances by color, texture or pattern and keep sidewalk elevation constant.
The Downtown Design Commission on Sept. 18 approved design details for a new parking garage intended to serve the Palomar Family Justice Center and nearby development, imposing a condition to improve pedestrian safety at vehicle entrances.
Laura Griggs, planning department staff, told the commission the five‑story garage would be "fully open" and would provide dedicated spaces for the Family Justice Center. "This property is located in an area designated as landscape zone," she said, and staff noted that while street‑level activation is preferred for parking garages, it is not required in this landscape zone. The primary outstanding guideline issue was the ground floor facade transparency standard.
Spencer Wilson of Fitzsimons Architects, the project's designer, said the top two levels of the garage will be dedicated to the Family Justice Center, and described an aluminum facade screening the Eleventh Street frontage and multiple circulation points to serve adjacent uses.
Commissioners focused their discussion on pedestrian safety where drive aisles cross the sidewalk. A commissioner asked whether the sidewalk across the entrances would be demarcated and what measures would be used to alert pedestrians; Wilson said audible enunciators and tactile strips were planned and that staff had suggested demarcation by "color, texture, or lines." The applicant also confirmed tree plantings and a five‑foot planting bed with smaller canopy tree species.
The commission approved the application with a condition requiring the applicant to mark the sidewalk across ingress and egress drives by color, texture or pattern, and to ensure the road meets the sidewalk while maintaining a constant sidewalk elevation across the drive. The motion passed.
Design details presented at the meeting indicate the garage will contain approximately 550 spaces, with about 100 spaces reserved for VIP and player parking associated with the adjacent facility. Staff and the architect said additional ADA and permitting details will be addressed during permitting.
