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Council narrows Project Pulse options, tasks staff to study parking and mixed‑use/open‑space concepts
Summary
After broad public outreach, the council directed staff to focus Project Pulse design work on two priority concepts — parking (including underground options at Lot 3) and mixed‑use/open‑space for the 400 Manhattan Beach Boulevard parcel — and to hire parking engineering consultants for cost and feasibility scenarios.
The council directed staff to narrow the list of redevelopment options for two city‑owned downtown parcels and to move design work forward on two priority pathways: a parking‑focused solution (including studying one or two below‑grade levels at Parking Lot 3) and mixed‑use/open‑space concepts for 400 Manhattan Beach Boulevard.
Planner Tari Cubangoa summarized outreach results from a statistically valid True North phone survey (~600 residents), farmers‑market and hometown‑fair booths, focus groups, and stakeholder meetings. Across activities, parking structures, open space/parks and mixed‑use development consistently placed among the top options, while hotels, social clubs and visitor centers received little support.
Traffic engineers and staff provided conceptual capacity ranges: two levels under Lot 3 could generate roughly 133 spaces as a preliminary estimate; constrained above‑ground options without extending the footprint would yield fewer spaces. Staff stressed that parking requirements would depend on the final proposed uses and that any redevelopment must provide replacement parking for lost spaces plus additional parking required by new uses.
Multiple residents urged the council to prioritize low‑impact options to preserve downtown character and protect neighborhood safety; others emphasized the city’s need for flexible revenue sources. After deliberation the council voted unanimously (5–0) to direct staff to pursue the two priority concepts and to engage parking design consultants to produce conceptual layouts and order‑of‑magnitude costs. The direction preserves the project timeline for design workshops while adding a parallel task to refine parking feasibility.
What happens next: staff will return with conceptual designs, consultant cost estimates and an outreach plan for focused design workshops with the community this spring.
