SR-410-014 (6)
City Council Meeting: July 26, 2005 Santa Monica, CA
To: Mayor and City Council
From: City Staff
Subject: Fall 2005 Pedestrian Access to the Santa Monica College Bundy Campus
and Development of Overall Parking and Traffic Management Strategies
Formatted: Top: 1"
Introduction
This report recommends that the City Council authorize staff to extend the temporary
agreement providing for pedestrian access to the Santa Monica College (SMC) Bundy
Campus from Santa Monica Airport through the SMC 2005 fall semester and
commence three way discussions with SMC and the City of Los Angeles regarding
parking and traffic issues related to the College, its campuses and its regional student
body.
Background
In June 2005 the City and SMC entered into an agreement that provided temporary
pedestrian access to the Bundy Campus from Santa Monica Airport for the summer
session ending August 11th. SMC completed improvements under the agreement that
facilitated the permitted pedestrian access to the campus from an Airport lot leased to
the College for shuttle parking. At summer session student levels, operation has been
uneventful.
SMC intends to continue limited operations at the Bundy Campus, using 11 classrooms
for the fall semester. They have requested that the agreement be extended through the
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fall semester, which begins Monday August 29, and that it provide for vehicle as well
as pedestrian access from Airport Avenue. They may not be prepared to open the
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substantial parking lots at the Bundy Campus for fall unless access from the Airport is
granted.
Discussion
City staff is reviewing the draft SMC Bundy Campus Master Plan and traffic discussion
materials presented at the College’s Board of Trustees July 5 meeting. At that meeting,
college staff indicated that the planning process would continue through the summer.
Staff proposes to work intensively with SMC and the City of Los Angeles over the
summer and fall to examine multimodal traffic and parking alternatives system-wide.
This will involve gathering the appropriate data, evaluating options and identifying
solutions that equitably distribute traffic and parking impacts given SMC’s hub and
satellite campus locations as well as the origin/destination travel patterns of SMC’s
regional student population. Such an approach would recognize and address concerns
of Santa Monica and West Los Angeles residents and its completion is a necessary
precursor to consideration of vehicle access.
In the interim, it is reasonable to extend the temporary pedestrian access agreement.
However, the fall session student population using the shuttle service and attending
classes at the Bundy Campus is significantly greater than that for the summer session.
There is not enough parking space in the Airport lot to accommodate both the College
shuttle service demand and Bundy Campus parking demand. Consequently, the
College must make interim arrangements for shuttle parking for the fall session prior to
the execution of an extension of the pedestrian access agreement. Construction of
Airport Park commences November 1, after which date SMC parking for the Bundy
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Campus cannot be accommodated at the Airport. City staff has provided suggestions
and will assist further in identifying potential locations in Santa Monica and West Los
Angeles.
Budget/Financial Impact
No budget or financial impact is incurred as a result of action on this recommendation.
Should the process of identifying solutions require the engagement of experts, staff
would anticipate cost sharing among the three agencies and accommodating the City’s
share within existing budget authority.
Recommendation
Staff requests authorization to extend the current temporary pedestrian access
agreement with SMC to October 15, 2005 to facilitate start up of the 2005 fall semester,
provided SMC identifies an alternative location for fall shuttle operations and uses the
lot it currently leases from the Airport solely for those attending classes at the Bundy
Campus. Staff further recommends that the City, Los Angeles and SMC immediately
commence discussions to cooperatively identify parking and traffic management
solutions for SMC operations system-wide.
Prepared by: Jeff Mathieu, Airport Director
Bob Trimborn, Airport Manager
Rod Merl, Senior Administrative Analyst, Special Projects
Andy Agle, Acting Director of Planning and Community Development
Lucy Dyke, Transportation Manager
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