Underground parking OKd

Barbara Diamond

Proposed underground parking at the Pottery Shack at 1212 South Coast Highway was given a pass by the planning commission.

“The council more or less blessed the project when they sent it to

us,” Commissioner Anne Johnson said. “They wanted it expedited as a

way to ease the parking problems in the area.”

The recommendation to approve the project, including the

demolition of the back building on the corner of Glenneyre and Brooks

streets, will be reviewed by the council at the Sept. 6 meeting.

“We do want to see a parking management plan for the whole project

before the complex opens,” Johnson said. “And we asked [unofficially]

for mature sycamores to replace any trees that are removed. We did it

by memo because we do not have jurisdiction.”

A decades-old sycamore must be chopped down to make way for the

project.

The landscape plan must be approved by the design review board.

Some neighbors opposed the underground parking project when it was

first proposed to the council on June 7. Councilwoman Jane Egly, who

has worked with neighbors to ease the parking problems on their

streets, was shocked at the opposition.

“I am confused,” Egly said at the meeting. “Before I was even on

the council I met with the Flatlanders who were unhappy about

parking. We discussed underground parking, and I had the clear sense

that they thought it was a good idea.”

The city heritage committee voted, 4-1, against the proposal.

Heritage status for the entire project was recommended by the

committee based on the owner’s pledge to preserve its outward

appearance. A reduction in parking requirements was the reward for

the pledge.

Committee member Bonnie Hano said if the back building was

demolished, the parking reduction should be revoked.

However, the city’s historical preservation ordinance does not

prohibit the demolition of a historical structure, subject to a

waiting period, according to planning administrator Ann Larson.