Parking Spaces

I am writing this letter on behalf of myself, my neighbors and friends who reside near downtown Glendale. Living near downtown Glendale has become a nightmare, and every day is a struggle to get home! As most readers may be aware, not all apartment buildings have their own parking structures. Some residents are required to park their cars on the street. Enter nonresidents, who don’t think twice about whether they are occupying a resident’s spot. These are people who are either patrons of YMCA, 24-Hour Fitness clubs, Alex Theatre or are out for a night on the town.

CITY HALL — A multimillion-dollar contract to operate the city’s four central parking garages comes back to the City Council dais tonight after a protracted bidding war that has drawn accusations of bias and unfair competition. After challenging the city’s initial attempt to contract with a new vendor, Parking Concepts Inc., the firm that has operated the garages for the last 11 years, came in with the lowest bid at $5.3 million for the three-year contract. Last summer, the City Council voted to negotiate exclusively with Los Angeles-based Modern Parking Inc. on a proposed $5.75-million contract after it submitted the lowest of six bids.

The Glendale City Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to uphold an earlier decision to revoke the zoning exception that allows the Montrose Collection Restaurant and Banquet Hall to operate, notching the latest mark in a long-running battle among the restaurateurs, neighboring residents and city officials over what is and isn?t allowed to operate on the Honolulu Avenue site. Over the past three years, the contentious dispute has escalated from the zoning administrator up to the City Council on several occasions, in and out of Los Angeles Superior Court, including a slander lawsuit brought against neighbors who complained publicly over the impacts of the banquet hall.

CITY HALL — City staff announced Monday that they plan to meet with property management companies this summer after they received complaints about landlords who rented parking spaces to non-tenants and about the lack of parking in the city. They will set up forums with property management companies to discuss the pros and cons of parking in Glendale, said Alan Loomis, the city’s principal urban designer. “Essentially, the issue in multifamily zones has to do with a sort of separation between how the parking spaces are rented relative to the [total]

CITY HALL — Council members Tuesday unanimously supported developing a plan that seeks input from tenants, apartment owners and commercial property management groups about parking concerns in the city. Mayor John Drayman directed city staff during a City Council and Glendale Housing Authority joint meeting to research the parking issues. City officials have received complaints for several years about the availability and accessibility of parking spaces in commercial and apartment buildings, Senior Planner Kristen Asp said.

HOUSING AMENDMENT The Housing Authority and City Council today are scheduled to jointly review a draft housing amendment to the city’s General Plan that would update citywide development goals. Under the proposed revisions, community development and planning officials would establish a program to monitor compliance with state greenhouse gas emissions laws, expand affordable housing policies and update codes to mesh with current federal and state laws. The goals would also include provisions for a “livable neighborhoods” program aimed at encouraging walking, cycling and other pedestrian-friendly forms of transportation in rezoning efforts.

GLENDALE — Just days after a jury decided that the Montrose Collection Restaurant and Banquet Hall did not violate a city code against hosting private parties, co-owners Takui and Arman Aivazian are moving forward with a civil case against Glendale. The civil side of the more than two-year legal fight between the city and the Aivazians is scheduled for Oct. 20, when attorneys plan to ask a judge to restore the site’s parking permit, which the city revoked in 2007. Zoning Administrator Edith Fuentes and the Board of Zoning Appeals rescinded the parking permit for the Montrose Collection, at 2831 Honolulu Ave., after officials found the establishment had, on at least one occasion, operated as a banquet hall.

The Glendale Redevelopment Agency approved a parking exception on Tuesday for a company that will establish the first accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program in the city through a partnership with Glendale Adventist Medical Center and the University of Oklahoma. The three City Council members present for the meeting — John Drayman, Ara Najarian and Frank Quintero — voted to approve the parking exception for Orbis Education, an Indiana-based company that will run aspects of the nursing program from the third floor of the commercial building at 111 N. Maryland Ave. in downtown Glendale.

GLENDALE — Plans for a soon-to-be-completed 12-story Embassy Suites along Central Avenue were questioned by the project’s former planner Tuesday as hotel officials said the hulking structure will open in September. The long-delayed project, beset by rising construction costs and design changes, is set to include 272 rooms and three levels of underground parking at 212 W. Burchett St. in North Glendale. Originally designed in 2001, construction for the hotel started in December 2005 after an environmental review called for a reduction in the project’s scope.