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Elysian Valley Parking District

By Jillian Olivas
June 6, 2013
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Adjacent to the pilot Recreation Zone and filled with historically industrial buildings, Elysian Valley has a dynamic set of opportunities and challenges. In the summer of 2013, the very popular pilot Recreation Zone brought an inundation of vehicles into a residential community filled with dead end streets. Despite encouragement to take public transit, river enthusiasts caused severe traffic congestion in the neighborhood. Parking challenges is a common theme in both existing services and service desired.

Many industrial buildings in Elysian Valley are restrained from transforming into commercial uses. Non-conforming parking rights are removed when the use of the building changes. With no options to provide code-required parking, many riverfront sites remain vacant, underutilized and susceptible to illegal crime activity. The lack of commercial services in this geographically isolated community means that local residents must make several vehicular trips for daily activities.

The establishment of a sharing parking district, in partnership with the City, property owners, and investors, would allow riverfront commercial uses to flourish and provide Elysian Valley residents with daily necessities. Creating a system for multi- modal non-vehicular traffic as well as preparing for users arriving by vehicular modes of transportation can help sustain recreational activity while encouraging adaptive reuse of existing industrial buildings. The renderings to the right offers a parking proposal for the area and was created by Council District 13, the Elysian Valley Riverside Neighborhood Council, and local architects RAC Design Build.

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