Santa Monica replaces parking lot with a park (where you can park)
An interesting new take on beach parking opened in Santa Monica last month. The city, recognizing that parking lots on the beach are a major facilitator of pollution entering the ocean, and realizing that much of the city’s beach parking was at capacity on only a handful of days per year, decided to replace almost an acre of beachfront parking with a grass playing field. The grass is a hardy breed, designed to survive the six or so days per year when the lawn will be needed for beach parking. The grass, and adjacent asphalt area (immediately to the east of the lawn) will be closed to cars on all other days of the year.
According to the city, “as runoff passes through the soil, pollutants are treated through natural chemical and biological processes. By preventing, at the source, runoff pollutants from reaching the ocean water quality in the bay will be improved and marine beneficial uses protected.”
While we think this project is very forward thinking and should be a guide for other projects on how to efficiently and intelligently make use of our public services and resources, it is surprising that something like this is still such a unique idea. Taking a rarely used, pollution causing feature, like this beach parking lot and turning it into a nice ball field, while at the same time allowing for parking on high use days, is so incredibly rational that it is surprising that in this day and age, that more projects like this one don’t exist. Hopefully it will be the catalyst for others like it in the future.
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Comments
2 Comments on Santa Monica replaces parking lot with a park (where you can park)
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Jacob on
Tue, 24th Jun 2008 10:45 am
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Joan Rootenberg on
Tue, 24th Jun 2008 9:33 pm
I didn’t mention this in the post, but apparently the city is planning on testing the water quality after it seeps through the lawn to see if it is cleaner. However, since they’ve also closed the parking lot immediately to the east of the lawn, it seems natural that pollution will decrease from that fact alone. I wonder if they have taken this fact into account in their plans to study the runoff?
[Reply]
A project that not only makes a difference on the environment but is also functional! Great concept!
[Reply]
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