Workers Clear the Way for Parking Facility

By midmorning Monday, the chain-link fences were up and the trees felled.

Work on Ventura’s $4.6-million downtown parking structure had begun.

The four-story, 500-space parking structure will occupy what was until now a public parking lot near the corner of California and Santa Clara streets. Closing the lot temporarily eliminates 125 prime downtown parking spots--until next spring, when the new parking garage will open.

Project manager Pat Richardson said workers will concentrate on ripping out landscaping and cement to prepare for the official groundbreaking on the parking structure June 16.

Mayor Jack Tingstrom and redevelopment agency head Gary Tuttle will hold a small ceremony that day in the grassy park at the corner of California and Santa Clara to mark the occasion.

In the meantime, downtown merchants and city officials have come up with an elaborate plan to ease the parking crunch and keep shoppers coming downtown during the frenzied construction period. There will be large signs and banners directing shoppers to public parking lots, and a shuttle to carry them from the outlying public lots.

Updated downtown parking maps have been drawn up and will be available in local shops. The maps will also be distributed at the Saturday morning farmers’ market, the Thursday night barbecue and farmers’ market and at the Visitors and Convention Bureau office.

The city has also set up a temporary parking permit program.

All city lots will be designated for three-hour parking. Shop owners and their employees will be given special stickers so they can park in the designated lots all day without being ticketed.

But Richardson cautioned that the permit stickers will not work for street parking. “Some people have been using the lot permits to park on the street,” he said. “If parking signs are posted, they will be enforced.”