City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
Meeting Date: 12/10/12 Item Number: A-2
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM: Consideration of Providing Financial Assistance
Related to Parking for Taste of the Nation 2013
Contact Person/Dept.: Jeremy Green Phone Number: (310) 253-5859
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [X] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: []
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X] Date: _______________
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Agenda and Meetings – City Council (12/07/12); Share Our
Strength (12/07/12).
Department Approval:
Martin Cole (12/07/12)
City Attorney Approval:
Carol Schwab (by H. Baker) (12/06/12)
Chief Financial Officer Approval:
Jeff Muir (by M. Noller) (12/05/12)
City Manager Approval:
John Nachbar: (12/07/12)
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the City Council consider in-kind financial assistance for the
proposed Taste of the Nation Los Angeles 2013 event on City-Leased Property
located at 9070 Venice Boulevard (Media Park) in Downtown Culver City as it
relates to parking.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION:
At the October 22, 2012 City Council meeting, the City Council approved a license
agreement with the non-profit organization Share Our Strength, whose mission is to end
childhood hunger, for its Taste of the Nation event (Event), a one-day fundraising event
bringing together gourmet chefs for a food and wine/spirits tasting. The Event is
tentatively scheduled to take place on Sunday June 9, 2013. The City Council
designated the event as City-sponsored and also approved a portion of the requested
in-kind fee waivers for permits, staff time and Media Park rental totaling $1,977.00. This
approval was subject to the City Council’s consideration of further information regarding
three fee waiver requests related to parking (in the amount of $3,700).
25 Metered Parking Spaces South of Media Park
There are 25 metered parking spaces south of Media Park, which are maintained by the
City. Rental fees for the spaces are $16/per day. Share our Strength encloses those
spaces on the Saturday before the event with fencing, and the spaces remain
unavailable to the public throughout the event on Sunday. Total cost to rent these
spaces is $800 for the two days. This space is required to allow enough room for the
numerous vendors that participate in the event. Canfield Avenue is also closed, from
Culver Boulevard, with permission from Kay and Dave’s Restaurant as the closure City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
impairs access to Kay and Dave’s parking spaces, to Venice Boulevard. The City-
owned lot north of Kay and Dave’s lot, for which there is no rental fee and has been
used for the event for the last seven years, is also enclosed within the fencing and is
used by the event as the area for public bathrooms and sanitation needs. Share our
Strength requests a fee waiver in the amount of $800 for the rental of these spaces.
Parking Spaces for Up to 400 Volunteers now reduced to 200
In the past several years, as attendance and number of volunteers had increased at the
Event, parking at the Ince Parking Lot (Ince) became very difficult for attendees. During
the last two years of the Event, volunteers were divided up by last name and were
required to park at either the Watseka or Cardiff Parking Lots, which moderated the
impact on Ince and opened up more spots for event attendees in Ince. While it was still
crowded, with additional use of Ince for valet parking of VIP attendees, it was less
crowded than in the past. This year there will not be any valet services, so all cars
would self-park.
The all-day parking rate used by the City for film companies and other groups is $6 per
space per day. The total cost for 400 volunteers would be $2,400, for which Share our
Strength had requested a fee waiver. To reduce the number of parking spaces needed
(and the related costs), Share our Strength will require carpooling for volunteers, so that
only 200 parking passes would be provided. This change reduces the fee waiver
requested at the October 22, 2012 meeting from $2,400 to $1,200.
There was a concern about the impact that the event has caused on parking in
downtown because of the total number of attendees and volunteers. Although no
specific data has been collected, Sunday afternoons are typically a less busy time than
other days and times of the week for the parking structures.
To further reduce the number of cars parking in downtown, staff has identified eight
alternate parking locations that Share our Strength could use for volunteers and
provided those locations to Share our Strength. From this list, Share our Strength has
identified one potential alternative parking site that would allow Share our Strength to
rent the space and is close enough for the volunteers to use. If approved for use, it
would reduce the parking in downtown by an additional 200 vehicles and no fee waiver
would be requested. Otherwise, Share our Strength requests a fee waiver for the 200
volunteer cars to park at the furthest structures from the event (at a value of $1,200) or
would require the volunteers to pay for parking.
Parcel B Rental for Oversized Trucks
At the October 22, 2012 City Council meeting, a question arose regarding the
availability of Parcel B. Subsequent to that meeting, the State indicated it would
not provide its approval to proceed with the City supported development at that site
until a point in the future which occurs after this event. Therefore, it seems that
Parcel B will be available. In the case Parcel B is not available, the former City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
Washington Boulevard right-of-way is an alternate location to park oversized
vehicles. The cost to rent Old Washington Blvd is $450 per day, which is comparable
to the $500 cost to rent Parcel B. Share our Strength requests that this fee be
waived.
The revised property rental fee waiver requests, reduced by $1,200, total $2,500 and
are consistent with the general policy direction provided by Council regarding
financial support, post elimination of the RDA, for the 2012 Culver City Car Show
and IndieCade 2012.
In summary, the following items are presented to the City Council for consideration
this evening:
PARKING LOCATION FEE WAIVER REQUEST
A. 25 Spaces south of Media Park $ 800
B. 200 spaces at parking structures $1,200
C. Parcel B or Washington Boulevard $ 500
TOTAL FEE WAIVER REQUEST $2,500
The license agreement that was previously approved by the City Council on October
22
nd
, will be modified to reflect any action taken by the City Council this evening.
FISCAL ANALYSIS:
With two hours free parking and a three hour event, the City’s potential income is
approximately $600.00. This assumes that 600 non-valet cars (carrying an average
of two people each for a total attendance of 1,200 at the event) will park for the
three-hour event at the various parking structures. With two hours free of charge, the |1010|rd
hour would cost $1.00 per vehicle.
ATTACHMENTS:
None.
MOTION:
That the City Council:
Determine the amount of in-kind financial support for parking assistance for the
event to be $________.