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SLO to start construction on new parking structure

May 7, 2023

By KAREN VELIE

The City of San Luis Obispo plans to break ground this month on a new 163,000-square-foot parking structure at the corner of Palm, Nipomo and Monterey streets.

An existing parking lot has been closed for demolition and site preparation. Construction of the first parking structure built in 20 years is scheduled to start in the fall.

The project is expected to set the stage for a vibrant and pedestrian-friendly Cultural Arts District, including a new SLO Rep Theater. The parking structure includes 396 spaces, electric vehicle charging stations and overnight parking options for downtown residents.

City staff anticipates the parking structure will be completed in two years.


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Difficult to be behind the cost of this while businesses downtown remain boarded up and short-lived. Not to mention, it’s easy to find parking within a block or two of where I’m going.


3

hey where are the bike lanes (full of happy bikers) in the drawing?


10

I wonder if there are agencies to oversee this? Lol


0

The one thing you can count on is change… I liked SLO better in the 80’s…. with Scrubby and Lloyd’s…. 


33

The existing parking structure do not and never have paid for themselves in the fees collected. The fees collected do not even cover the cost of the parking structure attendants.


16

What a waste. I bet the only way to make another parking structure pencil out is with higher parking fees and fines. Plus, the high commercial property vacancy rate in downtown SLO seems to indicate that the parking demand isn’t there at the moment. I would delay the project and see what the future holds. But, you know bureaucrats.


26

Yeah, cry about bikes and cry about cars.


-7

Waste and abuse of our tax dollars. The paucity of handicapped parking spaces in downtown SLO-town makes shopping there user-hostile to seniors and the handicapped.


26

I’m not sure how I feel about this. I’ve reached a point where shopping in downtown SLO is more trouble than it’s worth. Our locally owned small town stores no longer exist and this saddens me. I’m all for changes and now it’s a necessary part of the life cycle but something is amiss with our downtown.


53

Yeah, shopping down town with rich drunk college kids sucks alot.


3

What’s amiss is the mayor,city council and the rest of the city government officials.

Shoving costly project after project down everyone’s throat.


8

All while the city is doing everything they can to get people out of their cars and use alternate transportation? At least let’s hope they have designed it right, I understand older parking structures are having structural issues because they weren’t designed for E-vehicles which are much heavier than IC vehicles and have a tendency to catch fire and are almost impossible to put out, you just have to let them burn themselves out, or you can try to use foam to control and not spread, but a recent story says it is apparently toxic.


28

Gas powered cars (1.05%) are actually three times more likely to catch fire than EVs (0.3%), but you are correct that EVs are far heavier, which, as you point out will put increased pressure on infrastructure such as roads and parking structures.


Indeed, a lithium battery pack on fire is obviously a nightmare. The bigger the battery, the bigger the fire and as EVs are capable of traveling farther, so too will the battery need to be bigger. I believe that as hydrogen fuel cells are perfected more car manufacturers will opt for that alternative.


Here are a couple of resources to ponder,


https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/02/02/science/electric-vehicle-fires-are-rare-when-they-occur-they-can-be-nightmare/#:~:text=Overall%2C%20EVs%20are%20about%200.3,Auto%20Insurance%20EZ%20last%20year.


https://www.petro-online.com/news/measurement-and-testing/14/breaking-news/lithium-ion-batteries-vs-hydrogen-fuel-cells-which-is-better/58898#:~:text=In%20terms%20of%20energy%20storage,high%2Dload%20lithium%20ion%20batteries.


-15

Perhaps an IC car may be more likely to catch fire, but a good dousing with water will put it out the first time. Battery fires just rage…then, they rage again…then, they rage again…then…


Nothing wrong with a hydrogen cell engine (other than being simply spectacular when they also erupt into flames), it’s the hydrogen itself. It takes more energy to make hydrogen, than what it gives back. Hydrogen gas does not occur naturally, it must be split from water, which takes a gawdawful amount of electricity, which simply won’t be available, enmass and on demand, from solar or wind production.


Here’s a strange proposal from me: Keep Diablo open, as a splitter plant, with hydrogen stored and shipped, from on site.


0

I like that idea. And, how about using renewals to power hydrogen plants, then use the hydrogen not only for cars but for industrial purposes and electrical generation…


I heard, or read somewhere, can’t remember exactly but some place in Australia they were going to try and use hydrogen to power some sort of manufacturing plant.


0

Interesting you should bring that up, hydrogen. Just read an interview with Elon Musk. He admitted that he was always skeptical about the concept and even made jokes about hydrogen. He admits however that he is coming around to the idea.


The rare materials used in lithium batteries are expensive, the current mining practices of the industry is akin to “blood diamonds “ and environmentally it is a savage industry.


It might make one feel good driving an electric vehicle but make no mistake, building lithium batteries is not a good thing for the planet.


I predict EV’s will go the way Betamax and VCR’s. Like those they will be a transitional technology, a bridge to a future that is less reliant on petroleum.


5

I find it amazing that I get 13 down votes on my comment, which is 100% correct and even provides the evidence for what I have said.


Please, please, please, refute my comments if they are inaccurate.


Otherwise, read my sources and get educated. I would love for this blog to be an exchange of ideas rather than simple propaganda. If you have sources or websites that present alternative opinions or evidence, please, by all means, post.


-6

I don’t know…Toyota is looking to be all-in on hydrogen too, and they haven’t been wrong often.


4

Yep, Kenworth and Peterbilt are developing hydrogen fuel cells for big rigs. Interesting story:


https://www.truckinginfo.com/10197943/kenworth-peterbilt-commercializing-fuel-cell-electric-trucks


The future is now for a lot this stuff. It is a very exciting time to be alive with a transportation revolution underway.


Thanks for the dialogue, messkit, derasmus, robdadbod. I love your factual contributions.


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