The city's virtual hearing on October 27 was supposed to be about Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Most of the people who spoke talked about a 53-space lot at 2010 S. Pisani Place, behind the Oakwood arts buildings. The Free Venice Beachhead's account of the hearing reported that testimony "centered overwhelmingly on saving Lot 613." Speakers described it as the main parking for Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, SPARC, Pacific Resident Theatre and the Safe Place for Youth community garden.
That focus says a lot about how the proposal works. The city's own documents describe its goal as turnover: getting cars to move so more people can find a space. On Abbot Kinney's busy shopping blocks, that goal is easy to picture. The three free lots slated for meters are a different case. The city itself places them more than a mile from the beach, and the people who use them most showed up to say they are not visitors.
What the city filed
The proposal is called LA Express Park – Venice, Coastal Development Permit application CDP-26-002-BE, and the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering is reviewing it. The project page was last updated October 22, 2026, and links to a project description and an interactive map.
On the street, the plan adds meters to about 200 free spaces on Abbot Kinney between Main Street and Venice Boulevard. It also upgrades about 300 existing meters around Windward Circle and Washington Boulevard. The city says it neither adds nor removes any street spaces. New hardware takes cards, coins, mobile apps, text-to-pay and tap-to-pay. Occupancy sensors would sit in the pavement, inside meter heads, or on streetlight poles watching whole blocks. The plan also adds up to 30 pedestrian signs pointing to Venice Beach, the Venice Canals and Abbot Kinney, plus up to 20 driver signs pointing to city lots.
Base meter rates go up in every sub-zone. In the Venice and Washington-Pacific Sub-Zone 1 areas, the summer rate from May 1 to September 30 rises from $2 to $2.50 an hour. The winter rate from October 1 to April 30 rises from $1 to $1.50. The outer Sub-Zone 2 areas go from $1 to $1.50 year-round. Those are base rates only. With sensors, LA Express Park pricing can drop to $1 an hour or climb to double the base, up to $5. The project description gives the example of a busy summer Saturday afternoon costing more than a slow winter Monday morning. LADOT's program page says the aim is to raise prices when demand is high and lower them when it falls, so a few spaces stay open on each block.
It's November, so if the plan were approved, the winter schedule would be the first one Abbot Kinney drivers saw.
Nine city lots, three kinds of change
The lots are where most of the plan's detail sits, and they don't all change the same way. Here is each lot as listed in the city's project description, comparing current and proposed rates.
| Lot | Address | Spaces | Current | Proposed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 701 | 2150 Dell Ave. | 150 | Oct–Apr: $4 from 7–9am, $7–$15 from 9am–5pm | Oct–Apr: $8 from 8–9am, $10–$25 from 9am–5pm; still free Fridays 7am–noon for the farmers' market |
| 731 | 200 N. Venice Blvd. | 177 | Oct–Apr: $4 from 7–9am, $7–$15 daytime; honor box after hours, $2 Mon–Thu, $3 Fri–Sun | Oct–Apr: $8 from 8–9am, $10–$20 daytime; pay station 8–11pm, $5 Mon–Thu, $10 Fri–Sun |
| 740 | 301 S. Main St. | 41 | Summer weekends up to $25; weekdays and Oct–Apr $1/hour, $4 max | Summer weekends up to $30; weekdays and Oct–Apr unchanged at $1/hour, $4 max |
| 759 | 1301 S. Electric Ave. | 66 | $0.50 per 15 min, $8 max | $0.75 per 15 min, $12 max for 4 hours |
| 760 | 1600 Irving Tabor Ct. | 50 | $0.50 per 15 min, $8 max | $0.75 per 15 min, $12 max for 4 hours |
| 761 | 1608 S. Pacific Ave. | 14 | $1/hour, 8am–6pm | $1.50/hour, hours extended to 9pm |
| 613 | 2010 S. Pisani Pl. | 53 | Free | $0.50/hour, $5 daily max, hours extended to 9pm |
| 616 | 1411 Electric Ave. | 29 | Free | $0.50/hour, $5 daily max |
| 617 | 1511 Electric Ave. | 22 | Free | $0.50/hour, $5 daily max |
The beach lots on Dell and Venice Boulevard see the biggest jumps. Lot 701's early-morning winter rate doubles from $4 to $8, and Lot 731's weekend evening rate goes from a $3 honor box to $10. The Main Street lot's weekday rate doesn't change at all. The three Oakwood and Electric Avenue lots carry the lowest proposed prices on the list, at fifty cents an hour, but they're the only lots going from free to paid.
Lot 731 has a second story going on. Its address, 200 N. Venice Blvd., is also the site of the Venice Dell project. According to an October 1 report in the Community Sentinel, that project would replace the city lot with 120 apartments and a public parking structure next door. That report said construction had not started.
Why the cheapest change drew the most testimony
Fifty cents an hour is not much for a beach visit. For the people who park at Lot 613 most often, cost wasn't really the main issue. The Beachhead's write-up lists what speakers said:
- Jimi Vega, executive director of Beyond Baroque, urged the city to deny the Lot 613 conversion. He said the organization's 1906 building has no parking of its own and that meters would fall hardest on seniors and students coming to evening events.
- Marilyn Fox, artistic director of Pacific Resident Theatre, said the theater serves 12,000 patrons a year and called the adjacent lot a lifeline.
- A SPARC representative pointed to the more than 150 combined years Venice's arts organizations have served the neighborhood.
- Neighbors on Amorosa Place, Brooks Avenue and Superba Avenue said nearby homes lack driveways or street parking. They described the lot as a release valve on days when filming, construction or street cleaning takes over the block.
- Speakers also raised the second parcel of Lot 613 behind Fire Station 63, and the need to keep ADA access points.
The plan's longer hours matter here too. Lot 613 would be metered until 9 p.m., which covers the evening readings and performances these groups hold.
On Abbot Kinney itself, the testimony was more divided. The Beachhead reported that Abbot Kinney property owner David Hare supported meters to keep cars turning over. Brennan Lindner of the Venice Chamber of Commerce asked for monthly permits for retail workers and for clarity on how enforcement and repeat tickets would work along the boulevard. Community member Colin Warren called demand-based pricing sound economics. A store manager on the boulevard argued against meters, saying the existing two-hour limits are not enforced.
Venice has been here before
Abbot Kinney almost got meters six years ago. Back then, LADOT's plan called for 196 new meters on the boulevard, along with changes to loading zones, bike and scooter corrals, and two-hour limits. It also proposed metering the two free city lots behind the boulevard's businesses. On February 5, 2020, then-Councilmember Mike Bonin dropped the meters in a letter to residents and stakeholders, as Yo! Venice reported at the time:
"Based on your feedback, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation will not be installing additional parking meters on Abbot Kinney Boulevard."
The current filing brings back nearly the same street plan, about 200 spaces from Main Street to Venice Boulevard. This time it goes through a coastal permit with a formal hearing and a state review at the end.
That state review has a track record in Venice, though on a different kind of rule. In 2010, the California Coastal Commission denied the city's proposal for overnight permit-only parking districts. The Commission's 2010 revised findings said resident-only overnight parking would keep nonresidents out during early beach-access hours. They also said it would give permit holders an edge over visitors for public curb space, without enough protection for visitor parking. The proposal came back in 2013 with a staff recommendation to approve it with conditions. The Commission's minutes record a unanimous vote against approval on June 13, 2013, and the application was denied.
Those cases were about permits that reserve public curbs for residents. Meters work differently, because anyone can park as long as they pay. The Commission's test, however, was public access to the coast, and speakers at the October hearing used the same language. The Beachhead reported that several attendees cited Coastal Act sections protecting lower-cost visitor access and special communities.
What happens between now and a decision
The Bureau of Engineering's Coastal Development Permit page says the City Engineer grants or denies local permits for public projects. Because this project covers parts of the coastal zone where both the city and the state issue permits, it needs determinations from both the City Engineer and the Coastal Commission. Here is the sequence as reported so far:
- Written comments are accepted through the end of the day on November 24, 2026. Email them to Lauren Rhodes, Environmental Supervisor II, at [email protected], or mail them to the Bureau of Engineering, Environmental Management Division, 1149 S. Broadway, Suite 600, Mail Stop 939, Los Angeles, CA 90015-2213.
- The Beachhead reports that hearing testimony goes into a staff report before the City Engineer makes a determination.
- According to the same account, a 10-day appeal period to the Board of Public Works follows the decision, and then Coastal Commission review.
The application and its exhibits are available to view in person at the Broadway office, and questions can go to (213) 485-5733. BOE says a recording of the October 27 hearing and the slide deck will be posted afterward. Yo! Venice's hearing preview has a plain-language summary of the full project, if you'd like the short version before you read the city's tables.
If you own a building on Abbot Kinney, Electric Avenue or the walk streets near Pisani Place, curb access and nearby lot parking affect how tenants and buyers see your property every day. Jasan Sherman and our team follow decisions like this one block by block. If you'd like to know how parking access near your address fits into what your property is worth today, get your instant Westside home valuation and we'll go over it with you.
