March 29, 2013 -- Santa Monica City Staff will decide whether to make Saint John's Health Center (SJHC) build a parking structure to replace the 450 spaces at the Colorado Center it will lose at the end of March.

Saint John's leased the parking spaces as part of a 2011 amendment to the hospital's 1998 development agreement (DA) The amendment allowed the hospital to forgo construction of the parking structure so long as it provided the equivalent amount of parking.

“Per the amended Agreement, the City can require construction of the North Subterranean

Parking Garage if the Planning Director reasonably determines that SJHC is unable to cure a parking deficit arising from the cancellation, termination, or expiration of the Colorado Center lease,” staff said.

“The First Amendment also requires SJHC to provide parking at all times to meet the peak parking demand of the hospital’s various user groups,” staff said.

According to the City, Saint John's provides 1,575 parking spaces. The hospital's projected need, based on a study in 2010, would reach 1,306 spaces.

“The City is reviewing SJHC’s proposed functional equivalent to the 450-space Colorado Center parking lease, its updated parking utilization/demand study, and Parking Management Plan,” staff said.

The proposal currently being reviewed by the City maintains that Saint John's would only have to replace 190 of the 450 spaces currently being leased to cover the hospital's parking needs.

The City is expected to let its initial findings be known Friday, but even if the City does require construction of a parking garage, Saint John's can appeal to the City Council.

Many residents are already not happy with the parking situation in that area.

Planning Commissioner Richard McKinnon called the area “a total mess at the moment” and said that the City needs to charge more for on street parking while making residents exempt from those fees.

He said that the fact that only 190 of the 450 spaces at the Colorado Center are being used an indication that Saint John's employees and patients are looking for on-street parking instead.

Parking isn't the only problem facing the hospital. Saint John's posted losses of nearly $22 million in 2010 and nearly $13 million in 2011 and in December, two of its top executives and 15 members of its 17-member board were ousted. (“Shakeup at Saint John’s Health Center Will Have Unknown Consequences for Santa Monica Charities,” December 2012)

According the Los Angeles Times, UCLA may be joining with the Catholic Ascension Health Alliance in St. Louis to bid on the troubled health care institution.