Second EXPO Facility Workshop to be Held Tuesday

Source: http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2011/November-2011/11_29_2011_Second_EXPO_Facility_Workshop_to_be_Held_Tuesday.html

By Lookout Staff

November 29, 2011 -- Santa Monica residents will get a chance to weigh in Tuesday night on the future use for a buffer zone the City will create adjacent to the EXPO maintenance facility.

The meeting co-sponsored by the City and the Pico Neighborhood Association provides residents with an opportunity to help shape the area facing Santa Monica's poorest and most diverse residential area.

The meeting held at Virginia Avenue Park's Thelma Terry Center will include a brief overview of the project and a discussion of the community's expectations for the buffer zone, City officials said. Participants will help "create a vision" and "define the next steps."

The meeting also will include a recap of the first meeting held in September, where residents weighed in on two redesigned versions of the Expo Line maintenance facility that will soon go up in their backyard.

At that meeting, Metro representatives asked residents to “identify a preferred site scenario” for the facility, which residents opposed when the site at Stewart Street and Exposition Boulevard was first proposed in 2009.

The also presented two designs that moved the main and service entrances off of Exposition Boulevard, directing traffic to enter from Stewart Street or Centinela Avenue. The new designs also moved the “buffer” zone to Exposition Boulevard from Stewart. In both plans, none of the facility's buildings would be taller than 30 feet.

The Expo Light Rail is expected to roll into Santa Monica in 2015.

To ensure accurate accommodations email lindsey.haley@smgov.net or call 310.458.8301. Virginia Avenue Park is served by Big Blue Bus line 7 and Rapid 7. Visit www.BigBlueBus.com for times.

There is limited free parking and plenty of bike parking available.