Harvard-Westlake Parking Structure Plans Hit Speed Bump

STUDIO CITY (CBSLA.com) — Residents in Studio City are getting ready to voice their opposition to a three-story parking garage being planned by an elite private school.

Harvard-Westlake is planning to build a three-story, 750-car parking structure with a practice field on the roof that would connect to the campus via a 163-foot-long bridge over Coldwater Canyon Boulevard.

The school is planning to build the structure on its own land that's currently vacant, west of Coldwater Canyon and south of Ventura Boulevard.

School officials say the structure is needed to improve its parking situation and student safety, and that the plans are not an indication they plan to add to its enrollment.

But a group called Save Coldwater Canyon, which was formed in response to the plan, says the plan would mean potential construction hazards for the next two years, increased traffic, and damaging the natural habitat in the area.

The group also says the structure would hurt property values, but the school has countered that the parking structure would actually improve traffic flow because the plan includes new lanes on Coldwater Canyon.

A planning commission meeting will address Harvard-Westlake's parking structure plans at Van Nuys City Hall Tuesday morning – a meeting that is expected to be packed with the school's neighbors.