City Planning for Beach Parking Projects

City staffers are set to start designing a couple beach parking projects, including a potential parking garage downtown and a surface lot at North Beach.

The San Clemente City Council Tuesday will deliberate on what specific projects they want staffers to start work on using the $9.7 million in the city's beach parking fund.

The money in the fund is the subject of a recent lawsuit by local residents demanding the return of the unused beach parking funds to taxpayers. The cash was collected about 15 years ago from each Talega homeowner to ensure there would be enough beach parking for all the extra residents in that new inland development.

Local attorney Brad Malamud, however, says in his lawsuit that the city, legally, has to return the money because it hasn't been used for the purpose it was collected.

Included in the staff report for Tuesday's meeting is the direction to return any funds not used for the projects to the residents from whom they were collected.

Under consideration is a surface lot along El Camino Real in North Beach, according to the staff report.

Though a need for extra parking isn't apparent in that area, staffers say beachgoers are using parking meant for the local historical and cultural resources there, such as the Ole Hanson Beach Club, route: {:controller=>"listings", :action=>"show", :id=>"ole-hanson-beach-club"} --> and the