Parking lot operator sues LA over LAX upgrades

Editor's note: This story was originally published on July 5. It has been updated throughout to reflect the latest information.

A parking lot company that owns space near Los Angeles International Airport has filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles over a host of comprehensive updates to the airport that are aimed at reducing traffic, the Los Angeles Times reports.

TPS Parking Century and TPS Parking Management, operators of the Parking Spot near the airport, are suing in an attempt to override the city’s approval of the plan and to require additional environmental analysis of the Landside Modernization Access Program.

The lawsuit claims the environmental impact report doesn’t fully explore the traffic impacts or the “growth-inducing effects” of the project, says the Times.

Benjamin M. Reznik, a lawyer representing the parking lot companies, tells Curbed that the report proposes making the main terminal loop open to cars only, meaning shuttle buses and other “aggregators” would not be allowed. This would be a big shakeup for parking lot companies, whose customers use shuttle buses to get to and from parking and the airport, Reznik says. The parking companies want the EIR to assess the opposite—restricting cars.

Trevor Daley, the chief of external affairs for Los Angeles World Airports, told the Times that the lawsuit was “a clear attempt for the Parking Spot to preserve their parking revenue by slowing down this important project that moves passengers efficiently.”

The LAMP is designed to reduce traffic at the airport once complete, adding an automated people-mover that would connect to light rail (the Crenshaw and Green lines), a consolidated rental car facility, additional parking space, and new areas for picking up and dropping off passengers.

• Ground transportation improvements planned for LAX challenged in court [LAT]
• Shiny new renderings of the Crenshaw Line’s 96th Street Station [Curbed LA]
• Here are new renderings of the LAX designed to be a lot less congested [Curbed LA]