What happens if Gardena ends its parking in-lieu fee?

If you’re buying or selling commercial property on Gardena Boulevard, or planning to expand a business there, the parking fee proposal raises a practical question: could you still pay a fee instead of providing parking?

If adopted, the ordinance would remove that option for the covered stretch of Gardena Boulevard. It would also retain a path for a business or use change that doesn’t intensify parking requirements or add square footage. The proposal is still pending.

Has Gardena adopted the change?

No, the commission has recommended adoption, but the council action sheet leaves consideration for a future meeting.

On October 20, 2026, the Gardena Planning and Environmental Quality Commission adopted Resolution No. PC 12-26 by a 5 to 0 vote, recommending that the City Council adopt an ordinance for Zone Text Amendment #4-26. The City Council’s October 27, 2026 agenda lists it in the commission action sheet with “No City Council action required” and says it “will be reviewed and considered by the City Council at a future City Council meeting.” If adopted, the ordinance would take effect 30 days after passage.

That distinction matters when you’re reading a listing or discussing a proposed use. A commission recommendation isn’t council adoption. The October 27 council packet records the pending status.

Where does the parking fee option apply?

The existing option covers commercial uses on Gardena Boulevard between Normandie Avenue and Vermont Avenue, which the resolution calls Downtown Gardena.

Ordinance No. 1693, adopted July 10, 2007, amended Title 18 to allow a deviation from off-street or on-site parking requirements there through a one-time parking in-lieu payment. The staff report identifies the current fee as $750 per parking space.

According to staff, properties that pay are permanently exempt from providing the required off-street parking. Staff also say that arrangement has contributed to ongoing downtown traffic congestion and circulation issues.

Keep the location and use in view. This proposal concerns the Downtown Gardena commercial parking exception. For the separate ADU topic, see the Gardena ADU ordinance guide.

What would the proposed ordinance remove?

The proposed ordinance would remove the exception that lets business and property owners satisfy off-street parking requirements through a one-time in-lieu fee.

The staff outline specifically describes deleting the payment option for an expansion or a change to a more intensive land use without providing the parking spaces called for by the Gardena Municipal Code. Staff state that the purpose is to help new development accommodate its parking demand and reduce strain on public streets.

The proposal affects Chapter 18.20, covering the Commercial Residential Zone C-R, and Chapter 18.40, covering Off-street Parking and Loading. The October 20 commission packet contains the staff report, resolution and draft ordinance.

For a particular expansion, ask the Community Development Department how the proposed deletion would apply to the property and planned use. The $750 figure describes the current fee, not the cost of providing parking.

What would happen when a business adds space?

Under proposed GMC Section 18.40.120, increased square footage would call for on-site parking for the spaces required by that increase.

The draft wording is specific: “On-site parking shall be provided for spaces required due to increased square footage above and beyond existing square footage, as well as for any parking spaces that were previously provided on site.”

For your plans, that makes the existing square footage, proposed addition and previously provided on-site parking concrete subjects to discuss with Community Development. Ask the department what parking calculation applies to the proposed use and how it treats the existing space.

The residential parking text in GMC Section 18.20.050.A.6 is unchanged in the draft. This proposal is about removing the commercial in-lieu exception, not rewriting that residential parking text. If you’re comparing mixed-use rules across cities, keep the La Puente mixed-use overlay guide separate from the Gardena proposal.

Could a business change without adding parking?

Yes, the proposed text allows a business or use change without additional parking or in-lieu fees when parking requirements aren’t intensified and no square footage is added.

Staff also describe retaining or replacing existing legal-nonconforming uses with a similar or less intensive use, provided the use isn’t intensified and the building or tenant space isn’t expanded. A change in business alone therefore isn’t the whole question. The proposed use and any added space matter.

A small Gardena Boulevard property had almost worked for F.’s business plan, except that the site could not provide all the parking he thought might be required. His preliminary budget included an in-lieu fee as a possible way to address the shortage. When he heard Gardena might repeal that fee, he did not know whether that would reduce his costs or remove an option he was relying on. He went back to the city question first: if the fee ends, how would a project that cannot provide the required spaces be handled?

Don’t assume that an unchanged building means unchanged parking requirements. Ask the department how it classifies the planned use.

What if the property already paid the fee?

The documents do not explain what would happen to fees already paid or whether past payers would retain their exemptions under the proposal.

Ask the Community Development Department directly. The staff report’s description of the current permanent exemption doesn’t answer how the proposed ordinance would treat a particular property’s payment history.

Useful questions include:

• Does the department have a record of an in-lieu payment for this property?
• How would the proposed ordinance treat that payment and the associated exemption?
• Would the planned use or expansion change the department’s answer?

For a seller, keep that unresolved point clear when discussing the property. If you’re also reviewing broader sale expenses, the California selling-cost guide addresses a separate topic; it doesn’t resolve this parking question.

Where can you follow the proposal?

The Gardena agenda portal is the main local source for following Zone Text Amendment #4-26.

The proposal has already been separated from another parking topic. The commission first reviewed the change as Zone Text Amendment #3-25 on January 20, 2026, bundled with mechanical or robotic parking rules. On April 14, 2026, the council sent it back so the robotic parking rules and in-lieu fee deletion could proceed separately.

A public hearing notice for ZTA #4-26 was published in the Gardena Valley News on September 24, 2026. To follow the pending fee deletion, look for its amendment number and the draft language for GMC Section 18.40.120.

The short version

If adopted, Gardena’s proposal would end the one-time parking in-lieu fee option for the covered commercial uses between Normandie and Vermont avenues.

A use change without intensified parking requirements or added square footage would have a different path from an expansion. Ask Community Development about your proposed use, existing parking and any past fee payment before treating the draft as an answer for your property.

This guide is educational, not legal or tax advice.

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