Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutJUNE 15,1993 1 I t}//.:;J - ~ v <J 6/S-9' J 35: 0148 e-c:... CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS ARE TAPE RECORDED AND ON FILE IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK ROLL CALL DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION (M. Freedman) rJe, ~(? (, ,-- ~ I I L. MINUTES CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA and the ARCADIA REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING JUNE 15, 1993 The City Council and the Arcadia Redevelopment Agency met in an Adjourned Regular Meeting on Tuesday. June 15, 1993 at 5:30 p,m, in the Conference Room of the City Council Chambers. PRESENT: Councilmembers Fasching, Harbicht, Lojeski, Margett and Ciraulo ABSENT: None At the May 17, 1993 Council work session, Michael Freedman of Freedman, Tung and Bottomley presented a review of development strategies for the downtown core area of Huntington Drive between Santa Anita and Second Avenue. At that time Mr. Freedman advised that at the May 24, 1993 community meeting he would specifically recommend certain City capital improvements which would .prime the pump. for downtown development and encourage private investment. Mr. Freedman was in attendance this date, June 15th, for the specific purpose of describing and discussing his recommendations for public improvements on Huntington Drive as part of the downtown revitalization strategy. The City Manager noted that after hearing Mr. Freedman's recommendations for the Huntington Drive street improvement component, staff requests informal conceptual approval, or modifications and suggestions from the Council. Further, after completion of the process which included the community workshops, staff meetings and Council study sessions for informal approval of the various conceptual phases, the entire plan will be brought before Council for formal consideration at a future public hearing. Mr. Freedman, in his presentation this date, stated in part, that he had promised at the last Council downtown study session that he would return with recommendations to create quick, dramatic, short-term changes which would kick-off a renaissance in the downtown area. In reference to the present condition of Arcadia's downtown area along Huntington Drive, he noted that economists say a drab image has a negative impact on the size of the market share of investment that a downtown captures. In putting together an urban design concept for Arcadia, his firm has identified opportunity sites for new investment of a scale that is not uncommon in downtown areas, and they believe various types of uses can go into sites that are all ready to be developed, whether it's the Foulger Ford site or the Southwest' Corner site or small development sites fronting onto First Avenue or Huntington Drive. They have found that a public sector can influence the market very dramatically by setting the stage for a new phase in a district. Very high in the revitalization strategy to turn downtown around is to totally transform the visual character of Huntington Drive. at least between Second Avenue and Santa Anita. This to show everyone that the City has made an undeniable commitment to revitalize the downtown area, and market it to potential investors with success that the City was not previously able to achieve. 1 6/15/93 35:0149 The design problem that has to be solved is simple, but it is hard to deal with, he noted, because; 1) the parking reserve in downtown is on the north side of Huntington Drive; and 2) crossing Huntington Drive in terms of the design problem is very inconvenient because of the long blocks a person has to walk to get to a signalized crossing point. Another problem as they see it, is neither Huntington Drive nor First Avenue are pedestrian- friendly or comfortable and attractive to pedestrians, Further. one of the biggest problems they have had with the design is that Huntington Drive is trying to be a narrow shopping main street, but it is actually a regional arterial for a whole lot of cars. Also, this downtown core of Huntington Drive is now a traffic bottleneck no matter which direction the traffic flows. The final two aspects of the problem is the overall drab and lifeless identity of the area, which is a real problem in terms of getting significant investors to come in and invest new money. Moreover, I in terms of the major pieces that the design has to solve to make revitalization work ... Huntington feels like at least three different roads, according to Mr. Freedman. One section is from Fifth Avenue to Second; another is the downtown core from Second Avenue to Santa Anita, and then there's the piece from Santa Anita to the mall. This creates a missed opportunity for Huntington Drive to create a unified central spine for the City, and a missed opportunity for specific areas to help each other, such as the City Hall, major medical, mall, racetrack, downtown core and the gateway to the City... the overpass. The design plan has to solve all of this. Mr. Freedman explained that as they studied the problem they realized there were basically three ways to revitalize Huntington Drive in the downtown core. He went on to describe the first two plans which would be easy to accomplish and not too costly. Plan one would remove the median in the center of Huntington Drive to provide diagonal parking along the curb on both sides of the street for quick- in/quick out parking. Plan two leaves the parallel parking at the curb as it is currently. The third design plan, after much study, is recommended by Mr. Freedman and is basically described as follows: The median would remain in the Huntington Drive downtown core; plan three would remove all parallel parking on Huntington; extend the sidewalks out; place palm trees at curbside; take out the existing "lollipop" trees to capture a much wider sidewalk area to create a full pedestrian zone. He also recommends placement of a decorative fence at the edge of the curb to prevent jay-walking to central crossing points, and also to create a much more unified and usable sidewalk area with benches and plants. This design plan would break up the two extremely long blocks on Huntington between Santa Anita and Second Avenue by adding two additional signalized crosswalks to each block, so that the area would function almost like six blocks. The push button ability of pedestrians to cross the street anytime would be eliminated. In doing this and removing parking along the curb, the vehicular capacity would be increased along Huntington. This means also that other elements must fold into the plan design which are 1 crucial and somewhat unorthodox, according to Hr. Freedman. A new signage program was described for the business establishments in the area to improve their visibility to traffic because traffic moves along Huntington too fast for vehicle occupants to see small signs. Therefore, a signage and oannei' pl,:ogram must be a part of this plan. Also, this design uses the traffic signal trellises arching over the street to create a dramatic effect; and replacement of existing street lighting with 13 foot light poles at pedestrian scale on the same line ~s the palm trees; and much more monumental light fixtures which will complement the design .of the' traffic signal trellises. Design plan three also places information kiosks on the sidewalks at each crosswalk on both sides of the street. With all these elements downtown will become a place that feels like the heart of the community, as well as a place where businesses are 2 6/15/93 35: 0150 1 prospering. A final element of design plan three would be the railroad overpass which presides over downtown as a gateway to the City from the east, As the design team talked with people in the community, and in order to establish a sense of what the people think are the buildings that make up the quality of the City, it became evident that the architecture that stands out seemed to be the race track. Tying in with the architecture of the track, and using this imagery more around downtown. seemed to be something that held immense unused opportunity for the City, according to Mr. Freedman, and this design imagery could be used on one side of the railroad overpass, and the community of homes theme could be used on the other side along with the City seal. The idea of plan three is to create a loosely unified family of pieces and link it to memorable imagery that exists in the City Design concept three was presented to staff at a workshop, and approval in concept was given. The concept was then presented at a community workshop and it received overwhelming approval, although some input was received from individuals who were not 100% behind every element such as the 3 1/2 foot high silvery fence along the curb on Huntington Drive. On the question of removing the parking on Huntington, Hr. Freedman commented that a solution to this lost parking could be diagonal parking along both sides of First Avenue, as well as signage to direct vehicles to public parking lots. In reference to businesses on First Avenue, Mr. Freedman stated in part that he believes when a new environment is created on Huntington Drive by the plan, some of the business people will be interested in moving from First Avenue to Huntington Drive, His firm would recommend that the City assist in the redistribution of businesses and group certain establishments together. Further, businesses, he commented, need convenience parking, visibility and signage. In response to a question of why this design plan could not take place on First Avenue rather than Huntington Drive, Hr. Freedman commented that currently existing business is strongest on Huntington Drive and the amount of visibility is greater on Huntington than on First Avenue. At the community workshops many of the participants viewed First Avenue as a local street and Huntington Drive more as a regional street '" and each having a different business climate. 1 Considerable discussion ensued of the cost to the City to construct all of the recommended public improvements. Mr. Freedman commented that these cost estimates would normally be computed in the beginning of the design development phase. His educated guess for this, however, would be $2.5 million for all recommended construction improvements on Huntington Drive between Santa Anita and Second Avenue, or $1,200 per linear foot. Council was reminded that this is not a formal cost estimate since the firm had not been authorized to do this as yet. Mr, Freedman's questions to Council were, is the design plan right? Does it make sense as the quick thing to do? Should it be implemented? Councilmember Harbicht wanted to know if this plan alone would attract the kinds of businesses that would revitalize downtown? Mr. Freedman responded, in part, that the answer is "No", not the design plan by itself. The Council will have to let the whole region know that they have a vision to revitalize the downtown; there are opportunity sites the City wants to sell and develop; and some of them should be packaged as RFP's for development programs for business reinvestment and new investment, to let people know that the City will create something and make the first investment in the area. The design plan should be the leading program in a series of programs which would include business relocation and increasing the number of people living and working in the area. However, Hr. Freedman noted, if the design plan is just a capital improvement project to stand on its own, it will help some, but he does not think it will revitalize downtown at all. Further, this plan involves 3 6/15/93 35:0150 (a) authorizing staff to aggressively pursue investment in the area and to spend time on increasing the number of people working and living in the area to get the market really going; it involves reconsideration of the location of the future train station; involves implementing a business relocation program and business recruitment program; and a design assistance program. If these things are done, in his.opinion, the downtown will begin to be really flooded with a lot of new investment. He reiterated the street design program is to 'prime the pump' for very significant private investment and to affect the market. Mr. Freedman explained in detail the business recruitment and relocation programs and noted how important these programs would be to the success of the revitalization, and has to be done in conjunction with the design program on Huntington Drive. He further recommends that the City implement Phase I of the program I without the railroad overpass reconstruction since it is not known when or if the light rail will be extended to Arcadia. Build everything in the street design plan; change City policy related to sidewalk eating areas, signage and land use; authorize staff to go ahead and aggressively pursue private investment of the sites. This to begin the revitalization of downtown. Councilmember Harbicht asked for a projection of potential income the City would receive from the revitalization effort. Mr. Freedman responded that they would be happy to prepare two or three scenarios and do a cash flow analysis, but, at this point he did not care to make any guesses along those lines. An exchange occurred of property tax increment and land value per square foot; development in existing buildings; the Foulger Ford site development; parking structures; money making assets. Mr. Freedman noted that the buildings in the two block area on Huntington Drive in the downtown core are depressed in property value. As an outside observer, this is incredibly underutilized land, and that tells him that there are no sales being made. His firm is putting a program together that will make the property more valuable. Further, they have not found that downtown-cores, such as the one under discussion, are really big money making parts of town. It is his experience that cities do revitalization programs for secondary effects on the overall identity of the city, and because the community really wants to have a heart that is flattering, and for other economic reasons. The area, after revitalization, would pretty much pay for itself in the long run; but downtowns are not generally sources of revenue generation. The City Manager commented that Council suggestions about modifications to design components are appreciated. Also direction should be given to proceed or not to proceed with Phase I. A third alternative could be to provide Council with more precise costs. Mr. Freedman has received an estimate of $2,500 for specific engineering costs and could return with additional specific numbers to validate the cost for the City improvements. Mayor Ciraulo noted this information would be needed in order to make a decision to go forward with the project. I Councilmember Harbicht stated in part, that he would like to see a list of the steps that are being recommended ... there are elements other than the design-element. Also he would like more informacion on the business relocation program including an estimate of the costs. Further. he would like to have an estimate of the cost for the business recruitment program. Councilmember Harbicht also would like to know what other things the City will need to do to make the program work ... and what those coats will be. Also, maybe this could be on a semi- spreadsheet and include a timeline of when these costs may "kick- in", and also some projection of when revenues will be returned to the City/Agency as a result of doing these things, so this project can be evaluated just as any other project is evaluated. Councilmember Fasching basically agreed with Councilmember 4 6/15/93 35:0150 (b) Harbicht and noted the project area under consideration is mainly privately owned. and much of the design plan and revitalization will depend on the owners. He added also that once investors know about the revitalization plan for Huntington Drive they will be interested in coming into that area. There was consensus of Council to authorize Mr. Freedman to research the matters that Council discussed and provide more information as to the steps that have been recommended, and the estimate of the costs involved. At 7:07 p. m. the Council ENTERED a CLOSED SESSION, RECONVENED and ADJOURNED sine die at 7:35 p, m. 1 ATTEST: J /' 1 5 6/15/93