City, chamber plan downtown redevelopment seminar

By: BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Monday, October 24, 2005 9:21 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- A national downtown redevelopment expert who is putting together a nearly $100,000 study on Carlsbad's Village area will give the public an early look at her research next week.

Kennedy Smith, the former executive director of the National Main Street Center, will speak during a 3 to 5 p.m. seminar hosted jointly by the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and the city of Carlsbad. The free event is at the Carlsbad Village Theatre.

The City Council agreed in June to fund Smith's work, which is expected to take a year to complete. Kennedy's research will include an assessment of what businesses exist in downtown and what isn't there. Researchers also will survey shoppers to determine what they're buying and what they wish they could get downtown.

Next week, Kennedy is in town conducting research, and chamber officials asked the city if they could have her stop by their seminar.

"It just kind of worked out well for us to have her come at the same time," said Michael Babowal, the chamber's government affairs director.

Known for its restaurants, small speciality shops and antique stores, the downtown Village area is bordered by Carlsbad Village Drive to the south, Buena Vista Lagoon to the north, Interstate 5 to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

While the area's small shops and tree-lined streets win points from tourists for being charming, business owners in the area want more locals spending their dollars there.

"What I've been hearing since I moved here is that the village is nice and it's cute and it's quaint, but it doesn't have that (large store) anchor that draws people there," Babowal said.

In the past, many business enhancement programs have aimed to change that.

The chamber's newest effort is an architectural design competition. Prizes of up to $3,000 will be awarded next week to three local companies that have submitted redevelopment proposals for two sites near the downtown Coaster station. The proposed designs are just food for thought ---- the buildings' owners are not required to embark on any renovations, chamber officials have said.

One of the design competition participants, Case Group Architects, submitted a proposal that included a two-story, underground parking garage.

"We felt parking was a major issue," said company employee Graham Haines in a video prepared for next week's chamber seminar.

The company also included plans for an "anchor tenant," perhaps a big-name book store, fellow employee Conamore Wibel said.

Martin Flores of Rick Urban Design and Planning said his company had tried to inject more life into the downtown by including residential housing above the shops in its proposed building design. The second-story residential units would have balconies facing Grand Avenue, and development's eye-catching name could be Coaster Station Square, company employees said.

The third company, Roger Kerr Architects, proposed underground parking, a mix of shops and residential development and the closing a block of Christiansen Way near the Coaster station.

Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.

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