Escondido officials, community members discuss downtown plans

By: DAVID FRIED - Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 15, 2006 10:44 PM PST ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- City officials, residents and developers spent Wednesday afternoon gathered around tables at the East Valley Community Center brainstorming guidelines to determine everything from the shape of downtown Escondido's skyline to how much parking is available.

The workshop brought together the entire City Council, Planning Commission and Design Review Board in a joint meeting to discuss a proposed Downtown Specific Plan.

About a dozen community members and developers also participated in the discussion sessions, which reviewed and offered suggestions on proposals from a 10-member citizen committee that has been working on the plan for over a year.

The proposed plan divides the downtown area into seven sections and sets guidelines for each area for types of allowable housing, heights of buildings and other elements. It covers the area stretching from the Gateway Center next to Interstate 15, east to Palomar Medical Center, and from Washington Avenue south to Fifth Avenue.

Once adopted, the document will become the city's blueprint for development downtown, dictating all of the details for residential density, commercial space and how high developers can build in Escondido's historic downtown.

The plan also plays a key role in implementing the council's long-standing idea of a vibrant, walkable downtown that would remain active around the clock with housing, entertainment and substantial retail and office space.

The mix of public officials, community members and developers with projects built or in the works in Escondido led to a bevy of suggestions and considerations outside the realm of discussions typically heard on the council dais.

Discussions about height limits, which have generally focused whether it is appropriate to build tall structures in a historically low-rise downtown, quickly turned to considerations of what kinds of public services and amenities would be needed to accommodate the residents of those buildings.

The workshop also yielded some unanticipated suggestions, such as expanding the downtown planning area farther north and east, and raising height limits beyond what the committee has suggested.

The proposed plan calls for allowing as much as 85 feet in many parts of downtown, as well as at the corner of Valley Parkway and Maple Street, where developer C.W. Clark, Inc. has proposed an 85-foot-tall condominium complex and parking garage.

The project would accompany a planned 196-room Marriott hotel next to City Hall, across the street.

The proposed height of his project has sparked considerable public controversy over the last year, with downtown merchants and some community members calling the structure too tall.

The existing downtown plan, approved by the City Council in 2003, generally limits building heights to 35 or 45 feet, with 60 feet allowed in some instances with a special permit.

But some participants at the workshop felt allowing even taller buildings in more areas of downtown could create a more diverse --- and agreeable ---- skyline.

"We don't want (downtown) to simply be a pyramid," said Thure Stedt, an Escondido resident and land use planner. "We want it to have variety."

A proposal to expand Grape Day Park along Broadway north to Washington Avenue and east to Escondido Boulevard, garnered significant support.

"This is something that would create a bold vision for downtown," said Jay Petrik, an associate planner with the city.

Discussions also centered on how to start putting the renovated vision for downtown into place while the city goes about writing a final version and performing all of the necessary environmental studies, a process that will likely take several months.

Planning Commissioner Bob McLeod said his discussion group recommended using working drafts of the plan while the environmental studies are being completed.

"There is really too much at stake for the community (to wait)," McLeod said.

His group also suggested "putting more teeth" into the document, so that the council would have less discretion to make exceptions for some developments or overturn planning commission decisions.

Deputy City Manager Charlie Grimm said the committee will meet in the coming weeks to incorporate the workshop suggestions into the proposed plan before the city starts work on the environmental studies.

Councilman Sam Abed, who owns property within the plan's boundaries, attended the meeting, but did not participate in the discussions. The city awaits a ruling from the state's Fair Political Practices Committee on whether his participation in the planning process would constitute a conflict of interest. Likewise, Planning Commissioner Jack Campbell, who also owns downtown property, abstained from participating.

Contact staff writer David Fried at (760) 740-5416 or dfried@nctimes.com.