Planning Commission stalls on changes to The Promenade

By: NICOLE SACK - Staff Writer | Thursday, June 21, 2007 1:13 AM PDT ∞

TEMECULA -- "Let's not put the cart before the horse" -- that was the overwhelming sentiment stated at the Planning Commission meeting Wednesday.

The commissioners reviewed proposed changes to the 126,000-square-foot expansion of The Promenade mall, but decided 4-0 to postpone further consideration until the city and the project developer could show how traffic problems on the road encircling the mall would be addressed.

While the City Council is expected Tuesday to enter into an agreement on measures to improve traffic flow with Forest City Enterprises, the Cleveland-based owner of The Promenade, planning commissioners said that did them little good Wednesday night as they considered a modification to parking configurations, adding a valet parking area and rerouting traffic patterns.

"We are being asked to make a decision on a traffic situation on an inept 'ring road' configuration, but I don't think there is enough information for me to make an informed decision tonight," Planning Commissioner Ron Guerriero said.

As the mall expansion project was approved in March by the city, the developer can move forward with the guidelines previously agreed upon, which include corrective measures to the traffic circulation within the property. It was just last month when mall representatives asked for those approved plans to be tweaked, which is why the group was before the Planning Commission on Wednesday. It is still anticipated that work on the expansion will begin in late July and will continue until March 2009, when the renovations are due to be completed.

"I will not approve a modification to the mall without changes in the traffic circulation of the 'ring road,"' Planning Commission Chairman Dennis Chiniaeff said. "Until we see how this fits into the bigger picture, a decision would be premature. We will continue this item until we get the information -- whenever it comes."

Assistant City Manager Bob Johnson said the information on how the road will be improved must be supplied by the developer by December. Meanwhile, Forest City can proceed based on the plans already approved.

The proposed expansion will include eight new buildings situated along a two-way "Main Street" that would be installed on the mall's south side. The Main Street would begin from the ring road south of Macy's, veer eastward and run between the main mall building and Edwards Cinemas, then connect to an extension of North General Kearny Road.

The plaza between the existing mall and the movie theater would be reconfigured under the plans to create a park-like setting for patrons. A 16,500-square-foot restaurant was proposed to be built on the east side of the theater. The modification considered Wednesday night would increase that building's size by 769 square feet.

The change to this building would have created an unsafe intersection to the south of Edwards Cinemas where the drive aisle meet the extension of North General Kearny, said the developer. To compensate for this, the proposed drive aisles behind the theater building were moved farther south so the intersection would meet halfway between the ring road and the building.

As the Main Street expansion will be built on an existing parking area, two garages will be constructed to satisfy parking needs. The project developers have proposed the construction of a five-level, 936-space parking garage and a second, smaller, two-story parking garage with 242 spaces adjacent to the Macy's Department Store.

The Planning Commission approved the planning application for The Promenade expansion Feb. 21. Two appeals were filed against the expansion of the mall expansion March 8, but were subsequently withdrawn March 22 as agreements were reached satisfying the concerns of the petitioning parties.

The City Council approved the project March 27.

-- Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or nsack@californian.com.