City council to coordinate downtown planning groups
Despite that cash-strapped Santa Monica is delaying major improvements throughout the city, officials are still moving forward with planning for a completely revamped downtown.
City council members have called a special meeting Tuesday to bring together the Civic Center working group, the Promenade uses taskforce and the Santa Monica Place planning committee to coordinate their plans.
All three groups have been examining their respective business districts in the city in an effort to improve them.
Instead of having each group work independently and report to the city council at different times, council members hope all three bodies can connect each group’s goals into one vision.
“All of this is connected to each other,” said Mayor Mike Feinstein. “What one group does will inevitably affect what the other groups are doing.”
The Santa Monica Place planning group has finished studying how to better connect the enclosed mall into the downtown.
While the focus of the group’s work was how to end congestion in the mall’s parking garages and make the mall more pedestrian-friendly, the group also may suggest possibly extending The Third Street Promenade through the mall — connecting it with the Civic Center.
The plan could have far-reaching effects on how downtown Santa Monica is developed in the future — to the point that it could alter plans for where the future Expo light rail line will go, Feinstein said.
Promenade business owners, civic leaders and residents have been asked to determine a proper balance between retail stores and restaurants along the city’s outdoor mall.
Some city officials are concerned too many restaurants are leaving the Promenade, invariably altering its character. In January, the city council temporarily banned converting any more space occupied by a restaurant into a retail store.
At the same time, the city is moving forward with a civic center proposal that would remodel the area to include a town square, a garden walk with botanical and sculpture gardens, plenty of open space and bicycle paths, as well as a child development facility and a revamped City Hall.
The civic center, located on Main Street between Colorado Avenue and Pico Boulevard, serves as an integral part of town because of its proximity to downtown, Santa Monica Place, Palisades Park, the Santa Monica Pier, the Ocean Park neighborhood and Main Street.
The city purchased the 11-acre site from the RAND Corporation in 2000 for $53 million with the intention of completely overhauling the civic center area so it would better connect to downtown Santa Monica.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 3, 2002. Read the original PDF.