Hearing Officer To Discuss Conditional Use Permit For Playhouse District Pocket Park

A city hearing officer is expected to recommend the city approve a conditional use permit to build a pocket park on Union Street, once the site of Banner Bank. 

The meeting will take place at 3 p.m. Thursday.

Pocket parks are green spaces smaller than 20,000 square feet located in otherwise built-up neighborhoods. Some urban planners say it’s beneficial to have small spaces that can serve people living closeby.

In some areas, like Pasadena’s Central District, where property is very expensive, pocket parks are the only option for creating new public spaces without large-scale redevelopment. 

The park would be the first of its kind in the city’s Central District, which includes the Pasadena Playhouse and Vroman’s Bookstore. 

The City Council approved the acquisition of the building in 2018 for $3 million, which was derived from Central District residential impact fees.

In 2017, the  Playhouse District Association formed a special advisory committee to engage with the city on the planning effort. In a series of public meetings, Playhouse Association Executive Director Brian Wallace and his staff discussed ideas that detailed the district’s background, the assets within it, and opportunities that the community could take advantage of as the district grows over time.

“We have a lot of residents moving into the district and certainly a lot of residents already living around the district in the downtown area, and it’s already been established that there’s no open space — no place for them to gather. No place for business owners and workers to go take lunch,” Wallace explained in a previous story.