Updates On Lincoln Avenue Specific Plan Headed to the Planning Commission

The Planning Commission will provide an update on the Lincoln Avenue Specific Plan at its meeting Wednesday.  

The city is updating all of eight of its specific plans as part of the 2018 Our Pasadena program, launched as a step toward the implementation of the city’s General Plan, which guides overall future growth and development.

The Lincoln Avenue Specific Plan would change the Lincoln Avenue corridor from an industrial and limited commercial area to a more vibrant neighborhood-oriented district, with new housing options, retail and service businesses, office spaces, and community uses.

“The session is an excellent opportunity for the public to provide input that will help improve Lincoln Avenue and our city overall,” said Planning Commissioner David Coher. 

“Specific plans are how the city plans for the particulars of land use in particular neighborhoods. For example, some areas of the city require more targeted attention, either because of efforts to improve an area or because of efforts to prevent over-development,” Coher explained. 

Coher said a study session is held with the Planning Commission to review the background information, discuss what came out of the community engagement sessions and workshops, and present staff’s proposed updates. Those updates may include boundary changes, changes to the goals, or particular issues to address. 

“The main purpose of the study session, however, is to hear from the public who comes to participate further, and the Planning Commissioners, on what everyone thinks of the specific plan, so far,” Coher said. 

“Then, the Planning Department staff takes that feedback and, hopefully, incorporates it into a revised plan, which then returns to the Planning Commission for approval, and then is sent to the City Council for further input and or final approval,” he said.

The updates will result in new development standards and guidelines that will help shape the city’s major commercial and mixed-use areas for generations to come, Coher said.

“The program’s primary objective is to establish neighborhood-specific design and land-use goals resulting in a refined set of permitted uses, residential densities, buildable area, and development standards and guidelines that will shape the built environment along the city’s major commercial and mixed-use areas within the eight planning areas in accordance with the city’s General Plan and guiding principles,” according to a staff report in Wednesday’s Planning Commission agenda. 

The Lincoln Avenue Specific Plan is the first one to be presented to the Planning Commission as part of the General Plan Implementation Program.

Along with Lincoln Avenue, the Central District, East Colorado, East Pasadena, Fair Oaks/Orange Grove, Lamanda Park, North Lake and South Fair Oaks all have specific plans, which lay out actions to be taken to recreate the respective corridors that better serve surrounding neighborhoods and create an attractive gateway into Pasadena. They are intended to to be consistent with General Plan goals, policies, and guiding principles. 

Key Lincoln Avenue Specific Plan objectives include:

• Creating a neighborhood “main street” that will serve as the focal point for the neighborhoods surrounding Lincoln Avenue. 
• Preserving and enhancing existing residential areas by providing new opportunities for all types of housing along the corridor by facilitating opportunities for developments that provide desired neighborhood-oriented retail and service businesses, local employment opportunities, and a link to the community. 
• Providing for the gradual phasing out of industrial uses that create conflicts with surrounding neighborhoods. 
• Supporting design that contributes to the enhanced character of the city and Northwest Pasadena in particular. 
• Enriching the pedestrian environment along Lincoln Avenue through well designed and appropriately scaled projects and pleasing streetscapes. 
• Inviting pedestrian activity through a cohesive and improved streetscape corridor.
• Encouraging investment, maintenance, and pride in the Lincoln Avenue Specific Plan area. 
• Enhancing public safety. 

According to the plan, Lincoln Avenue has been the location of small-scale industrial businesses, many with outdoor operations, for decades.

“While Pasadena certainly supports a vibrant local industrial sector, districts in the city other than the Lincoln Avenue corridor are better suited and have been designated for such purposes,” the plan states.

The meeting starts at 630 p.m. on Wednesday, April 28 and can be viewed at:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87121008985