Pasadena's Design Guidelines Challenged By Charles Munger

Mayor Bogaard, desribe the City Center residential project now being contested at the City Council?

This project would construct two buildings across the street from City Hall consisting of 51 large residential units with offering prices in the range of $1 to $2 million. A number of comments can be made about the project, but the principal problem is that the proposed structures violate land use and urban design guidelines approved by the City Council. The buildings have excessive height; are bulky; cover more of the sites than permitted; have extremely limited ground floor retail; and allow parking at grade instead of subterranean, as required.

When conferring with the developer over two years ago, I suggested that a residential project would be approved if it conforms with the City's rules. But this proposal does not come close.

What new private development would the City welcome in the Civic Center?

The parcels involved in this proposal are in the Pasadena Civic Center, the original plan for which was adopted by the City in the 1920s. The Civic Center and its principal buildings are listed on the National Register for Historic Places. In this elegant setting sits Pasadena's nationally recognized City Hall, the Civic Auditorium, the Public Library, the Police Headquarters, and an historic U.S. Post Office branch, all arranged around a public space that is the envy of most other cities. The Civic Center area is currently undergoing significant new investment. My hope is that new private development will also enhance the area in conformity with recently approved land use and urban design guidelines. The intention of our planning is that City Hall always be the pre-eminent Civic Center structure.

Elaborate on the success to date of Pasadena's Civic Center revitalization efforts and the nexus of renewal to design.

Two years ago, a mixed-use project called Paseo Colorado was completed to rave reviews on the part of the community as well as observers of urban affairs. This project offers open air, architecturally interesting structures, and it re-establishes a view corridor – which is integral to the Civic Center – between the Public Library and Civic Auditorium. This was a major recovery from a short-lived enclosed mall that had shut off the view corridor twenty years earlier. Further, Rob Maguire has just completed another private project, Western Asset Plaza, a 5-story office building with an elegant public courtyard.

Moreover, Pasadena is investing over $90 million in public funds in City Hall for a seismic retrofit and systems upgrade, and it plans other improvements for the public space in the Civic Center in the next few years, at an additional cost of $16 million.

Forty years ago, two buildings were constructed – one public and one private – that intrude in this great Civic Center and I do not want to see any mistakes like those buildings be repeated. New land use guidelines have been developed the area to assure that the Civic Center continues its architectural legacy and becomes a well-used gathering place for the community as well as for tourists and visitors.

What might be done by Mr. Munger to make this project more acceptable to the City?

The project as proposed does not fit in Pasadena's Civic Center. Moreover, it raises major challenges to Pasadena's planning process. Our goal is to be orderly and visionary about planning for the future.

Six years ago, former mayor Chris Holden made a new commitment to this goal by organizing a planning effort that brought ordinary citizens together with City staff and property owners of the area. Incidentally, Wesco Financial was represented in that effort by one of its senior officers and, to my knowledge, did not oppose the plan that was developed. The result, which is referred to as the "Gray Book", was approved by the City in 1998, and has provided land use guidelines for the area since then. Among other things, the Gray Book calls for open space and walkways, for parking to be subterranean, and for new structures to "defer" to City Hall – protecting its pre-eminence – with a significant portion devoted to retail activity. Unfortunately, the Wesco project fails on all counts.

Planning for the area has continued, leading to City Council approval of height and density limits consistent with the Gray Book's approach. In the project as proposed, one of the buildings exceeds these guidelines by 90% and the other by over 20%. The lot coverage of the latter building is 70%, where the City's guideline is 50%.

So what needs to be changed?

The proposal should be modified to conform to the City's guidelines. At present the buildings evoke the two intrusive structures dating from forty years ago. Approval of the project as proposed would undermine Pasadena's commitment to community-based planning.

What do you mean by community- based planning and on it's important in Pasadena?

Pasadena has a tradition of looking to community members who work hard as volunteers to help local government understand the needs and aspirations of the community and to bring them to bear in building the City. They are members of the Planning Commission, the Design Commission, the Library Commission, and many other advisory bodies. In this case, a group of 17 committed persons engaged in a lengthy planning process to develop a plan for Civic Center. The effort reflected community values of the public members, professional planning considerations offered by the City staff, and the views of property owners. The product of their effort should be respected.

In reviewing the proposed project, after extensive consideration, the Planning Commission and the Design Commission rejected the proposal, and at public hearings before the Council, community leaders from every sector of the City testified in opposition.

If the City Council does not respond to those concerns in a meaningful way, it jeopardizes the community's commitment to planning and eviscerates the new plans for all future development. As Mayor, I have a strong commitment to our traditional planning process, so long as the plans are developed – as in this case – in a professional manner, based on good and complete information and extensive public participation.

This controversy is surprising because Pasadena has experienced a wave of investment activity and is perceived as welcoming downtown multi-family residential units because they provide "urban vitality" and a customer base for Pasadena's growing retail economy. What's exceptional about this project?

The fact is that during the last year more and more Pasadenans have expressed concern about the amount, pace and quality of development. This project could represent a breaking point in our community's acceptance of new development.

Mae West is quoted as saying, "Too much of a good thing is just great!" But Pasadena is about to prove Mae West wrong. Too much development, even consistent with the City's plans, could simply be too much! At this point in history, approving projects which fail to meet Pasadena's requirements is definitely the wrong thing to do.