East Colorado
Round 1 Workshop
Your Goals - Getting Specific
The Planning & Community Development Department hosted the first community workshop on the East Colorado Specific Plan on July 17, 2018. The goal of the workshop was to solicit input on the vision and desired land uses and urban form of the area.
Workshop Agenda and Materials
Participants were provided a brief introductory presentation on the Specific Plan Update program, the General Plan vision for the plan area, and background information. For the majority of the workshop, participants were divided into small groups with facilitated discussions on particular topics. The main objective of the workshop was to solicit feedback from the community, rather than reach consensus on any particular topic.
The following are workshop materials and event photographs.
- Icebreaker Activity: Participants mapped out where they live, work, and play, and wrote three words for the future of the plan area.
- Powerpoint Presentation: Provided an overview of the Our Pasadena program and specific plan background.
- Small Group Discussion & Report Back: Participants broke out into small groups and discussed specific topics. Each table reported back to the larger group with a summary of main points.
What We Heard
More than 30 community members attended the workshop and provided feedback on the future of East Colorado. The following represents major themes, organized by geographic area, that emerged during the small group discussion and comments received.
- Improve pedestrian environment given the proliferation of auto-oriented uses in the area
- Desire for more shade and outdoor seating
- Retain existing mom and pop businesses
- Emphasize the use of the existing Route 66/ Americana branding theme and architectural character 66 architecture - however, this should not mean that the area should be more car-oriented
- Avoid long, unbroken blank walls and monotonous buildings and encourage restaurants and storefronts that contribute to walkability
- Activate area around PCC - general desire for plazas and public spaces to gather
- Encourage student/ faculty housing in mixed-use buildings
- Re-orient surface parking to create a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood.
- Provide more crosswalks
- Emphasize people over cars in new developments
- More parking options near the Allen Station area
- Encourage mixed-use, higher density buildings that encourage walkability limiting height to four to six stories
- Support for future development that is compatible with surrounding residential neighborhoods and desire to preserve mountain views
- Consider opportunities for existing older strip malls to evolve into housing
- A safer Allen Station area