City Council is Dark Monday, Central District Update on the Horizon

There is no City Council on Monday according to the calendar on the City Council website.

The Council is expected to reconvene Oct. 16 for a public hearing on an update to the City’s Central District Plan.

The CDSP is the fourth specific plan to be updated as part of the General Plan Implementation Program.

“The City has prepared an update to the existing 2004 CDSP,” according to a notice calling the public hearing. “The CDSP update [recommended plan] includes refinements to the plan’s boundary, vision, goals, policies, permitted uses, residential densities, buildable area, objective development and design standards, and action items that will shape the built environment for the CDSP area and implement General Plan Land Use policies.”

The Recommended Plan will require the following approvals: General Plan Land Use Map Amendment, Specific Plan Amendment, Zoning Map Amendment, and Zoning Text Amendment. 

The plan was last reviewed by the Planning Commission in June.

On June 28, the Planning Commission recommended that the City Council approve the proposed CDSP, including the General Plan Land Use Map Amendment, Specific Plan Amendment, Zoning Map Amendment, Zoning Text Amendment, and EIR Addendum as presented by staff, with recommended changes to various chapters of the proposed CDSP. 

That latest draft of the plan includes key changes from previous versions, such as a redistribution of residential density along Lake Avenue and a reduction of density along Colorado Boulevard. 

Additionally, there are plans to lower building heights along Walnut and Union streets from 63 feet to 51 feet. Other modifications involve ground floor frontages, design standards, sidewalk width, building setbacks, and street trees.

Notably, the latest draft aims to simplify building height allowances by reducing the number of districts from over ten to six. Under the proposed plan, the tallest structures would be permitted near the Metro Del Mar and Lake Stations, located along Colorado Boulevard. Building heights would gradually decrease towards Cordova Street and Raymond Avenue.