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Agenda Report
November 25, 2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Manager's Office
SUBJECT: SECOND ANNUAL UPDATE ON THE PLANNING PROCESS FOR THE RELINQUISHED 710 STUB PROPERTY - SEPTEMBER 2023 TO
AUGUST 2024
RECOMMENDATION:
This annual update is for information only.
BACKGROUND:
In September of 2023, City staff provided a one-year update to the City Council on work completed since the relinquishment of the 710 Stub area in August of 2022. In that update, City staff outlined the extensive work undertaken and key milestones met to initiate the master plan process necessary to reconnect communities that were adversely affected due to State's effort relating to the SR-710 freeway stub. Over the course of the last year, significant work has continued, including hiring key staff, engaging a consultant to conduct the master plan process, and hiring historical consultants to document who and what occupied the area before being displaced by the freeway construction.
SECOND ANNUAL UPDATE AND MILESTONES
1. Project Oversight
To provide appropriate oversight on this massive project, the City Manager has created an Executive Committee and Mayor Gordo has appointed a City Council Ad Hoc Committee. Both groups are tasked with monitoring and reviewing the project for accuracy as well as providing direction.
MEETING OF.11/25/2024AGENDA ITEM NO.14
Update on the Planning Process for the Relinquished 710 Property November 25, 2024
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710 Executive Committee
The 710 Executive Committee meets monthly and comprises the City's executive-level personnel, whose expertise centers around overseeing the various City departments, operational standards, policies, and practices that keep the City functioning daily. Its recommendations guide the master plan consultant and City Project Staff in making necessary adjustments to align with citywide standards. Master Plan workstreams reviewed by the 710 Executive Committee includes existing conditions, land use principles, circulation, climate resiliency, sustainability, and restorative justice. The 710 Executive Committee will also continue reviewing design options as they are developed.
The members of 710 Executive Committee include:
•City Manager Miguel Marquez
• Assistant City Manager Brenda Harvey-Williams
Interim General Manager of Water and Power/Assistant City Manager David Reyes
• Acting Assistant City Manager/Finance Director Matthew Hawkesworth Director of Transportation Joaquin Siques
Director of Planning and Community Development Jennifer Paige Economic Development Director David Klug
Public Information Officer Lisa Derderian
Senior Project Manager Wendy Macias
PointC consultant David Grannis
PointC consultant Tony Harris
Perkins Eastman consultants Vaughan Davies, Katherine Howe, and Lowell Morin
Update on the Planning Process for the Relinquished 710 Property November 25, 2024
City Council 710 Ad Hoc Committee
The City Council 710 Ad Hoc Committee met for the first time in July 2024. At the first meeting, the 710 Ad Hoc received a presentation on the Restorative Justice framework by subconsultant Estolano Advisors (EA). EA introduced the process from which a working definition of restorative justice for the City was created.
In its following meeting in September, Perkins Eastman presented its design work to date, which featured land use design principles, public realm, and place-making concepts, and its compilation of circulation and mobility "big ideas." The 710 Ad Hoc Committee is comprised of the following members:
Mayor Gordo
Vice Mayor Madison
Councilmember hlampton
Councilmember Lyon
710 Project Manaaer
In September 2023 a Senior Project Manager was hired solely to work on this project and manage the day-to-day work needed to oversee the master plan process and consultants, as well as coordinate the work of multiple City departments and provide staff support for the City Council-appointed Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group.
2. Master Plan Consultant Perkins Eastman Hired
The contract to develop a master plan for the 710 Stub relinquishment area was awarded to the Perkins Eastman firm at the January 22, 2024, City Council meeting. With over 40 years of experience planning and creating various large-scale mixed-use plans or projects for urban environments in many different locations, Perkins Eastman began its work promptly in March of 2024. Their 24-month timeline for completing the master plan includes seven deliverables and is divided into three, eight- month phases: Creative Analysis; Options and Engage; and Document and Refine.
These phases allow the Consultant, City staff, and the community to build out options and solutions in an iterative process.
Perkins Eastman will conclude the Creative Analysis phase at the end of November 2024. They will then take the data and feedback gathered from multiple community stakeholders and engagement events and begin creating development options. Below are descriptions of the seven deliverables and work completed during this update period. Please see Attachment A, the Master Plan Calendar for a description of the 24 month project timeline.
Update on the Planning Process for the Relinquished 710 Property November 25, 2024
Community EnQaaement Strateav
Perkins Eastman and the Roberts Group, the subconsultant leading the community engagement work stream for the master plan, held the project's first community engagement workshop June 22, 2024. At this workshop, attended by nearly 200 people, participants were introduced to the master plan process, the scope of the project, and the goals of the project. Since then, the consultant team has conducted two pop-up engagement events (Assemblymember Holden's Community Resource Fair and Block Party held August 3, 2024 and the City's Latino Heritage Parade and Festival held October 5, 2024). There were also two youth engagement workshops at Pasadena Community College on September 6 and 7, 2024. Both workshop events were well attended with a mix of 50 high school and college students each day. In addition, Perkins Eastman has developed a Community Based Organization (CBO) strategy to further enhance community engagement, which will kick off in January 2025.
As part of the Roberts Group's work scope, they created a Reconnecting Pasadena 710 Master Plan Storymap website, which people can access to learn about the Master Plan components, its workstreams, and the various work samples the Consultant Team has created. The Storymap continues to change and grow as the Master Plan process evolves. Visitors to the Storymap can also use it to sign up for project updates and to communicate with the City Project Team. The link to the project website is:
Bit.ly/ReconnectinQPasadena710Process
Restorative Justice Framework
The Restorative Justice Framework will sen/e as a lens when developing jte<other master plan deliverables to help ensure that the future of the stub takes restorative justice into account the area's historical context, and the City Council's goals for the development.
Perkins Eastman's subconsultant, Estolano Advisors, is leading the restorative justice work. They have introduced the topic and origins of restorative justice to City staff, the Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group, and the City Council's 710 Ad Hoc Committee. This work includes the development of a working draft restorative justice definition specific to Pasadena:
Restorative justice addresses past harms caused by the construction of the 710 freeway in Pasadena. It seeks to identify, acknowledge, and respond to these harms through open and responsive engagement with impacted communities, with the goal to develop meaningful community-identified solutions for City Council's consideration.
Update on the Planning Process for the Relinquished 710 Property November 25, 2024
In addition, Estolano Advisors introduced guiding elements and case studies where restorative justice has been used to address the harms of transportation and other infrastructure projects that displaced communities. These restorative justice guiding elements will be refined by the City Council's Ad Hoc Committee, the Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group and approved by the City Council before being used in the development of the Land Use, Mobility and Circulation, Climate Resiliency, and Economic Analysis portions of the master plan.
Data Collection and Existing Physical Conditions
Another component of the master plan includes creating a GIS area base map of the 710 Stub area, taking inventory of the 710 Stub's current condition, and determining infrastructure gaps.
Before much of the design work for the 710 Stub could begin, Perkins Eastman and subconsultant Psomas conducted an existing conditions study that included a review of utility infrastructure, including the Department of Water and Power's utility and water lines, the sewer system, and other relevant underground infrastructure. Their review also included the City's adjacent transportation mobility network. From this, Psomas has created a preliminary GIS model. The GIS model will inform the Land Use component by ensuring that options presented can tie into the City's existing infrastructure.
Mobility and Circulation Analysis
One of the requirements from Caltrans and Federal Highway Administration was that any plans in the relinquishment area incorporate a mobility and circulation solution that both agencies approve. Perkins Eastman, in collaboration with the City's Department of Transportation, consultant PointC, and Master Plan transportation subconsultants Gibson and Iteris, will be creating multiple options to explore and test in the second phase of the Master Plan process.
Additionally, City staff has initiated meetings with the Caltrans District 7 staff, including District 7 Director Gloria Roberts and members of her executive team, to develop ideas for the area just north of the 710 Stub area and the adjacent Caltrans- owned segment. These ideas include (but are not limited to) a transit mobility hub that could accommodate regional bus lines like the North Hollywood Bus Rapid Transit line, a Park and Ride, bike share programs, and shuttles to the Rose Bowl.
A mobility hub could complement the City's Complete Streets approach to sustainable transportation and enhance the Climate Resilient Infrastructure workstream. A Caltrans/ Pasadena Transportation Working Group meets monthly to discuss circulation within the 710 Stub area, the north freeway terminus, and ideas related to the transition from the north end of the relinquishment area, into the regional freeway system of CA-134, and 1-210.
Update on the Planning Process for the Relinquished 710 Property November 25, 2024
•Economic Study and Market Demand Analysis
Perkins Eastman, with subconsultant AECOM, is also leading the development of the Economic Study and Market Demand Analysis part of the master plan scope. AECOM, with the guidance of the 710 Executive Committee, identified key stakeholders in various business sectors in the City. AECOM interviewed these stakeholders to understand their perspectives on the economic market within their field.
AECOM also analyzed City documents like the newly adopted Economic Development Strategic Plan, which looked at economic indicators like unemployment rates, sales tax receipts, and office and retail vacancy rates in the City. They also examined economic drivers that influence the City's financial health.
This exercise focused on areas of the City's economy that show signs of healthy expansion or growth, those that have held steady throughout the years, and those sectors that are struggling. Study Area adjacencies were also considered in the subconsultant's analysis, as they are essential for creating development that harmonizes with the character of surrounding communities while also addressing gaps in the existing environment. The information gathered through this process is important as Perkins Eastman begins creating scenarios for land use programming in the relinquishment area.
Climate Resilient Infrastructure Development
The development of the Master Plan's Climate Resilient Infrastructure scope of work considers the City's proactive measures to reduce its carbon footprint and to work toward climate resiliency. Existing policies and programs serve as baselines for the sustainability and climate resiliency goals for the 710 Stub area.
In March 2024, Perkins Eastman led a site visit around the 710 Stub for 30 people, which included the City's 710 Executive Committee, key City department personnel, and Perkins Eastman's subconsultants. During the site visit, Engineering staff from the Public Works Department introduced the possibility of relocating the Caltrans water pump station to a location outside the relinquishment area. The pump station currently routes untreated water runoff and debris from the 1-210 freeway to the south section of the 710 Stub.
The relocation of the pump station presents a unique opportunity for a sustainability project that could significantly address current water quality concerns related to the existing runoff, and potentially eliminating the larger debris carried into the southern portion of the 710 Stub. This move would not only eliminate the need for Caltrans to continue maintaining the station but would also remove obstacles to developing that portion of the 710 Stub. On a regional scale, diverting or treating the runoff before it enters the stormwater system could address longstanding water quality issues affecting municipalities downstream from the pump station. From a water conservation perspective, capturing even a portion of the runoff could have a significant positive impact.
Update on the Planning Process for the Relinquished 710 Property November 25, 2024
At the July 24, 2024, 710 Executive Committee meeting with the Caltrans District 7 executive team, which included District 7 Director Gloria Roberts, the opportunity to relocate the pump station and assemble a Caltrans and City of Pasadena Stormwater and Sustainability Working Group was discussed. This collaborative approach will facilitate stakeholder involvement in the decision-making process, cultivating a sense of shared responsibility and commitment to the project's success.
Additional work during this first Master Planning phase includes an Exploration Analysis Memo and a Sustainability Opportunity Assessment Matrix. This matrix will serve as a guide, identifying development options, their impact, and the sustainability or Climate Action Plan (CAP) goals they accomplish. As the Project Team starts layering workstreams together to create options to test, sustainability factors will be critical factors in considering the success of design options. • Land Use Options
Perkins Eastman has made significant progress in familiarizing City Project Staff, the 710 Executive Committee, and the Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group with the existing conditions in the 710 Stub area, adjacent neighborhoods, land use, and design concepts, creating a Land Use project baseline. As their work progressed, they took this baseline and began introducing ideas from the Master Plan's other six workstreams to start the process of developing land use options.
Perkins Eastman created a physical model that measures 6.5 feet long by 3 feet wide of the existing 710 Stub area that allows viewers to envision current conditions and future proposals of how the Land Use work will come together. Additionally, they have produced a similar-sized 1967 aerial map of the area that shows what the area looked like back then.
3. Award of Contracts for Historical Report
In October of 2023, the first contract for the Historic Report portion of the master plan was awarded. The historical report has three tasks, each being performed by a different consultant.
Historical Data Setting
Historical Data/Setting, which was awarded to the Architectural Resources Group (ARG), is tasked with identifying and compiling the history of the 710 Stub area before the construction of the SR-710, including the names of people displaced as well as businesses and institutions.
The ARG scope of work specifically includes documenting the rise of freeway construction and expansion in the United States, California, and the Southern California region; documenting the specific history and construction of the 1-210 and SR 710;and documenting the demographics of the people who were displaced as well as the number and types of buildings, institutions, as well as the eminent domain process.
ARG has completed a draft report that will be presented to the Reconnecting Update on the Planning Process for the Relinquished 710 Property November 25, 2024
Communities 710 Advisory Group at a meeting later in the fall. Additionally, the Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group has requested that ARG research purchase prices of the homes taken for the proposed freeway and the type of sale process utilized (e.g. eminent domain). This additional work requested by the 710 Advisory Group is outside of the scope ARG bid and will be completed through a change order process.
Oral History Project
The Oral History work was awarded to Allegra Consulting, whose scope includes identifying people displaced or impacted by the construction of the SR 710 freeway. Once identified, the consultant interviewed participants and recorded their stories to create a video compilation of the stories of Pasadena's impacted communities.
At the September 18, 2024, Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group meeting, the consultant previewed a draft of their work showing interviews with the descendants of community members displaced by the construction of the SR-71 0. Their overall work has yielded interviews with approximately 160 people and/or their families who were displaced or impacted by the construction of the SR-710. The interviewing and videotaping of previously displaced residents of the 710 Stub memorializes a history of the City that the Advisory Group felt was essential to the master planning process.
The Impacts of Freeways on Segregation in Pasadena
The Impacts of Freeways on Segregation in Pasadena portion of the historic work was awarded to the University of California at Los Angeles', Center for Neighborhood Knowledge and Institute of Transportation Studies. This study focuses on analyzing demographic data in the City by census tract from 1950 to present. Their work to date has looked at population trends in Pasadena and the larger Los Angeles County area, housing policies, and the role of redlining and how it influenced City policies that led to displacement. Their work includes preliminary findings on the impact of construction of large projects like the Parsons campus and the expansion and development of the Ambassador College/World Wide Church of God.
The UCLA team presented an update of their findings to the Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group at its July 2024 meeting. The update included their preliminary analysis of census tract information that looked at the diversity of demographics of Pasadena in the 1950s compared to demographics in the City now. They analyzed the change in groups in the City and possible contributing factors for those changes. The UCLA team continues to look at City policies that also contributed to the high level of displacement at the time of the SR-170 construction, like urban renewal, the creation of redevelopment agencies to address "blight," as well as tactics like redlining and racial covenants.
Update on the Planning Process for the Relinquished 710 Property November 25, 2024
4. Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group
The Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group, appointed by the City Council in 2023, has continued to meet monthly to review the work of Perkins Eastman and the Historic Project consultants to offer recommendations and feedback. They provide a nexus to City staff, the community, and project consultants to ensure these areas align throughout the process. Topics introduced to the Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group during this period include work from the three Historic Project consultants, including a review of research methods and community engagement strategies. They have also reviewed and provided comments on the master plan public engagement strategy and metrics, reviewed the 710 Stub's existing conditions, organizing concepts and design principles, and received updates on Department of Transportation Near Term projects.
These topics are reflective of the first phase of the master plan process and have set the foundation for the second phase of planning work, where actual options will begin to come together to be explored for design viability. Please see Attachment B for copies of the Group's meeting agendas.
5. California Transportation Commission Annual Update
One of the requirements of the 710 Stub relinquishment agreement was for the City to provide an annual update to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) on the progress of the development effort for the 710 Stub.
The one-year update was presented to the CTC in October of 2023 at their meeting in Madera, California. Mayor Gordo, City Project Staff, and Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group Chair Danny Parker attended the meeting and provided the Commission information on the status of the RFP process for the Master Plan and Historic Project consultants who had not yet been selected.
The second update to the CTC was in June of 2024. Staff and Mayor Gordo addressed the CTC virtually and provided a status on the Master Plan work led by Perkins Eastman and the progress of the hlistoric Project work, and information on the City's approach to community engagement for Master Plan process.
6. Reconnecting Communities Pilot Grant Award
In 2023, the City of Pasadena was awarded the maximum $2 million planning grant under the federal Reconnecting Communities Pilot program, with a $2 million local match requirement. This grant will fund the Reconnecting Pasadena 710 Master Plan and Specific Plan process as it develops plans for the development of the 710 Stub relinquishment area and the surrounding community. In September of 2023, City Project Staff received a draft agreement and in August 2024, the City Council approved the request to enter into an agreement with the Federal Highway Administration Office of Acquisition and Grants Management.
Update on the Planning Process for the Relinquished 710 Property November 25, 2024
Upcoming Work/Next Steps
As the master plan project moves into its second phase, Options and Engage, big ideas come together. So far, the seven master plan components have been socialized individually. In the second phase, as the workstreams begin to align, this will incite feedback and comments that Perkins Eastman will take to improve the options. The engagement and feedback during this phase will elevate design concepts, land use, circulation, financial assessment, and mobility configurations that the City and the Pasadena community prefer. As Perkins Eastman and the City Project Staff prepare for the next phase, below are highlights of master plan project elements to come:
Community Based Organization Strategy
In the next phase, the Perkins Eastman and subconsultant the Roberts Group will increase community engagement and introduce underrepresented community members to the Reconnecting Pasadena 710 Master Plan. Working with existing Community Based Organizations (CBOs) within the City allows the community engagement project team the opportunity to provide information and engage community groups and their members who may not traditionally participate in or have access to information about a project like the Reconnecting Pasadena 710 Master Plan. Creating a strategy to engage and inform organization leaders about the Master Plan creates a conduit of information for residents who gather around a unifying interest or hobby. CBOs will be informed about the Master Plan process and promote it to their communities of focus through various outreach tactics.
Restorative Justice Framework
The restorative justice work will continue to move forward in the second phase of the master plan process. It will be featured at the next Community Engagement Workshop tentatively scheduled for January 25, 2025. At this community engagement event, Perkins Eastman and subconsultant Estolano Advisors will inform community members about the restorative justice working definition, process, guiding elements, and relevant case studies. Perkins Eastman will use this community response to inform the iterative process of the Restorative Justice Framework, which will guide the Land Use workstream.
Economic Study and Market Demand Analysis
The Economic Study and Market Demand Analysis workstream will present their work to date in a Market Opportunity Analysis to the 710 Executive Committee at their November 2024 meeting. This analysis will highlight 710 Stub adjacencies essential for creating development that harmonizes with the character of surrounding communities while also addressing gaps in the existing environment.
Update on the Planning Process for the Relinquished 710 Property November 25, 2024
Impacts of Freeways on Seareaation in Pasadena
UCLA, the Historic Project consultant overseeing the work on the Impacts of Freeways on Segregation in Pasadena, is slated to return to the Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group in January of 2025 for an update on the progress of their portion of the Historic Project workstream. Their update will introduce information on the policies surrounding the City's approach to redevelopment areas and redevelopment projects like the Pepper Street development.
Reconnectina Communities 710 Advisory Group
At the October 2024 monthly meeting, the Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group agreed to create subcommittees to facilitate in-depth discussions of specific topics. The Chair announced the creation of the following subcommittees and will appoint members in the coming months:
• Restorative Justice
Economic Study and Market Analysis
Mobility and Circulation
Climate Resilience
Land Use/Data Collection
Update on the Planning Process for the Relinquished 710 Property November 25, 2024
FISCAL IMPACT:
This item is for information purposes only. There is no fiscal impact associated with this report.
Respectfully submitted,
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BRENDA E. HARVEV-WILUAMS
Assistant City IV^nag/er
Prepared by:
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Wendy Mac^
Senior Proj^qt ]Manager
Respectfully submitted,
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MAT-T^H EW^\WKESWORTH
Acting Assistant City Manager/Finance
Director
Approved by:
'MARQUEZ
City Manager
Attachment A - Master Plan Calendar
Attachment B - Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group Meeting agendas, September 2023 - August 2024