Pasadena City Council
April 13, 2026

30 MARCH 2026 - DRAFT

DRAFT VISION PLAN
MARCH 30, 2026
Prepared for
The City of Pasadena
Consultant Team
Perkins Eastman
Iteris, LLC
Estolano Advisors
The Robert Group
AECOM
Gibson Transportation
Hood Design Studio
Psomas
Placeit!
With support from Point C, LLC
2 PERKINS EASTMAN
Table of Contents
Table of Contents 3
Plan Organization 5
1 Executive Summary & Introduction 7

1.1 Introduction | Reconnecting Pasadena 13

1.2 Project Governance 14

1.3 Vision Plan Organizing Concepts 16
2 Context 19

2.1 The Relinquishment Process 20

2.2 Vision Plan Process and Engagement 26

2.3 Project Area Planning Context 35

2.4 Understanding Scale 39

2.5 Land Use Opportunities 44
3 Restorative Justice 51

3.1 Creating a Restorative Justice Framework 52

3.2 Restorative Planning and Process Tools 56

3.3 Restorative Outcomes and Delivery Strategies 58
4 Physical Reconnection 67

4.1 Transportation Opportunities 68

4.2 What is here today? 71

4.3 Transportation Goals 75

4.4 Conceptual Roadway Networks 77

4.5 A project-driven trip reduction goal 84

4.6 Managing Change 88
5 Human Connections 101

5.1 Design Principles 102

5.2 Three Neighborhoods 106

5.3 Vision Concepts 108

5.4 Public Realm Strategy 128

5.5 A Visual Catalogue of Special Places 138
6 Resiliency + Sustainability
Concepts 145

6.1 Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity 146

6.2 Sustainability Framework 148

6.3 Net Zero Feasibility 152

6.4 Water Circularity & Resilient Water Systems 159

6.5 Climate, Health, and Wellness 165

6.6 Leveraging Third-Party Rating Systems 168
7 Implementation+Next Steps 171

7.1 Feasibility at the Concept Stage 172

7.2 Next Steps 176
Appendix 000
A. Restorative Justice Framework 000
B. Restorative Justice 710 Advisory Group Recommendations 000 C. Transportation Analysis Findings 000
D. Sustainability and Net Zero Feasibility in the 710
Project Area 000
E. Caltrans Stormwater Basin Sizing 000
F. Preliminary Economic Analysis 000
3 4 PERKINS EASTMAN

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1 Introduction: This Chapter describes the 710 Vision Plan project governance, and introduces the Plan’s organizing concepts.
2 Context: This Chapter summarizes the 710 Project Area’s relinquishment. It then describes Plan phases and the public engagement process. The Chapter includes an overview of Project Area conditions, City of Pasadena’s land use planning policy context, and economic development objectives. 3 Restorative Justice: This Chapter provides background information on the concept of Restorative Justice, and includes a definition of Restorative Justice as applicable to the 710 Project. The chapter summarizes the 710 Reconnecting Communities Advisory Group (RC Advisory Group) Restorative Justice Elements and describes how they could be applied throughout the project lifecycle.
4 Physical Connection: This Chapter describes transportation challenges, existing conditions, goals and conceptual street networks. It includes a brief summary of transportation findings, and suggests actions at the project, citywide and regional scales to reconnect.
5 Human Connection: This Chapter describes an initial vision for the future Project Area built environment, offering two concepts based on the two roadway frameworks described in Chapter 4. Three “areas” are explored with diagrams and illustrations. The Chapter concludes with public realm ideas, and examples of inspirational projects for – residential, cultural, art and innovation spaces.
6 Sustainability: This Chapter recommends strategies for future net zero feasibility, preserving potable water, and managing wastewater. It outlines how the City of Pasadena may seek out third party certifications in future project phases. An Appendix details findings associated with the removal of the existing Caltrans Stormwater Basin. 7 Implementation: This Chapter summarizes economic and cost findings associated with building in the Project Area. It then suggests near and midterm actions for Restorative Justice, Physical Connection, Human Connection, Sustainability and Funding and Finance.

List of Appendices
A. Restorative Justice Framework
B. Restorative Justice 710 Advisory Group Recommendations C. Transportation Analysis Findings
D. Sustainability and Net Zero Feasibility in the 710 Project Area E. Caltrans Stormwater Basin Sizing
F. Preliminary Economic Analysis
Plan Organization
5 1

EXECUTIVE

SUMMARY &

INTRODUCTION
THE SR-710/I-210 INTERCHANGE IN 1974

AN IMAGE RECONSTRUCTING THE STREETS

AND PROPERTIES THE RELINQUISHED

AREA BEFORE CONSTRUCTION OF

THE INTERCHANGE
8 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 1 | INTRODUCTION
This Vision Plan will help the City of Pasadena
determine the best way to relink communities
separated for over 50 years, serving as a
guiding document for subsequent planning
and entitlement processes. The Plan outlines
opportunities to reconnect both physically and
socially. It documents:
• concepts of “restorative justice” as
applicable to the 710 Project Area,
• how to transform the I-210/SR-710/I-134
interchange’s regional to regional
connections into regional to local and
local to local connections, offering project
driven, citywide and regional mobility and
circulation strategies,
• a preliminary framework of land-uses
to help define the building blocks of
new neighborhoods,
• “game changing” sustainability and
resiliency ideas to implement Pasadena’s
Climate Action Plan, and City goals for
both climate resiliency and sustainability.

This Vision Plan also puts forward aspirational
public objectives including housing
affordability, and targeted investments for
displaced and impacted communities.

Public engagement conducted over its 2-year
duration instruct the concepts as presented.

This Plan has benefited greatly from historic
research completed as part of the City of
Pasadena’s Reconnecting Pasadena “Historic
Project,” and its crucial undertaking to listen
and learn across many platforms.

The resulting Project offers a lens, and a
shared purpose to transform a freeway back
into a neighborhood. To rebuild in the 710
Project Area, the City must assume a full
complement of urban infrastructure and
critical systems: multi-modal (transit-friendly,
vehicular and pedestrian complete streets)
mobility improvements, new public spaces,
potable water and electrical power. It must
also rework the existing stormwater storage
and reuse system. Each of these elements must
be carefully shaped to support future public
and private development—potentially up to
~3.5 million gross square feet of program.

The Vision Plan sketches two generalized
land use and urban form concepts. While
still preliminary, “Boulevard and Paseos”
offers the most resolved of the two roadway
networks; it helps to slow and redirect traffic
via a new surface level street and enables
the City to realign the southern portion of St.

John Avenue.
“Gardens and Terraces” is distinguished as
it maintains the full area between bounding
streets for redevelopment, assuming less
intervention. Both concepts enable the City of
Pasadena to further explore the best means
to reconfigure the existing interchange, while
adding new infrastructure essential to reduce
regional through travel.

Both also offer pathways to meet projectdriven organizing concepts and illustrate a connected, safe, multi-modal, and ultimately,
human-scaled set of improvements.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
9 RECONNECTING PASADENA
“To come up with innovative ideas,
it’s important to go beyond your
comfort zone...you’ve got to start with
an abundance of options—including
some wild ideas—that you can build
on and test.” IDEO
The redevelopment of approximately ten new city blocks
is possible in the Project Area. Blocks are differentiated by new east to west connections (paseos and ways),
and existing east west bridges that could be re-built or adapted as walkable streets. A key difference between
the two concepts is evident in the arrangement of northsouth public spaces, use of topographic changes, and existence of a new 2-way surface street in the Boulevards and Paseos option.

Both concepts celebrate Colorado Boulevard with a
multipurpose civic space and arrange a variety of
public spaces across the Project Area to complement
development. To the south of Del Mar public space
is shown as associated with new stormwater capture
infrastructure. Both concepts further city opportunities that include, but are not limited to • anchoring the west end of the Holly Street civic axis; • addressing parking, and access needs for Rose Bowl events;
• filling in the gap along Colorado Boulevard; • establishing a Rose Parade viewing site; • connecting between local streets; • unlocking value for development; and • mending the edges of the freeway frontage roads (St. John and Pasadena Avenue) on both the
west and east sides between California Blvd and
Walnut Street.

Holly St.Union St.Colorado Blvd.Green St.Dayton St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

Holly St.Union St.Colorado Blvd.Green St.Dayton St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

New Boulevard

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
10 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 1 | INTRODUCTION
GARDENS AND TERRACES ILLUSTRATIVE PLAN: THIS CONCEPT RECONFIGURING EXISTING NORTH-SOUTH BOUNDING STREETS (ST. JOHN AND PASADENA AVE.) TO 2-WAY COMPLETE STREETS. THIS CONCEPT ENABLES DEVELOPMENT TO THE INTERIOR OF THE SITE. NEW CITY BLOCKS ARE DELINEATED BY EAST TO WEST PATHWAYS ACROSS THE SITE. A NORTH TO SOUTH PUBLIC EASEMENTS WOULD BE ESTABLISHED WITH NEW DEVELOPMENT, ENABLING A CONTINUOUS NORTH-SOUTH PUBLIC OPEN SPACE TO THE INTERIOR OF THE PROJECT AREA. SMALLER INTERCONNECTED SPACES TRAVEL FROM GREEN STREET TO SOUTH OF DEL MAR AVENUE.

BOULEVARD AND PASEOS ILLUSTRATIVE PLAN: A NEW BOULEVARD CONNECTS AT THE CURRENT STREET LEVEL THROUGH THE SITE. THIS NEW COMPLETE STREET IS COMPLEMENTED TO THE WEST BY A PUBLIC LINEAR PARK. THE BOULEVARD AND PASEOS CONCEPT ALSO ENABLES A REIMAGINED, PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY MAPLE STREET TO THE NORTH.

Valley StDel Mar Blvd.Waverly Dr.Bellevue Dr.Palmetto Dr.California Blvd.

N
Valley StDel Mar Blvd.Waverly Dr.Bellevue Dr.Palmetto Dr.California Blvd.

N
11 RECONNECTING PASADENA
12 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 1 | INTRODUCTION
The Reconnecting Pasadena Vision Plan offers
options and opportunities on how to reconnect,
both physically and socially, while exploring
how the history of twentieth century freeway
construction impacted the City of Pasadena
and the 710 Project Area. These concepts
give shape to what might replace the existing
freeway “stub,” weaving together ideas for
mobility—walkable streets, and transportation
infrastructure with a more equitable, resilient
built environment. The vision is directional.

Like a lighthouse, it illuminates rather
than limits, offering direction rather than
destination. Most importantly, the vision is both
restorative and regenerative—encouraging
approaches that could go beyond “business
as usual” and reinforce the City’s leadership
in the Los Angeles region, California
and nationally.

Key to the City of Pasadena’s acceptance of
authority over the economic and land use
potential for the relinquished State Route
710 (SR-710) property was the predicate
of “relinquishment,” first by Caltrans
and echoed by the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA), that the subject
property greatly retains and promotes a
“transportation purpose.”
In the following, this “transportation purpose”
is fully integrated. The Plan suggests initial
physical infrastructure improvements to create
a walkable and livable neighborhood—this
proposal for many forms of mobility moves
Pasadena away from single-use, auto-oriented
design. Concepts for multi-modal access,
complete streets and active transportation
are explored in parallel with ideas for more
compact and diverse land uses, while retaining
the programmatic flexibility that gives the
community a say in future phases, and allows
the Project Area vision to evolve as times and
markets change.

This Plan is intentionally conceptual. It is to
serve as a guide for steps to come. Pasadena’s
City Council will provide direction on these
concepts and lay the groundwork for next
phases when concepts will be further refined,
validated and entitled with input from
many participants—including public actors,
Pasadena’s organizations and institutions, and
of course, community.

This Vision Plan is dedicated to those who worked tirelessly to make this opportunity possible, limit the freeway-to-freeway connections and opened the door to the opportunity to return this property to the City to reconnect our communities.

1.1 Introduction | Reconnecting Pasadena
13 RECONNECTING PASADENA

1.2 Project Governance
710 Advisory Group
City Council appointed a 16-member Reconnecting
Communities 710 Advisory Group (RC Advisory Group)
in April 2023. The Group offered unique perspectives
from across the City of Pasadena. Its objective was to
provide guidance to the Vision Plan to create a forward looking, equitable new neighborhood. One member,
Jose Luis Correa is a descendant of community members
who were displaced due to the SR-710.

Over the course of the project the RC Advisory Group
met monthly in City Hall and the Robinson Park
Recreation Center. The Group later formed two Standing
Committees to more closely investigate proposed Land
Use and Mobility and Restorative Justice strategies.

Members of the Advisory Group:
• Danny Parker, Chair
• Blair Miller, Vice Chair (Land Use and Mobility)
• Remy De La Peza, Vice Chair (term ended 11/2025)
• Adriana Lim (Restorative Justice)
• Ali Barar (Land Use and Mobility)
• Bryan Takeda (Restorative Justice)
• Charles Loveman (Land Use and Mobility)
• Cynthia Kurtz (Land Use and Mobility)
• Jasmin Shupper (Restorative Justice)
• Joel Bryant (Land Use and Mobility)
• Jose Luis Correa (Restorative Justice)
• Mic Hansen (Land Use and Mobility)
1 PointC, LLC is a Pasadena-based consulting firm that led the City’s efforts during the relinquishment process. • Michelle Richardson Bailey
• Randy Shulman (Land Use and Mobility)
• Tina Williams (Restorative Justice)
• Wayne Brandt (Land Use and Mobility)
City of Pasadena
A cross-departmental City Executive Committee met
monthly for regular updates on Physical Plan progress
and Historic Consultant workstreams.

The Executive Committee is comprised of:
• Miguel Márquez, City Manager
• Brenda Harvey-Williams, Assistant City Manager
• Matthew Hawkesworth, Assistant City Manager
• Jennifer Paige, Director Planning and Community
Development
• Joaquin Siques, Director Department of
Transportation
• David Klug, Economic Development Director
• David Reyes, General Manager Pasadena
Water and Power
• Greg de Vinck, Public Works Director
• Tony Harris, Point C LLC1
• David Grannis, Point C LLC
This planning process was funded by the federal Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) Program. The RCP dedicated $1 billion in discretionary grants nationwide to support planning and capital construction projects to restore connectivity as a direct response to a legacy of freeway building practices that displaced communities and disconnected them from essential goods and services while deepening health and wealth disparities along socioeconomic lines. The following groups and committees reviewed and directed work on the Vision Plan. 14 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 1 | INTRODUCTION
City Council Ad Hoc
The Mayor appointed a City Council Ad Hoc Committee
to provide guidance on the Reconnecting Pasadena
project at key milestones. The Ad Hoc Committee met on
a periodic basis. It consisted of:
• Mayor Victor Gordo
• Councilmember Tyron Hampton, District 1
• Councilmember Steve Madison, District 6
• Councilmember Jason Lyon, District 7
External Partners
In support of the Vision Plan effort the City of Pasadena Department of Transportation (PDOT), and the
Consultant team met on a regular basis with leadership
and staff from Caltrans District 7 in two Working Groups.

City of Pasadena Caltrans District 7 Mobility
Working Group
This Working Group provided guidance on proposed
I-210/SR-710/SR-134 interchange reconfiguration
options, roadway and circulation network approaches
the “Gateway” site, and identified key areas for
future evaluation.

The Working Group provided also advised on how
local roadway scenarios could tie into broader Caltrans regional objectives, and its preferences to safely
terminate the freeway while avoiding impact to the
mainline. The Working Group met on a monthly basis.

City of Pasadena Caltrans District 7 Sustainability
Working Group
During the initial construction of the SR-710/ I-210
interchange Caltrans built a stormwater collection area and pump to the south of Del Mar Avenue.

This property now owned by the City of Pasadena was
transfered as part of the relinquishment. A working
Group was established to explore the potential to
relocate the Caltrans stormwater basin, share emerging
land use and transportation concepts, and coordinate
with the future project redevelopment process.

The Working Group also reviewed a concept-level
hydrologic analysis to quantify peak flow rates and
volumes and delineated drainage areas reaching the
existing basin using the best available topographic data and storm drain mapping.
15 RECONNECTING PASADENA

1.3 Vision Plan Organizing Concepts

PHYSICAL

RECONNECTION
The Project relinks communities
from east to west and
north to south.

How can local and regional
circulation changes transform a
freeway into a neighborhood?

PLACE CREATION
The Project is designed
around places
How can the Project Area add
to Pasadena’s inventory of wellloved places?

COMMUNITY COHESION
The Project complements sociability
& fosters human connection
How can new land use programs
complement and connect with
adjacent neighborhoods and
contribute to a welcoming
environment?
The Vision Plan explores local circulation frameworks
that prioritize reconnection across the Project Area and improve links to Pasadena’s Northwest. Project goals
seek to ensure that the amount of regional trips using
the corridor remain at or below today’s numbers.

The Plan also suggests an overall project-driven auto
trip reduction goal of 30–35% from baseline to ensure
continued support for and expansion of transportation
alternatives.

Vision Plan concepts includes many forms of public
amenity - a plaza on Colorado Boulevard, pedestrian
paseos, public courtyards, community gardens, and
active recreation. Current concepts suggest 20–24%
of the Project Area could be allocated as public space.

A forthcoming “public realm” framework could define
and program these places. Art, educational or cultural
moments can be reflective of the site’s history.

In addition to housing, this plan imagines cultural,
entertainment, and office uses, leveraging the Project
Area’s proximity to Old Pasadena businesses. Small
scale spaces, food halls and markets are envisioned
near Colorado Boulevard, while a portion of the site
offers opportunities for community-driven learning
spaces, residential and employment uses.
16 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 1 | INTRODUCTION

ECONOMIC VITALITY
The Project attracts &
expands opportunity
How can the Project be a net
contributor to the City’s tax base?
How can the Project enable local
business participation in construction
and delivery over time?
Future land uses build on City economic development
goals—to offer and attract the future’s economic engines that will move our economy forward.

The Restorative Justice Framework proposes strategies
to engage with small businesses, encouraging workforce
training, and procurement intervention programs
supporting local businesses.

SUSTAINABILITY, CLIMATE
& RESILIENCY
The Project is a proactive
contributor to the local ecosystem
What is the collective impact of
the Project Area’s redevelopment?
How can the Project improve City
resilience?
The Vision Plan sketches a pathway for net zero energy, suggesting that the City’s investment in renewable
energy and reduced energy use can be emphasized
right from the start. The Project Area can incorporate
passive design, cool roofs, a tree canopy target, natural landscapes, water conservation and water reclamation
and filtration.

COMMUNITY REPAIR,

HEALTH &

WELL-BEING
The Project provides a path to
restorative investments
How can the Project repair the past,
elevate equity and improve the lives
of future generations?
A Restorative Justice Framework describes concepts,
strategies and interventions to repair harms resulting
from the 710 freeway construction. The Plan
recommends a strong affordable housing component,
while pointing to a range of potential investments for
impacted and/or displaced community members.
17 RECONNECTING PASADENA

CONTEXT
2 2.1 The Relinquishment Process
State Route 710 was intended to connect the City of Pasadena with the Cities of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles via twenty-six (26) miles of roadway.

After significant community opposition over several decades, the highway was not completed, and five miles in Pasadena and adjacent South Pasadena were left unconstructed.

The citizens of Pasadena and South Pasadena led
one of the longest grassroots freeway battles in the
nation. Intense community opposition and the growing
expense of the roadway’s construction led the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to officially
defund the SR-710 corridor in 2017. The official decision not to pursue a freeway extension is documented
in Caltrans’ selection of the Transportation System
Management/Transportation Demand Management
(TSM/TDM) alternative as the preferred alternative in the 2018 SR-710 Environmental Impact Report (EIR).1 See a
timeline on Page 28.

Leveraging the strong community support to reconsider
the roadway’s design and restore local connectivity, the City of Pasadena and Caltrans established a working
group to assess the technical feasibility of converting the SR-710 stub’s freeway-to-freeway connections into
freeway-to-local street connections and, ultimately, to relinquishment. Both parties agreed that if this technical analysis determined the transition to be feasible, a
revision of the freeway agreement between Caltrans
and the City of Pasadena was possible. Published
in 2021 the “SR-710 Northern Stub Repurposing
Technical Feasibility Assessment2” demonstrated that
this conversion does not compromise the safety or
1 2018 Final Environmental Impact Report / Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIR / EIS) for the SR-710 North Project released by Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) 2 See: https://www.cityofpasadena.net/transportation/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/SR-710-N-Stub-Repurposing-Technical-Feasibility-Assessment.pdf operations of the state and interstate highway facilities at the Northern Stub’s confluence.

With this finding in place, the next step for both parties was the relinquishment of the Caltrans right-of-way,
deeding of the property back to the City of Pasadena
as it was no longer needed for state transportation
purposes. The California Transportation Commission
approved the relinquishment, and ownership was
transferred to the City of Pasadena in August 2022. The “Northern Stub” of the land relinquished covers the area from Union Street to California Boulevard, and St. John Avenue to Pasadena Avenue - an area of roughly 50
acres, see Figure 2.1.

This Vision Plan focuses on this area, and its immediate surrounds. Designated as the “Project Area,” the site
consists of a 25-30 foot deep excavated ditch with
freeway, transition lanes, and on and off ramps flanked by two one-way at-grade frontage roads – St. John
Avenue on the west traveling southbound and Pasadena
Avenue on the east traveling northbound.

Within the Project Area, what had been local east-towest moving streets were re-built by Caltrans as bridges to serve as freeway-local arterial connections across
at Walnut Street, Union Street, Colorado Boulevard,
20 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT
FIG 2.1 LEGAL DEFINITION OF RELINQUISHMENT AREA
AS SEEN LOOKING TO THE NORTH SHOWING THE 710 APPROACH TO THE 210 INCLUDING THE CORSON STREET FRONTAGE ROAD AND 134

CONNECTION

AS SEEN LOOKING TO THE SOUTH SHOWING THE MAPLE STREET
FLYOVER, AND A SEQUENCE OF CONNECTING BRIDGES OVER THE 710

PROJECT AREA
21 RECONNECTING PASADENA
19 42
19 50
19 66
19 49
19 59
19 68

PLANNING BEGINS

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS FAIR HOUSING ACT

STREET CAR
FOR THE 210 & 710 HIGHWAYS
FOR THE 710 HIGHWAY ENACTED 1968

SERVICES CUT
Initial planning efforts for
the I-210 and SR-710 were
launched, supported by the
Federal-Aid Highway Act.

These plans aimed to connect
key regional hubs but also
set the stage for decades of
displacement.

Fair Housing Act prohibits
racial discrimination in housing
practices and promotes equal
access to housing. While a
critical step forward, its impact
was limited in Pasadena,
where systemic inequalities like
redlining and displacement from
highway construction continued
to affect communities of color.

Construction for the I-210 and
SR-710 freeways officially began
in 1949, spurred by the postwar emphasis on modernizing transportation infrastructure. This
marked the start of a project
that would reshape not only
Pasadena but also the greater
Los Angeles region.

Pasadena’s streetcar services
were discontinued, reflecting
the prioritization of automobile
infrastructure. This shift
contributed to the expansion of
suburbs, and disinvestment in
urban centers.

PROPERTY ACQUISITION
CONTINUES UNTIL EARLY 1970S
I-210 and SR-710 freeways
reach Pasadena, displacing
several communities of color.

The construction leveraged
redlining practices and existing
racial covenants, uprooting
families and reshaping the
City’s social fabric.

HIGHWAYS REACH PASADENA
210 & 710 EXTENSION
Construction of the I-210 and
SR-710 freeways extend into
Pasadena. While they improved
regional connectivity, the
freeways began to fragment
established communities within
the City.
22 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT
19 98
20 15
20 22
19 99
20 17
20 23
710 EXTENSION HALTED 710 DEFUNDED RECONNECTING

MTA DEFUNDS RAILWAYS

WEST PASADENA RESIDENTS

ASSOCIATION PROPOSAL TRANSFER OF LAND

RESIDENTS OF PASADENA RESIST CITY COUNCIL OPPOSES TUNNEL PASADENA

REFORM AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT COMMUNITY THINKING OF IMPACT CALTRANS RELINQUISHES LAND Plans to extend the 710 highway
through the City of South
Pasadena were halted due to
resistance from Pasadena and
South Pasadena residents.

Pasadena’s City Council
formally opposed the
proposed underground
extension of the 710 highway.

Caltrans officials defunded
the project and prioritizing
alternative approaches.

Pasadena launched the
Reconnecting Communities
project including research into
past decisions. The plan will
initiate a process to reconnect
the 710-stub study area,
and provide outreach across
Pasadena’s neighborhoods.

Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) passed the Reform
and Accountability Act, redirecting
funds away from rail transit
projects. This decision reflected
shifts in transportation priorities,
delaying efforts to expand public
transit in the region.

The West Pasadena Residents
Association (WPRA) began
advocating for a comprehensive
assessment of the 710 highway’s
impacts. Efforts included
community development of the
Connecting Pasadena Project
(CPP), and various city-led
working groups.

Caltrans officially transferred
ownership of the 710 corridor
land to the City of Pasadena.

The handover enabled
community-driven planning
to address the legacy of
displacement and envision new
uses for reclaimed space.
23 RECONNECTING PASADENA
Green Street, and Del Mar Boulevard. These bridges,
designed in anticipation of a robust freeway system
that will no longer be realized, were also transferred
into City ownership. There are also northbound ramps
from Pasadena Avenue into the ditch (from which there
is access to northbound and eastbound I-210 and
westbound SR-134), a northbound and a southbound
connection to Walnut Street, and one southbound ramp
to St. John Avenue.

Relinquishment Findings
Today, the SR-710 connector is the route of choice
for many north-south regional travelers during
commuter peak periods. Traffic count data from the
SR-710 Northern Stub Repurposing Technical Feasibility
Assessment documented between approximately 3,600
and 4,800 vehicles per hour (combined AM and PM
peak hours or total for each individual peak) in each
direction along the Stub or on the adjacent streets
(southbound on St. John Avenue, northbound on
Pasadena Avenue).

The volume of traffic moving through the Stub
underscores the challenge of redesigning a
transportation network here. Nearby alternatives for
traveling north and south in the vicinity of the Project Area include Orange Grove Boulevard, Fair Oaks
Avenue, and Arroyo Parkway, each of which have
capacity limitations and, in many cases, pass sensitive uses (e.g., residential, park, etc.).

Existing north-south traffic would need to be
redistributed at the subregional and regional level (either further to the east or west than Orange Grove Boulevard, Fair Oaks Avenue, Marengo Ave, and Arroyo Parkway
or via other modes of travel), otherwise that traffic would need to be accommodated within the Project’s new
street network.

FIG. 2.2 THE RELINQUISHMENT AREA OVERLAYED ON HISTORIC
PHOTOGRAPH BEFORE THE FREEWAY WAS CONSTRUCTED ORANGE GROVE BLVD. ST. JOHN AVE. PASADENA AVE.

CALIFORNIA BLVD.

COLORADO BLVD.

GREEN ST.

DEL MAR BLVD.

FAIR OAKS AVE

UNION STREET
24 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT
FIG. 2.3 INFORMATION BOARD FROM RECONNECTING PASADENA COMMUNITY EVENT ONE, JUNE 2024. THIS

EVENT SHOWCASED INFORMATION ON THE RELINQUISHMENT AND ITS FINDINGS, SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE VISION PLAN.

SR-134.
25 RECONNECTING PASADENA

2.2 Vision Plan Process and Engagement
This Vision Plan project process took place over three
phases. The process sought to address transportation
challenges while also solving for concepts to reconnect socially through land uses.

PHASE ONE Discovery: Historic Consultants conducted
demographic, and archival research and collected oral
histories. A separate physical planning Consultant team assessed land use, sustainability and transportation
conditions, and compiled digital information on the
Project Area. The team created preliminary organizing
concepts, and “blue sky visioning.” Early ideas were
vetted via fatal flaws. Compelling ideas were brought
forward to the RC Advisory Group and the City’s
Caltrans District 7 Mobility Working Group. This input
was used to guide development of Project Area options.

PHASE TWO Options & Engage: In spring 2025, the
team produced working physical and digital models of
the Project Area to test urban form and layout new local roadways. Physical models helped the public understand
how building forms could fill in the “ditch,” and various street and network structures could come together to
reconnect across the Project Area. In summer 2025, the
Consultant team, alongside Pasadena’s Department of
Transportation and Caltrans District 7, further developed scenarios to terminate and reconfigure the freeway
and its ramps; and remove and relocate the Caltrans
stormwater basis. These scenarios were tested to
gather preliminary information on land use economics,
mobility and accessibility strategies, energy and power requirements, water resources, and stormwater. These
findings were shared in September 2025 at Public Event
#3. The team also gathered feedback on the initial
concepts from the RC Advisory Group, City Council Ad
Hoc and Executive Committees.

PHASE THREE Document & Refine: The final phase
focused on further refinements, and compiling
information into a Draft and Final Vision Plan. This
Phase also documents initial recommendations for the
Plan’s implementation, including suggested next steps
and areas needing further resolution.

FIG 2.4: BLUE SKY IDEAS GENERATED IN THE DISCOVERY PHASE FOR THE COMBINED CIRCULATION AND LAND USE CONCEPTS. EARLY CONCEPTS TESTED THE LOCATION AND NUMBER OF STREETS, PUBLIC SPACES, AND TOPOGRAPHIC CHANGES.

9. Full Cap

10. No New Blvd

11. Westside
Liner Park
26 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT
PHASE 2
Options &
Engage
PHASE 3
Document
& Refine
PHASE 1
Discovery
Historic Project
& Restorative
Justice Research
Vision Plan
• Physical Plan
Preliminary
Options • Technical
Analysis
(Transportation,
Economic, Land
Use) • Sustainability
• Public Event #1 • Youth • Engagements • Online Materials • 710 Reconnecting Communities
Advisory Group
(RC Advisory
Group)
Physical Plan
Activities
Community
Engagement
Reconnecting
Pasadena
Advisory Group
Recommendations

CITY COUNCIL

EVALUATION AND

CONSIDERATION
Refined Options
•Site History
•Oral Histories
•Documentation
•Case Studies
• Public Event #2 • Community Based
Organization
Outreach • Online Materials • 710 Reconnecting
Communities
Advisory Group
Standing
Committees • Youth
Engagements
• Public Event #3
•Historic Project
Reports; Amplify
Documentary
•Restorative
Justice
Framework
and Restorative
Justice Elements
(draft)
•Restorative Justice
Framework
Recommendations
• Land Use
Circulation • Sustainability
Opportunities • Market and
Economic
Findings • Data
Gathering
27 RECONNECTING PASADENA

PASADENA RESIDENTS AT PUBLIC EVENT ONE

PASADENA RESIDENTS AT PUBLIC EVENT TWO

2.2.1 PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
The City and its Consultant team held a variety of
meetings across the City and created an accessible
project-based online storymap. The following section
summarizes these engagement activities and what was
heard at sessions.

Public Event One
On June 22, 2024, the City held a meeting at Victory
Park Recreation Center. This half-day session introduced the project context and gave community members the
opportunity to ask questions and discuss what they would like to see in the area. The event drew approximately
170–180 attendees.

The Consultant team displayed a physical model of
the existing site and a series of presentation boards
summarizing the project process and schedule,
land uses, the relinquishment technical study and
current conditions.

Placeit! conducted an interactive, intergenerational
model-building workshop. Their questions focused on
the relationship between future land use programs
and urban form and each participant’s ideal
city environment.

All materials and interpretation services were provided in Spanish for community members.

Public Event Two
The City held a second city-wide event in April 2025 at the Pasadena Convention Center with approxiblately
140-160 participants. The meeting included members
of the consultant physical planning team, Historic
Consultants and City of Pasadena staff. This event
initiated the “Options and Engage” project phase. Two
dozen boards showcased physical design opportunities,
place-making ideas and preliminary historic findings, as well as providing a draft restorative justice definition and related elements.

This event included a screening of the Oral History
Documentary, Amplify and a short video showcasing
some of the key concepts and considerations for the
site’s future physical framework.
28 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT

PASADENA RESIDENTS AT FRIENDSHIP CHURCH PARTICIPATE IN

LIVE POLLING

FULL SCALE STUDY MODELS HELP PARTICIPANTS UNDERSTAND THE SCALE OF THE SITE AND HOW TO RECONNECT ACROSS.

A survey asking questions about preliminary design
concepts and community priorities was conducted both
online and in-person.

All printed materials were available in both English and Spanish, including a copy of the presentation slides
in Spanish.

Public Event Three
A presentation and panel discussion was held in-person
and online in September, 2025 at the historic Friendship Pasadena Church. Approximately 98–125 community
members attended the workshop with additional
participants online. Panelists presented land use, design and circulation ideas and responded to questions from
the participants. In addition, live polling with in-person and remote participants focused on what elements
or features they would prioritize from the project
concepts and ideas. For those that missed the second
workshop, the Amplify Oral History Documentary was
played on loop.

All printed materials were available in both English
and Spanish, including a copy of the presentation
slides. All boards and materials were uploaded to the
project storymap.

Community Based Organizations (CBO)
Partnerships
The Reconnecting Pasadena Project initiated official
agreements with six local Community Based
Organizations (CBO). These agreements were
established to:
• Involve and receive feedback from harder to reach
groups and communities.
• Extend project information to areas served by CBO
partners through their existing events and activities.
• Benefit from CBO’s relationships with the community,
and existing practices.

CBO Partnerships included:

Urban Homestead: a pioneering model for urban
sustainability in cities. Their mission, as urban farmers is to cultivate space for community through food.
29 RECONNECTING PASADENA
Day One: a community-based nonprofit organization
with a 37-year history of providing effective, high
quality and culturally sensitive public health education, intervention, and policy development in the San
Gabriel Valley.

BikeLA: a nonprofit organization that works to make
all communities in LA County healthy, safe, and fun
places to ride a bike through advocacy, education, and
outreach. They envision a Los Angeles County that is a
great place for everyday, year round bicycling.

Center for Restorative Justice: a place-based
organization that educates and equips communities
to address the history of racial injustice and disrupt its ongoing impact by making the past present.

Outreach activities included CBO roundtable
meetings to share project milestones, discuss outreach
strategies, and coordinate approaches. Throughout
the process, CBO partners were provided digital
toolkits and encouraged to continue sharing project
information within their networks to build awareness
and participation.

Online materials and storymap
The Project team created an online interactive storymap to provide residents and stakeholders with updated
materials. The storymap included maps, visuals, and
explanations that highlight the 710 Project Area, its
history, and its potential for a new future. At the bottom of the storymap, community members were invited to
provide their name and email address to stay up to date with the project using a built-in sign-up form.

Other Events
Former State Assemblymember Chris Holden’s Annual
Block Party: In August 2024, the project gathered
feedback through a “What is Your Ideal City Place?”
display board, highlighting community desires for
PLACEIT! FACILITATED A WORKSHOP WITH STUDENTS ON THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS: IMAGINE THE 710 GONE. IN ITS PLACE, BUILD THE

COMMUNITY OF YOUR DREAMS (WHEN BUILDING, CONSIDER YOUR PHYSICAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL NEEDS) 30 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT

MODEL BUILDING ACTIVITY AT EVENT ONE

AN EXISTING CONDITIONS MODEL WAS SHOWN AT MANY LOCAL EVENTS

A PHYSICAL MODEL OF PROJECT AREA AS SHOWN AT EVENT TWO

THE AMPLIFY ORAL HISTORY DOCUMENTARY WAS SCREENED EVENT

TWO AND THREE
31 RECONNECTING PASADENA
affordable housing, green spaces, and public
gathering spaces.

Pasadena Latino Heritage Parade and Festival: In
October 2024, participants shared ideas for parks,
affordable housing, and cultural spaces while
acknowledging the historical displacement caused
by the construction of the SR-710 freeway.

Pasadena Fall Festival: In October 2024, attendees
added over 100 comments to an interactive
“tree,” prioritizing parks, green spaces, mixeduse developments, and restorative measures for displaced communities.

A Focus on Youth Engagement
Youth engagement was designed to inform, inspire,
and empower young people. Through interactive,
hands-on activities and facilitated dialogue, the
project team engaged high school and college
students across Pasadena.

In September 2024, the City of Pasadena hosted
two interactive youth-focused workshops at
Pasadena City College, facilitated by Place It!
Fifty-three students were introduced to the Project
and concepts of urban planning. Participants
participated in sensory-based, model-building
activities that encouraged them to translate lived
experiences, memories, and aspirations into
physical design concepts for the future of the Project
Area. Project boards were displayed throughout the
sessions to support learning and discussion.

In May 2025, the project team partnered with the
community-based organization Day One to host a
youth workshop. Participants engaged in handson model building with color-coded, Lego-style blocks to design their vision for the Project Area.

Youth emphasized inclusive public spaces, parks,
affordable housing, mobility improvements, and
community-serving uses. Participants presented
their models and discussed the values behind
their design choices. Ideas generated included
water features, libraries, museums, nonprofit
spaces, small retail, food trucks, bike paths, open (ABOVE) PRESENTATION BOARDS AND RESPONSES AT EVENT ONE

YOUTH EVENT AT DAY ONE
32 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT
green space, mixed-use development, schools, and a
transportation hub. Students explored ideas related
to connectivity, mobility, sustainability, housing, and public space.

A youth forum at Friendship Pasadena Church in
December 2025, was sponsored by Councilmember
Tyron Hampton and Perkins Eastman, and organized by
Sequoyah School, Muir High School, and community
advocates. As part of a planned “710 Community
Fellows Program” approximately forty teens attended
the Youth Forum. Mixed teams of students participated
in a day-long program emphasizing dialogue,
inquiry, and critical thinking. Students interviewed
guest presenters and toured the SR-710 corridor. The
workshop revealed a strong appreciation for the
project’s complexity and its potential to benefit the
community. 80% of participants expressed interest
in learning more about urban design, development
processes, and local policymaking, while 60% were
surprised by the history of displacement associated
with the freeway. Key areas of interest included
affordable housing, bike infrastructure, restorative
justice, defining the public good, and ensuring inclusive community dialogue.

Appreciation to…
Councilmember Tyron Hampton, Beverly Rodriguez, Dr.

Lawton Gray, Dr. Rebecca Hong, Muir Engineering
and Environmental Sciences Academy’s ACE
program, Wendy Macias, Danny Parker, Perkins
Eastman, the Roberts Group, Friendship Pasadena
Church, all of our guest presenters and volunteers,
and our bus driver.

The 710 Community Fellows Program is a program of City Council District 1 - Councilmember Tyron Hampton, with support from the following community institutions and organizations: Muir High School Engineering and Environmental Sciences Academy, Sequoyah School, The DBK Group, Arroyo Seco Placekeepers, Center for Restorative Justice, and the Armory Center for the Arts. For more info, contact Marcus Renner at [email protected].

Format & Schedule
(ABOVE) STUDENTS ATTEND THE YOUTH FORUM THE 710 COMMUNITY FELLOWS PROGRAM. THIS IS A PROGRAM OF CITY COUNCIL
DISTRICT 1 - COUNCILMEMBER TYRON HAMPTON, WITH SUPPORT
FROM: MUIR HIGH SCHOOL ENGINEERING AND ENVIRONMENTAL

SCIENCES ACADEMY, SEQUOYAH SCHOOL, THE DBK GROUP,

ARROYO SECO PLACEKEEPERS, CENTER FOR RESTORATIVE JUSTICE, PERKINS EASTMAN AND THE ARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTS.
33 RECONNECTING PASADENA

2.2.2 KEY THEMES FROM

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Themes heard from the community across all
engagements are summarized following:

RESTORE PHYSICAL CONNECTION
• Better connect across the SR-710 ditch,
include all modes (vehicles, transit, bikes
and pedestrians) especially to the Northwest
neighborhoods and east to west.

BUILD HOUSING
• Include housing here with many forms, and
make affordability a priority. Try to achieve
something unique.

APPLY “DENSITY” CAREFULLY - KEEP

PASADENA BEAUTIFUL
• Leverage the existing assets of the communities
nearby, including multifamily housing. Be
respectful of existing neighborhoods.
• Support, but don’t compete with Old Pasadena.
• Reduce traffic impacts to adjacent streets and
make it nice to walk, create a place and a new
neighborhood where people will want to live,
play and work.

FOCUS ON PROSPERITY, RESTORATIVE JUSTICE,

COMMUNITY ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
• Introduce welcoming places to interact, gather,
and connect (all ages).
• Ensure the redevelopment includes a variety of
green spaces, parks and activities, especially
for youth.
• Acknowledge and honor displaced communities
and take meaningful action to support
impacted communities.
• Implement effective strategies to balance
economics and public benefit.

LEADERSHIP IN SUSTAINABILITY
• Pioneer transformative sustainability initiatives,
explore and apply strategies for renewable
energy systems, preserve natural resources and
reduce ground water use.
• Apply climate sensitive design, mitigate
for extreme heat, design for public heath
and wellness.
• Use the project area to implement the City’s
Climate Action Plan.
34 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT

2.3 Project Area Planning Context
“Pasadena is defined by its public spaces, its beautiful neighborhoods, thriving business districts, and historic assets like City Hall, the Rose Bowl, Ambassador Auditorium, and Caltech—all contributing to our sense of place. With the Vision Plan we can learn from and reflect the best aspects of what surrounds it.” Mayor Victor Gordo
Because the Project Area is an operating
roadway, it is not part of the Pasadena
General Plan and designates no land uses for
the site. The Project Area spans nearly 4,000
feet—approximately ten city blocks. Abutting
Old Pasadena, it interfaces with diverse
land uses, ranging from office and retail
to multifamily residential. The SR-710 ditch
serves both barrier and edge of Old Pasadena.

The Project Area is the transition—from busy
and walkable blocks on its east side to the
more auto-oriented and suburban-scaled
commercial areas and mixed residential along
St. John Avenue and Orange Grove Boulevard
to the west. A ridge on the west side of the
site further adds to this transition, acting as a
visual feature in places like Del Mar Boulevard.

Colorado Boulevard is one of Pasadena’s
signature streets. Land uses on both sides of
the Project Area offer street-level retail. Further
south on Green Street and beyond, this
walkable mixed use character is less consistent
and shifts to include residential apartments
and mixed commercial uses. See Figure 2.5

THE PROJECT TEAM CONDUCTED A WALKING TOUR OF THE SITE WITH CITY LEADERS.
35 RECONNECTING PASADENA

1. INTERCHANGE WEST
• Long walking distance to street activity
• Feels unsafe; lack of intuitive orientation
• Monumental scale of concrete structures
unsettling as a pedestrian

2. AUTO DEALERSHIPS
• Commercial setting with one- and
two-story auto dealerships and
surface parking
• Sidewalks lack trees or pedestrian
buffers from cars
• Adjacent to the Norton Simon Museum

3. AMBASSADOR’S EDGE
• Hillside transition with green campus
environments
• South of Del Mar is the longest block in
study area, limited east-to-west access
• Limited public access to Ambassador
Auditorium and Maranatha High School

4. SOUTH OF DEL MAR
• Caltrans owned stormwater facility
• Stormwater collects in a pond and is then
pumped off-site under Del Mar

5. NORTHWEST GATEWAY/PARSONS
• Parson Headquarters (former) west-side
parking lot looking to be redeveloped
with new multifamily housing located
to the east

6. COLORADO BLVD
• Signature Pasadena Street
• Up to 4 stories with varied land uses but
limited active uses
• Some mid-block crossings of Pasadena
Ave. to the north and south

7. OLD PASADENA
• Premier local and regional shopping
destination
• Walking streets, active alleys, retail and
restaurants
• Shared parking structures on Holly Street

8. URBAN RESIDENTIAL
• Mid-rise apartments including Westgate
Apartments constructed in the 2000s
• Entries located at street level or raised
with parking below
• Midblock crossings and paseos, but
some are gated and private
5 1
2 6
7 3
8 4
St. Andrew
Catholic Church
Parsons
A
A
Memorial
Norton Park Station
Simon
Museum
Singer
Park
Huntington
Hospital
Maranatha
High School
Wrigley
Mansion
Sequoyah
School
FIGURE 2.5: LAND USES INFLUENCING THE PROJECT AREA
California Blvd.

Del Mar Blvd.

Colorado Blvd.

Walnut St.

Fair Oaks Ave.

Marengo Ave.

Del Mar
Station
36 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT

2.3.1 PROJECT LAND USE

PLANNING CONTEXT
Figure 2.7 shows the Specific Plan boundaries adjacent
to the Project Area.

Central District Specific Plan
The 2023 Central District Specific Plan establishes the design and development standards to the east of the
Study Area. It includes a description and goals for its “sub-districts.”
Old Pasadena
The historic core of the City and vibrant retail and
entertainment destination; a network of alleys and
paseos enhance pedestrian connectivity. District land
uses and policies here seek to strengthen Old Pasadena
as a mixed-use activity center that fosters retail,
134
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210
City of Pasadena Land Use Diagram HOUSING MIXED-USE COMMERCIAL

OPEN SPACE
0-6 DU/Acre
0-12 DU/Acre
0-16 DU/Acre
0-32 DU/Acre
0-48 DU/Acre
0-87 DU/Acre

0.0-1.0 FAR
0-32 DU/Acre

0.0-1.75 FAR
0-48 DU/Acre

0.0-2.25 FAR
0-87 DU/Acre

0.0-3.0 FAR
0-87 DU/Acre

0.0-1.0 FAR

0.0-2.0 FAR

0.0-3.0 FAR

0.0-1.25 FAR
Specific Plans
Low Density Residential
Low-Med Density Residential
Medium Density Residential
Med-High Density Residential
High Density Residential
Urban Housing
Low Mixed Use
Low-Med Mixed Use
Med Mixed Use
High Mixed Use
Low Commercial
Med Commercial
High Commercial
R&D Flex Space
Institutional
Open Space
Sphere of Influence
Altadena
(Los Angeles
County)
Sierra Madre Arcadia
Los Angeles
County
FIG 2.6: PASADENA GENERAL PLAN LAND USE DIAGRAM
FIG 2.7: SPECIFIC PLAN BOUNDARIES & NEIGHBORHOOD
DESIGNATIONS.

NW Gateway
Central District
Old Pasadena
Art/Innovation
DeLacey
HEART
South Fair Oaks
Orange
Grove/Colorado
37 RECONNECTING PASADENA
entertainment, employment, and residential uses within
a walkable setting. Pasadena’s museums, theaters, and
dining scene draw visitors from across the region. Old
Pasadena is already a critical cultural hub, source of
civic pride and identity, and major tax base, providing 20% of the City’s sales tax receipts with seven million visitors per year.

De Lacey
Medium to high-density residential and commercial
neighborhood distinguished by the Westgate Apartments.

This District aims to develop high-quality residential
and mixed-use properties near Del Mar Station and
Central Park to enhance the neighborhood’s appeal.

These blocks incorporate some ground level units, and
landscaped paseos within the blocks.

Northwest Gateway
Distinguished by the former Parsons Corporation office
complex, this area supports the Central District as a
designated major employment center and prominent
downtown entrance by enhancing the existing mixed-use
character with a variety of retail, office, services, and multifamily housing.

South Fair Oaks Specific Plan
The 2022 South Fair Oaks Specific Plan facilitates a
creative, innovative, and health-oriented mixed-use
district that provides multi-family housing.

Arts and Innovation Flex
This commercially focused District between Del Mar and
California is an eclectic district with a mix of residential and nonresidential uses that support existing businesses and encourage economic vitality for the City.

Flexible uses include research and development, creative office, and light industrial. The lower scale of buildings supports adaptive reuse, with an emphasis on start-ups
and biotech.

HEART
To the south of California is an active arts and medical district with a mix of land uses and amenities that serves residents, students, employees throughout the day. The
HEART district will support medical office use, with some taller buildings to complement Huntington Hospital.

A Specific Plan is a
document designed to
implement the goals
and policies of the
General Plan.
38 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT

2.4 Understanding Scale
FIGURE 2.7: THE PROJECT AREA EXTENDS APPROXIMATELY TEN CITY BLOCKS. IF TURNED ON ITS SIDE, THE PROJECT SITE WOULD EXTEND TO COLORADO AND MADISON AVENUE (URTH CAFE), ENABLING A VARIETY OF DESIGN TREATMENTS THROUGH THE SITE.

California Blvd.

Del Mar Blvd.

Colorado Blvd.

Walnut St.

Fair Oaks Ave.Marengo Ave.

Los Robles Ave.

Madison Ave.

True Foods The Paseo
One Colorado City Hall
First Methodist Urth Cafe
N
39 RECONNECTING PASADENA
The following pages offer a series of “scale comparisons” showing the relationship of one of the blocks to a wellknown place in Pasadena.

ONE COLORADO
The One Colorado project includes intimate public
spaces approximately the same size as the northernmost
block of the project site. This block is composed of
multiple brick buildings, open-air alleys, courts, in
keeping with Old Pasadena. It offers 243,508 square
feet of retail and dining.

The site also has a movie theater, parking, and event
space and hosts a series of programmed outdoor events.

FIG 2.8: ONE COLORADO FIG 2.9: PROJECT AREA BETWEEN UNION ST. AND COLORADO BOULEVARD COULD HOST A SIMILAR SCALE DEVELOPMENT.

ONE COLORADO PLAZA HAS ACTIVATED STORE FRONTS, SHARED
TABLES AND A MOVIE THEATER.

Colorado Blvd. Colorado Blvd.

Union St. Union St. Fair Oaks Ave.

De Lacey Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

St. John Ave.
40 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT
FIG 2.10: PASADENA CITY COLLEGE FIG 2.11: PROJECT AREA BETWEEN W GREEN ST. AND W DEL MAR BLVD. COULD HOST A CAMPUS-LIKE DEVELOPMENT.

PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
The main quadrant of the Pasadena City College
Campus has a civic scale presence. This campus,
including the arts center and gymnasium, would fit
on the site.

With a larger block size, some form of institutional or educational user could create an institutional campuslike environment on part of the site.

MAIN QUADRANT OF PASADENA CITY COLLEGE.

Colorado Blvd.

Green St.

Del Mar Blvd.

Del Mar Blvd.

Pasadena Ave.

St. John Ave.
41 RECONNECTING PASADENA
FIG 2.12: PLAYHOUSE DISTRICT FIG 2.13: PROJECT AREA BETWEEN COLORADO AND GREEN

COULD OFFER MULTIPLE PATHS AND WAYS THROUGH WITH ACTIVE OPEN SPACES.

PASADENA PLAYHOUSE DISTRICT PLAZA

PASADENA PLAYHOUSE
The Pasadena Playhouse area, located at Colorado
Boulevard and El Molino is comparable to the Project
Area between Green St. and Colorado Blvd. in the
Project site. This illustrates the potential for one part of the project to become a cultural haven, home to spaces
such as theaters, art galleries, eateries, museums, and independent shops. The Playhouse District is anchored
by three theaters, food and beverage, new hospitality,
and convenient parking.

Colorado Blvd. Colorado Blvd.

Green St.

Green St.

El Molino Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

St. John Ave.
42 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT

PLACEMAKING IN PASADENA
Pasadena’s built environment comprises a unique
blend of California mission style architecture and
contemporary human scaled buildings. A walk through
the central district is to experience the art of the
intentional placemaking. The area offers some of its
most iconic ‘third places’ such as the intimate courtyards and gardens of the Plaza Las Fuentes, Ambassador
Gardens, and the active alleys of Old Pasadena,
Westgate, as well as the iconic City Hall arcades and its well-loved fountain courtyard.
43 RECONNECTING PASADENA
The project team gathered information about real estate market trends, City policy priorities, and economic
development goals to understand the potential for
various land uses in the Project Area. During the
“Discovery” phase, this information was supplemented
with individual interviews with those working in real
estate development, affordable housing, biosciences,
deep tech, and economic development. The project team
also met with community members and the RC Advisory
Group to gather input.

Summary | Trends and Opportunities
Over the past five years, much of the City’s real estate development have been concentrated near to the
Project Area in the Central District, the city’s economic powerhouse.
• According to the City’s 2024 Economic Development
Strategy Report, the area adjacent to the Project
Area (Quadrant B as shown in the map below)
accounts for over 13 million square feet of office
space (78% of the citywide total), 5.4 million square
feet of retail space (54% of the citywide total), and

2.5 Land Use Opportunities
18 space
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There is a disconnect between the demand for specialized lab space in the Los Angeles County region and the availability and construction of new lab space� This is especially stark in the life science industry, where vacancies for life science space are less than 5% across the County and less than 1% in Pasadena� This shortage of space is exacerbated by a current lack of new lab space under development anywhere in the County. If these conditions remain, it will become increasingly difficult to attract life science businesses to Pasadena or elsewhere in Los Angeles County. If Pasadena can fulfill this space need by facilitating the redevelopment of obsolete properties or by shepherding the creation of a Deep Tech campus, it will be able to position itself as the regional Deep Tech hub� j
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210 UV134
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Pasadena Office Spaces

QUADRANT A QUADRANT B QUADRANT C QUADRANT D
TOTAL OFFICE SUPPLY (SF) 892,336 13,033,248 568,273 2,319,229 SUPPLY OVER 20K SF 551,955 11,275,108 141,480 1,990,995 VACANCY RATE 4�8% 14�7% 2�4% 13�7%
VACANCY RATE OVER 20K 5�7% 16�1% 1�7% 14�9%
PIPELINE SF 0 286,937 0 127,000
AGED INVENTORY (PRE-1980) 62% 45% 66% 54%
AVERAGE ASKING RENT (PSF) $35�21 $41�54 $33�51 $34�19
AVERAGE ASKING RENT OVER 20K SF $36�94 $42�72 $33�15 $34�55 Office Space

QUADRANT A

QUADRANT B

QUADRANT D QUADRANT C
Source: 2023 CoStar
IMAGE SOURCE: 2024 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY REPORT, PAGE 18 44 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT
a significant share of the City’s tech businesses
clustered between Caltech and Huntington Hospital.
• In 2023-2024 the Pasadena office market continues
to recover from the pandemic. In 2024 there was a

16.1% office vacancy rate in Quadrant B. Pasadena’s
Economic Development Strategy Report proposes
shifting this under-performing office to meet high
demand for lab space serving deep tech businesses.
• Pasadena has the highest employment levels among
competitive cities in the San Gabriel Valley and a
highly skilled workforce. 57% of residents hold a
bachelor’s degree or higher, and 12% of residents
are self-employed entrepreneurs. However, only
12% of employees living in Pasadena also work in
the City. Challenges in housing affordability and
workforce housing availability can lead to long
commutes, and can impact employer recruitment,
reducing Pasadena’s competitive advantage. For
example, Huntington Hospital draws employees
from the Inland Empire, from as far away as Ontario
and Victorville.
• Pasadena already has the highest amount of square
feet (SF) of retail per capita in the San Gabriel Valley, over supplied by an estimated 1.2 million SF.

Table 2.1 synthesizes policy and market alignment in
the Project Area reflecting conditions in 2024–2025.

Housing, parks and amenities, and Deep Tech are listed
as high opportunity land uses. There is also moderate
alignment with uses that contribute to a convivial
and hospitable environment, such as a hotel, dining,
entertainment or specialized events venue.

The RC Advisory Group Land Use and Mobility
Standing Committee (LUM) recommend an emphasis
on residential uses alongside employment, integrated
with green spaces, public uses and programs. The LUM
cautioned against over-reliance on retail, suggesting
that Project Area land uses remain flexible to respond to Table 2.1: Current Policy and Market Alignment in Project Area Land Use Type Evidence of
Market Demand
Alignment with City
Planning + Policy Goals Composite Priority Level
Multifamily Residential High High High
Deep Tech & Innovation High High High
Parks and Recreation High High High
Medical Office/ Healthcare High High High
Dining & Entertainment Moderate High Moderate/High
Hotel Moderate Moderate Moderate
Student Housing / Co-Living Moderate Moderate Moderate
General Office Moderate Moderate Moderate
Higher
Education Moderate Moderate Moderate
Industrial / Flex Moderate Low Low/Moderate
Traditional Retail Low Low Low
“HIGH” OPPORTUNITY USES DEMONSTRATE

HIGH MARKET DEMAND AND ALIGNMENT
WITH THE CITY’S PLANNING AND POLICY

GOALS AND COULD SUPPORT A SIGNIFICANT

FOOTPRINT WITHIN THE DEVELOPMENT
SCENARIOS.
“MODERATE” OPPORTUNITY USES

DEMONSTRATE MODERATE MARKET DEMAND

AND ALIGNMENT WITH GOALS, COULD PLAY A
SUPPORTING ROLE TO THE “HIGH” PRIORITY

USES, AND WOULD HELP TO FOSTER A
VIBRANT, MIXED-USE ENVIRONMENT.
“LOW” OPPORTUNITY USES DEMONSTRATE

LOWER OR UNCERTAIN MARKET DEMAND,

ARE NOT IN ALIGNMENT WITH PLANNING

AND POLICY GOALS, AND SHOULD ONLY BE

INCLUDED IF SPECIFIC TENANTS OR STRATEGIC
PARTNERSHIPS CAN BE IDENTIFIED.
45 RECONNECTING PASADENA
rapidly shifting marketplace dynamics, focusing instead on ways to meet project goals for a livable, accessible, and vibrant place.

Stakeholders also discussed the ability to use the already excavated ditch for parking as a positive, but noted its lack of existing infrastructure. Both conditions are unique and will have specific cost implications.

More information on High and Moderate Opportunity
Land Uses in the Project Area below:

Highest Opportunity: Residential
Market indicators, policy priorities and public
support converge on the opportunity for both rental
and ownership residential uses in the Project Area;
with a particular focus on workforce housing, and
overall housing affordability. New residences will
bind the neighborhood together, enhancing vibrancy
and supporting viability of nearby businesses in
Old Pasadena.

The housing shortage in California means that home
prices across Los Angeles County are significantly higher than many can afford. The median home price in
Pasadena exceeds $1.4 million; requiring high annual
earnings to afford a home. As the project process
entered into Phase 2 “Options and Engage,” the Eaton
and Palisades fires erupted, further strengthening public calls to include residential capacity.
• Pasadena’s Regional Housing Need Allocation
(RHNA) is 9,429 housing units for 2021–2029. This
includes 2,747 units at very low income, 1,662 at
low income and 1,565 at moderate income.
• According to SCAG’s 2020 housing data, 57% of the
city are renters.

New residential units at various affordability levels would help to meet the City’s RHNA objectives and implement
Restorative Justice recommendations (See Chapter 3).

RHNA objectives include:
• Increase the housing supply and mix of housing
types, tenure and affordability
• Promote socioeconomic equity
• Affirmatively further fair housing, which means
“taking meaningful actions, in addition to
combating discrimination, that overcome patterns
of segregation and foster inclusive communities
free from barriers that restrict access to opportunity
based on protected characteristics.” [Government
Code Section 8899.50]
Testing conducted during the Options and Engage
Phase demonstrated that the Project Area can achieve
from 1600–1900 units while maintaining a livable
and sustainable built environment. This number is
comparable to the overall number of displaced
units documented in the 710 Historic Project, and
meeting the Restorative Justice Standing Committee
recommendations. Further study, and innovative
approaches would be needed to achieve affordability
levels beyond Pasadena’s existing inclusionary
housing ordinance.

High Opportunity: Parks, Recreation and
Public Amenity
Parks and public amenities can anchor this renewed
neighborhood. Located just two blocks from Central
Park, the Project Area is also near several of the city’s premier attractions, including the Gamble House, the
Norton Simon Museum and the Rose Bowl. During the
Options and Engagement Phase, public discussions
focused on establishing a high-quality public realm,
with strong support for public art, landscaping and
programming that fosters social cohesion.

Various public spaces can be integrated into the site.

These may range from small plazas and civic squares
to substantial green spaces dedicated to sports and
recreation. Additionally, the inclusion of “micro-forests” could boost the area’s regenerative properties by
providing plant and insect habitats while enhancing
community wellness and climate resilience through
cooling and greening.

Suggested programs from public comments included
learning environments, such as day care, schools and
playgrounds; multigenerational spaces, such as senior
centers; and multipurpose meeting rooms and art
46 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT
venues. Other proposals featured pools, courts, fields, urban farms, gardens and dog parks.

Concepts in this Vision Plan suggest that up to seven
acres or 20%–24% of relinquished area could be
dedicated to public park and/or related amenity spaces.

High Opportunity: Deep Tech & Innovation
Caltech defines “Deep Tech” as comprised of five
“pillars:” Lifesciences/Biotech, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Quantum and Aerospace. Although each
of the five are distinct fields of study, each focuses on the advancement of technologies that can transform
industries and improve lives.

UCLA, USC, Caltech, Cal State LA, Pasadena Bioscience
Collaborative and Huntington Medical Center are
located proximate to the Project Area, each contributing to a workforce that is highly specialized in computer,
engineering, and innovation occupations. Pasadena
currently outpaces Los Angeles County in these fields
in both job growth and their proportional share of the
total workforce. Industry trends further show a growing preference for partnerships, and clusters- essentially
institutions and companies locating near to each other
to create a regional ecosystem that can support end-toend discovery processes. The Project Area’s proximity to universities and research institutions provides a
competitive advantage. There is also potential to attract secondary industries that support larger medical facilities and hospitals located along Fair Oaks Ave., Foothill
Blvd., and Colorado Blvd.

Research and lab facilities are located in highly
specialized spaces. A select area within the Project could offer an inclusive, built to suit campus or multi-building environment near to Old Pasadena and/or the emerging
Arts and Innovation and HEART districts. Tailored office and lab space could be designed in tandem with mixeduse amenities, supporting growth and establishment of related spin-off companies. Depending on the
tenant, an estimated 500,000 SF up to 1 million SF of
IMAGE SOURCE: 2024 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN GUIDING PRINCIPLES 47 RECONNECTING PASADENA
space could be a realistic target. Recent capital market challenges and a change in Federal policy is suppressing tenant demand growth and will reduce new real estate
deliveries in 2026 and beyond, but the longer-term
supply and demand outlook suggests continued growth.

The focus on Deep Tech and Innovation also supports
broader Project Goals for economic vitality. The
bioscience industries can support STEM education and
a base of career-focused employment—notably, 67% of
the bioscience workforce do not have a 4-year degree.

As the Vision Plan moves into its future design and
entitlement phases standards and regulations could be
refined to better facilitate these types of spaces in the Pasadena codes. Already in 2023, the City of Pasadena
approved a series of code amendments aimed at
relaxing regulations that had impeded development of
research and development space.

Moderate Opportunity: Medical Office Uses
and Healthcare
There is a concentration of new medical office
developments in Pasadena, with four out of five
recent office projects focused on healthcare facilities.

Stakeholders noted some interest in larger facilities,
such as a Surgery Center. The Project Area’s proximity
to Huntington Hospital may enhance its potential for
medical office use in the long term, in addition to the attractiveness of activity nodes in Old Pasadena.

Moderate Opportunity: Hospitality, Dining
and Entertainment.

Old Pasadena has an enviable restaurant scene,
woth a variety of entertainment venues. The Project
Area can be designed to be complementary of these
existing businesses rather than competitive. Smaller
establishments within the Project Area can help extend
the character of Old Pasadena while focusing on smaller IMAGE SOURCE: DECEMBER 2023 RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ZONING CODE AMENDMENTS CITY COUNCIL PRESENTATION 48 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 2 | CONTEXT
spaces and vending opportunities, such as a Market Hall.

Additional entertainment should not be precluded as
a catalyst for the project, as it could enhance the city’s existing destination retail.

Both the upscale/luxury and midscale hotel submarkets have nearly reached pre-pandemic demand and occupancy levels, and both have surpassed prepandemic Average Daily Rates (ADRs), demonstrating a significant recovery in demand. The resurgence in hotel demand has been largely driven by leisure travel as
opposed to business travel.

Increasing hotel inventory may help alleviate some of the housing market pressure exerted by short-term rentals by potentially easing competition for residential properties.

The project could enable hospitality, and assume a 200- 300 room hotel within the Project Area, to meet strong
market indicators.

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH LOOKING NORTH FROM THE DITCH, WITH SR-134 AND I-210 FREEWAYS IN THE FOREGROUND. 49 RECONNECTING PASADENA

RESTORATIVE

JUSTICE
3 3.1 Creating a Restorative Justice
Framework
The following chapter defines Restorative Justice (RJ) and explores how these concepts might be applied as the Project Area transforms. Grounded in theory, local and national context, concepts of restorative justice help the community and its leaders examine and address the underlying conditions that harm marginalized groups.

During the Reconnecting Pasadena “Discovery”
phase the Consultant team undertook a literature
review characterizing the practices, interventions,
and approaches a restorative project would ideally
incorporate. The Consultant team canvased
contemporary definitions of restorative justice, especially for those projects aiming to reconnect neighborhoods
impacted by mid-century freeway construction. The
Consultant team presented this material alongside case
studies to the RC Advisory Group and at a city-wide
public meeting. These findings demonstrate that remedy, healing, restitution, and reform are core themes in
restorative justice planning; each theme emphasizing the needs of unfairly burdened communities.

In a multi-phase planning and redevelopment effort
such as what make take place in the 710 Project
Area, a restorative vision for the site can be enacted in partnership with the impacted community via formal
goals and adopted city policy. This approach ensures
that investments, benefits, and ultimately, the built
environment itself responds to past harms and reflects
a more inclusive future. Of note, Pasadena and its
communities were impacted by the construction of three
freeways, SR-134, I-210, and SR-710. For purposes of
the Vision Plan following statement developed by the
Reconnecting Communities Restorative Justice Standing
Committee (RJSC) defines Restorative Justice as relates to these activities.
“Restorative Justice is a dynamic process which takes
action to repair direct and indirect harms caused by the proposed construction of the 710 and the construction of the 210 freeways and their broader impact in Pasadena.

It will identify, publicly inform, officially acknowledge, respond to, and remedy these injustices through open
and responsive engagement with the disproportionately
impacted communities.

This will ensure the development of community-driven
solutions, including non-repetition of harm, integrated through the vision plan design elements for City Council’s consideration.”
Restorative Justice “Elements” described in this chapter were developed to operationalize these concepts.

Over several sessions, the Restorative Justice Standing Committee (RJSC) vetted, refined and coordinated
Elements in relation to emerging findings about the
SR-710 and I-210 history, displacement and freeway
construction (see call out box on the following page).

Broadly these Restorative Justice (RJ) Elements discuss:
• The need to acknowledge past wrongs and the
history related to the construction of the freeway.
• Process and Policy: how the 710 Vision Plan and
subsequent processes are conducted, including
various means to ensure community-driven,
equitable outcomes.
52 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 3 | RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
All RC Advisory Group Restorative
Justice Elements are found in Appendix
A. This comprises the Advisory Group’s
full proposal to City Council, including
recommendations for remuneration,
qualifying displacement criteria, and
future project governance. All Restorative
Justice Elements are subject to Council
adoption. The following section refers to,
and summarizes this document in the pink
text boxes.
• Future physical design: recommendations that define
preferred physical solutions for the Project Area, e.g. memorials, public spaces and other features.
• Future Programming: recommendations for
project uses and approaches, with a focus on
affordable housing, community-based programs
and targeted investments for impacted and/or
displaced communities.

3.1.1 THE HISTORY OF THE SR-710
The Vision Plan has been grounded in the history of
the SR-710 freeway construction and its ramificationsespecially on marginalized communities of color.

Information detailing what kind of place the Project
Area was before the freeway was here, how the freeway
route was selected, and who and what specifically was
displaced has been compiled and is now available
for review on the city’s website. Three reports and a
video documentary telling this story help acknowledge
past injustices. The three separate projects identify and memorialize various aspects of the community that
existed. The findings, collectively termed the “Historic Project,” underpin the basis for RC Advisory Group
recommendations and have influenced Project Area
design concepts.
• Historical Data/Setting, prepared by Architectural
Resources Group (July 2025)
• Impacts of Freeways and Other Mechanisms on
Segregation in Pasadena, prepared by the University
of California Los Angeles Institute of Transportation
Studies (May 2025)
• Oral History Project, including the Amplify
documentary and a report of findings titled 710
Reconnecting Communities Oral History Report,
prepared by Allegra Consulting (March 2025)
The Amplify Oral History Documentary and its
companion report personalize the legacy of mid-century
freeway building and urban renewal, giving voice to
anger over systemic racism, lack of trust in government leadership, and lost generational wealth. Derived
from one-on-one and group interviews reporting
https://www.cityofpasadena.
net/city-manager/wp-content/
uploads/sites/2/2025-06-18-
RJ-Allegra-Pasadena-Report.
pdf?v=1751846400045
Video Documentary: https://
vimeo.com/1071494727
53 RECONNECTING PASADENA

RESEARCH REPORT
Racial Segregation in Pasadena:

The Role of Freeway Development
and Institutional Mechanisms
May 2025
Historic Report on the 710 Displacement
Task 1: Historical Background and Data
Prepared for
City of Pasadena
City Manager’s Office
Prepared by
Architectural Resources Group
July 2025
Architecture
Planning
Conservation
710 RECONNECTING COMMUNITIES

ORAL HISTORY REPORT
ORAL HISTORIES, ALLEGRA CONSULTING March 26, 2025, Revised This report documents the experiences of residents, businesses, and institutions displaced or impacted by the SR-710 freeway construction during the late 1960s and 1970s and paints a picture through interviews and stories. Through both qualitative and quantitative data, the report pulls from 159 contacts/survey respondents, 49 displaced residents, and 42 displaced businesses. It includes 32 interviews and 14 videos, and a video documentary “Amplify.”
HISTORIC REPORT ON THE 710 DISPLACEMENT, ARG
This report documents the history of the SR-710 Freeway construction and its impacts. The report compiles available recorded information about residents and businesses specifically displaced by the freeway.

The list of property owners includes name, street or location, and the type of property acquisition used; name, address, and building type are included in the list of occupants. The report does not include detailed information on property values in the displacement area at the time properties were acquired by Caltrans or a discussion of any relocation assistance provided to area residents.

RACIAL SEGREGATION IN PASADENA, UCLA
UCLA’s study focuses on the historic and current patterns of racial/ ethnic residential segregation, examining the role of freeways and other mechanisms in shaping these outcomes. Using quantitative data, the report compares racial segregation in Pasadena with the rest of L.A. County and analyzes demographic changes in the neighborhoods containing I-210 and SR-710 before and after their construction. The study investigates institutional policies, practices, and projects that contributed to segregation, including housing discrimination. The findings offer insights to support Pasadena’s efforts to redress the historical impacts of freeway development.
54 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 3 | RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
shows how redlining, racial segregation, economic
and environmental harm tested the resilience of the
displaced. Consultant outreach, conducted from April
to July 2024, focused on displaced residents, their
descendants, others impacted by the construction of the freeway(s), and individuals with historical knowledge
of Pasadena.

Architectural Resources Group traces the nation’s history of road building, combined with urban development.

Archival research uncovers the specific transaction
process by which the Division of Highways (now the
California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans)
acquired property in the area. It also provides data
related to residents, businesses, and institutions
that were displaced. For purposes of this historic
documentation, the “study area” is shown on the map
on Page 62. The relinquishment area is shown in red
with a larger study area shown in black.

This information, as well as the findings of the UCLA
Center for Neighborhood Knowledge team leads to
the fundamental condition for the Restorative Justice
Framework. A summary of the RC Advisory Group
recommendation is shown in the call out below.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE (RJ) ELEMENT:

HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION
City of Pasadena recognizes the harm caused by
the construction of the SR-710 and, through the
Reconnecting Communities Planning project, is
working to recognize and address this harm.

RJ ELEMENT: HISTORIC ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The City should include a formal apology, and future
commissions and public art in dialogue with historic
material, ensuring lessons help create more just and
inclusive spaces. Additionally, the City should:
• Create a permanent programmable and
publicly accessible physical space reflective of
the community, that brings to life the cultural,
and physical aspects of the community that
existed before the construction of the SR-710,
and triggers reflection of cultural histories for
the future.
• Create and include an educational or performing
arts component, based on the history of the 710
Stub area, in the curriculum of local schools and/
or libraries.
55 RECONNECTING PASADENA
Restorative projects often define success through the
depth of community engagement, the inclusivity of
the decision-making process over time, as well as the
outcomes for priority populations. Project materials and decisions are transparent, and accessible; community
members have a clear understanding of how input is to
be incorporated.

Many contemporary planning tools and processes can
be tailored to address these concepts. During the current planning/visioning phase of the 710 redevelopment, the
RC Advisory Group has served as the formal mechanism
for community input.

The RC Advisory Group advises how this role might be
incorporated into future project phases. An Element
as proposed by the RC Advisory Group on Page 63
suggests the creation of a new community oversight body to ensure continuity of the project’s restorative vision.

Most importantly, the RC Advisory Group proposes that
this body of community stakeholders, the Restorative
Justice Community Oversight Committee (RJCOC) be
empowered with formal responsibility.

As envisioned by the RC Advisory Group, the RJCOC
would take on a defined set of duties to help with project implementation and on-going decision making. This
would enable the impacted community members the
ability to effectively contribute to design solutions, future developments, and provide a means to collaborate with
private/public sector delivery entities.
displacement map from Open house 2
intro/table consolidated/map with properties ORANGE GROVE BLVD.

ST. JOHN AVE.

ST. JOHN AVE.

PASADENA AVE. PASADENA AVE.

CALIFORNIA BLVD.

BELLEFONTAINE ST.

BARCLAY ALY
COLORADO BLVD.

GREEN ST.

UNION ST.

DEL MAR BLVD.

H
F
G
J
K
E
D
N
B
Relinquishment Area
Expanded Study Area
IMAGE SOURCE: ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES GROUP - FIGURE SHOWS BOTH “RELINQUISHED PROPERTY” IN CITY CONTROL AND A BROADER STUDY AREA.

3.2 Restorative Planning and Process Tools
56 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 3 | RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

SOURCE ARG

BUILDING TYPE

NUMBER OF

BUILDINGS IN

RELINQUISHMENT

NUMBER OF

BUILDINGS IN

BROADER STUDY AREA
Residential
Buildings 56 117
Units 64 168
Commercial 18 50
Institutional 6 10
Industrial 14 8
Total
Buildings (Known) 94 188

SOME OF THE BUILDINGS DEMOLISHED WITHIN THE BROADER STUDY AREA *LETTERS AS INDICATED ON FIGURE X. SOURCE ARG.

COMMERCIAL INSTITUTIONAL INDUSTRIAL
A Peerless Sheet Metal Works J First African Methodist
Episcopal Church N Orbon Lumber Company
B Bill’s Beech Inn Tavern K United Presbyterian Church O Northside Metal Products C Gerhart Ray Inc. Building
Contractors L
Neighborhood Church
of Pasadena/Sugar Tree
Nursery School
P Screw Machine Products
D Green Buck Restaurant M
Ambassador College
Circulation Annex, &
student dormitory
Q Croan Engineering Co. Plastic
Manufacturing
E Vroman’s California School
Book Depository R H.A. Jones Desert Stone
F Jack Wall Chevrolet
Dealership S Orth Mayflower Van & Storage
G Bill’s Coffee Shop &
Restaurant
H Lyons & Carnahan Publishers
57 RECONNECTING PASADENA
RJ ELEMENT | RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

COMMUNITY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE (RJCOC)
While decision-making power in Pasadena lies in
the hands of the City Council, it is important to
create open dialogue with impacted communities
in development of the 710 Stub area. This should
be a structured and inclusive process where
impacted community members are actively heard,
allowing them to share their experiences, express
concerns, and articulate their aspirations for their
community, even if the community isn’t a formal or
final decision-maker.

Working in close coordination with the Planning
Commission, the RJCOC should be integrated into
the process to help keep the project on track and
aligned with community expectations.

3.3 Restorative Outcomes and Delivery Strategies

interventions that will lead to more equitable outcomes.

The Elements describe providing for a range of
ownership opportunities across various income levels,
ensuring access to homeownership opportunities, the
creation of a community trust to fund wealth generation in the long term, and ensuring the city’s invest in ongoing data gathering around the needs of impacted and displaced community via surveys, databases
and registries.

As the full redevelopment of the 710 Project Area will be delivered over several decades, with many participants, RJ Elements address future delivery procedures—in
particular acknowledging that future agreements will be negotiated with various private/public entities, and the city must procure all services related to the project area redevelopment—from demolition, to new infrastructure
planning and construction to the tenanting of new
homes. Each of these activities presents an opportunity to infuse restorative justice concepts.

The following RJ Elements also describe equitable
outcomes from the completed project, ensuring that
site improvements and new buildings can contribute to
community health and well-being via urban greening,
sustainability enhancements and climate resilient
infrastructure. This is the basis of a planning framework that ensures all Pasadena residents can benefit from site development.
58 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 3 | RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
RJ ELEMENT | POLICY ADOPTION
Encouraging adoption and prioritization of measures
that prevent future harm caused by infrastructure or
other policies to impacting vulnerable communities
in Pasadena.

RJ ELEMENT | COMMUNITIES WEALTH

GENERATION THROUGH HOME &

BUSINESS OWNERSHIP
Outlining an inclusive approach to economic
development, including recommended mechanisms
for impacted or displaced communities to share in the
710-redevelopment project’s economic benefits.

RJ ELEMENT | HARD INFRASTRUCTURE
Delivering new regional and local infrastructure,
streets, bridges, active transportation, parks, water
and power infrastructure; including a focus on
improving connectivity with Pasadena’s historically
redlined Northwest neighborhoods.

RJ ELEMENT | AFFORDABLE HOUSING &

AFFORDABLE HOUSING REGISTRY
This Element focuses on lasting economic justice to
ensure future community members can own property,
build equity, and remain rooted in their place.

Home ownership is a vehicle for wealth generation.

Displaced community members (or their descendants)
should have access to priority home ownership
at various levels of affordability and/or business
ownership incubator programs. The RC Advisory
Group seeks to prioritize housing, with particular
attention to housing affordability, home and business
ownership opportunities. The RC Advisory Group
recommends the City explore means to achieve
25-35% of units built in the 710 Project Area to be
affordable, as well as the development of workforce
housing units.

A survey of Displaced Communities is also proposed
to optimize requirements for affordability levels, unit sizes and types.

RJ ELEMENT | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT
Working collaboratively and transparently with
community partners, undertake a local business
database and maintain a certified registry of
impacted community businesses owned by individuals
or families displaced by the construction of
the SR-710.

This Element also proposes further business
development support mechanisms such as access to
micro loans, hiring of impacted community members,
and co-ops.

RJ ELEMENT | WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Ensuring that impacted communities and those
who were harmed, even if they no longer reside in
Pasadena are included in future relevant training or
workforce development programs. Over the course
of the project, this might manifest in future delivery
phases with specialized programmatic offerings
related to the project construction and development,
workforce training and/or small business
development; e.g.
• Business interventions, training programs in
project management, compliance, and finance.
• Mentorship or joint venture partnerships between
large firms and small, local, disadvantaged
businesses Small Business/Workforce Investment
RJ ELEMENT | COMMUNITY BENEFITS PLANNING
Providing a framework for negotiation and provision
of specific and binding agreements that tie benefits
such as construction standards, equitable labor
practices, affordable housing, or shared public spaces
that can be delivered and maintained.
59 RECONNECTING PASADENA
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE APPLIED IN SR-710 REDEVELOPMENT
• Conduct on going
management, programing
and activation, educational
opportunities and
curriculum development
• Document site history,
past harm, and define
impacted and displaced
communities.
• Identify areas of focus
and develop Restorative
Justice Framework.
• Document goals,
commitments
and aspirations.
• Create recommendations
for health and wellness,
public realm, access, and
affordable housing.
• City Council
consideration of the
Vision Plan.
• Finalize streetscape,
sustainability and
public realm design
guidance and create the
regulatory framework for
preferred concept.
• Conduct architectural
and building design for
identified phases.
• Negotiate private sector
requirements to achieve
targets eg. community
benefits, affordable
units, sustainability,
and special uses and
programs according to
investment planning.
• City Leadership directs staff
to determine feasibility and,
as appropriate, provides
staffing, and resources and
funds studies and conducts
financial planning in support
of RJ recommendations.
• RJ is incorporated as
policy priority and targets
are refined.
• The City of Pasadena
initiates a public body to
review technical findings,
and support future
project phases.
• Agreements and
partnerships with the State
(Caltrans) and Region
(Metro) refine planning,
costs, and design strategies.
• Initiate construction for
public infrastructure, and
private projects in multiple
phases, beginning with
enabling projects

1. Concept
Planning

2. Feasibility
and Finance 3. Design

4. Construct 5. Operate
and Maintain
60 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 3 | RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
Glossary:
“Displaced Communities” is defined as people and
their descendants who were forced to move due to the
construction of the 710 and 210 freeways, (bounded
approximately by Northwest Arroyo/Woodbury to the
north, Mentone/Montana to the northeast, St. John
Avenue to the west, and Pasadena Avenue to California
Street on the east) or other institutional policies,
practices, and projects that contributed to segregation, including housing discrimination, redlining, and the
redevelopment of the central business district and
adjacent areas.
“Impacted Communities” is defined as people in
neighborhoods displaced by the construction of the
710 and 210 freeways or other institutional policies,
practices, and projects that contributed to segregation, including housing discrimination, redlining, and the
redevelopment of the central business district and
adjacent areas.

GREEN BUCK RESTAURANT STAFF; PHOTO CREDIT:

JUDY RISBY

CONGREGATION AT THE JAPANESE UNION PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ON KENSINGTON IN PASADENA. PHOTO SOURCE: PASADENA CITY COLLEGE 61 RECONNECTING PASADENA
The history of urban and suburban land use in the
twentieth century, including the creation of the nation’s freeway system, is fundamentally intertwined with thenprevailing ideas of race, class, and ethnicity. During the post-war period, freeway construction was one
of the driving forces in urban planning. As noted in
the Historic Project reports, decision-making related
to freeway construction in Pasaadena as well as in
many other places in the US privileged the voices and
neighborhoods of affluent White residents over working
class neighborhoods and communities of color. The
SR-710 Freeway construction, part of a wave of national infrastructure expansion, exposed and exacerbated
systematic racism in urban planning.

The history of change in the SR-710 Project Area also
exists within the broader context of Pasadena and Los
Angeles County growth. UCLA’s researchers found that
neighborhoods along the built and unbuilt freeway
corridor have grown increasingly segregated and
economically polarized. Their report shows that from
1960 to 1970, tracts affected by freeway construction
lost almost 1,800 units of housing (-28%), while the city overall and the tract, not directly impacted by freeway construction, experienced steady growth. Home values,
rents, and income generally fell north of SR-710 (I-210 adjacent) but rose around it and south of it.

In this way, Pasadena mirrored national trends in
housing discrimination. Restrictive covenants, codified in home deeds, left limited housing options for non-white
households, forcing communities of color into a few
neighborhoods. While the Supreme Court in Buchanan
v. Warley (1917) struck down the constitutionality of
such racial discriminatory practices, private actors would still use them, and by 1942 nearly 60% of Pasadena
properties had such restrictions. These practices
restricted housing options for displaced families, forcing some to relocate outside Pasadena. This often led to
the erosion of generational wealth as these families
struggled to attain homeownership in a biased real
estate market.

Historic reporting found that the SR-710/ I-210
interchange displaced an “active central business
district,” characterized as a diverse “walkable
work community” of businesses and residents. This
neighborhood was home to many thriving Black,
Mexican, and Japanese-owned and led institutions in
Pasadena, including Carrie McAdoo’s Grocery, the
Green Buck restaurant, the Bellefontaine Nursery, James Woods Mortuary, and the First AME Church.

Although many of the businesses relocated, the
construction of the SR-710 and the full I-210/SR134/SR-710 interchange fragmented a thriving community of color.

UCLA researchers also point to urban renewal projects
as vessels for disproportionate displacement of
communities of color under the guise of eliminating
urban blight. Specifically, they assert the City’s 1962 General Plan, and major developments such as
the Norton Simon Museum, Parsons headquarters,
Ambassador College, and Old Pasadena—contributed
to housing loss and displacement, with residents of color particularly affected near the SR-710 stub.

In the face of these barriers, residents of color
successfully organized protests and pursued legal
remedies. Restrictive covenants and redlining
became illegal in 1962. The Fair Housing Act was
adopted in 1968.

Site history in brief
62 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 3 | RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
HOME OWNER’S LOAN CORPORATION MAP SHOWING THE CITY OF PASADENA AND THE SR-710 NORTHERN STUB LOCATION.

SOURCE: HISTORIC REPORT ON THE 710 DISPLACEMENT FOR THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE - ALLEGRA CONSULTING In the 1930s the federal mortgage loan agency
created policies that deemed communities of color as
“hazardous” for mortgage lending purposes. Known
as redlining, for the color on the Homeowner’s Loan
Corporation (HOLC) maps, the practice systematically
undervalued properties and created barriers to
homeownership for non-white residents. In their report, UCLA researchers analyze a 1939 HOLC map of the
City of Pasadena that reveals “areas safeguarded
against residents of color were often graded more
favorably.” Researchers cross referenced this redlined
map to current home values, revealing a lasting impact
of Northwest Pasadena as a community with a greater
concentration of people of color and lower home values.

The City of Pasadena and many cities nationally also
deemed these same formerly redlined communities as
“blighted” to justify land clearance and redevelopment
in a process called “urban renewal.”
MAP SOURCE: UCLA
63 RECONNECTING PASADENA
PORTLAND, OR: LOWER ALBINA & I-5 LID
This Portland-based planning project comprises planning by Oregon Department of Transportation, the City
of Portland, Prosper Portland and others. The vision
for Lower Albine ties together a I-5 cover, and urban
development strategies for 94 acres to foster equitable outcomes, centered on restorative development.

Endorsed by city, state and federal actors in 2024,
Portland is moving to transform the land use, urban
design and access strategies including significant safety improvements, bike and pedestrian paths, local street
reconnection, and programmatic activation. Updated
land use and transportation strategies tie into on-going negotiations for redevelopment and reinvestment in the
lower Albina District.

In 2020, the Albina Vision Trust (AVT) 501c3 was
established to steward the project. AVT works with the
Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, Portland Bureau of Transportation, ODOT, and other private
developer stakeholders to establish, align, and leverage partnerships and investments that support the area’s
redevelopment vision. AVT has led a 3-year community
investment strategy building to frame negotiation and
transactions with the area’s public landowners.

SOURCE: CITY OF PORTLAND.- LOWER ALBINA TODAY

CASE STUDIES
Restorative Justice process, outcomes,
and tools applied in other jurisdictions
64 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 3 | RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
ST. PAUL, MN: RECONNECT RONDO
This project aims “to create Minnesota’s first African
American cultural enterprise district connected by a
community land bridge.” The project goal is to repair,
restore, and revitalize the Rondo neighborhood and
help address the racial disparity gaps in Minnesota.

The project emerges from the harms resulting from
construction of the I-94 freeway. Ultimately, the goal is to inclusively grow Rondo’s economic base and increase
the City’s revenues by $3.8–4.2 million annually.

The Rondo Roundtable is an independent group of 14
members including local businesses, neighborhood
leaders, and elders that have a strong commitment to
overseeing this project’s ultimate success and Rondo’s
community-led revitalization. The project aims to create 468-576 housing units in Rondo with a stated goal to
“Provide mechanisms to minimize barriers, and provide
financial incentives, to promote the production and
preservation of a diverse, safe, healthy, and affordable housing stock for residents to build wealth.”
STOCKTON, CA: DOWNTOWN

TRANSFORMATION PROJECT
“The one-two punch of redevelopment and the building
of the Crosstown Freeway destroyed hundreds of homes,
and displaced over a thousand people living in the Asian enclaves. Such losses were not just physical. Losing Little Manila, Chinatown, and Japantown meant an end for
community—shuttering gathering places such as stores,
cultural centers, and social clubs that had drawn people together from throughout the region.“ UCLA findings
included in the Transforming Stockton project.

In a shift away from past practices, Caltrans is providing program support to transform portions of the corridor
under the SR 4 Crosstown Freeway to help restore
the once vibrant cultural identity and community
and reconnect the community north and south of the
Crosstown Freeway. Planning within the context of
restorative justice has led to partnerships between the Agency, City and local CBOs like Little Manila Rising.
https://www.its.ucla.edu/portfolio-items/bulldozingasian-communities-storymap/ SOURCE: RECONNECT RONDO SOURCE: HTTPS://WWW.ITS.UCLA.EDU/PORTFOLIO-ITEMS/

BULLDOZING-ASIAN-COMMUNITIES-STORYMAP/
65 RECONNECTING PASADENA

4 PHYSICAL

RECONNECTION
The relinquishment of approximately 50 acres to the City of Pasadena provides an opportunity to transform a single purpose mobility solution (the freeway stub) into a 21st century model of integrated transportation; enhancing community connectivity, multi-modal access and advancing California’s climate change objectives.

Fundamental to achieving physical reconnection will be
the modification or removal of the existing regionalto-regional freeway connections while re-building a livable and walkable neighborhood. Residents near the
Project Area, and those who use the connector frequently, while often conceptually supportive of the closure of the SR-710, are concerned about access to surrounding
land uses and the potential for traffic to spill over into surrounding neighborhoods. Over the course of this
process, public comment has focused on concerns
around how the SR-710 connector’s transformation
might impact adjacent streets, when this might happen,
and how local mobility, and the operations of remaining nearby freeway on-and-off ramps will change.

It is important to point out that the SR-710 Stub was not constructed just as a “stub” highway facility where a
freeway simply dead-ended. Rather, the interchange of
I-210/SR-134/SR-710 was fully built as a complete fourlegged interchange with its fourth (southern) leg being the mainline of the SR-710 freeway (See Figure 4.1). The interchange was built with all eight freeway to freeway direct system connector ramps. These included the two
ramps to/from the I-210 (on the east) and the two ramps to/from SR-134 (on the west) all of which connected
to/from the SR-710’s freeway mainline. This mainline
only extended roughly two-thirds of a mile beyond the
interchange, terminating just south of Del Mar Boulevard, with ramps connecting to/from California Boulevard.

In addition, Pasadena Avenue and St. John Avenue were
fully built as one way couplets to function as frontage roads for the planned SR-710 Freeway, mirroring
the role of their respective extensions. Corson Street
and Maple Street serve as frontage roads for I-210
freeway east of the interchange. These frontage roads
were intended to provide local land use access and
connections to the freeway via on and off ramps.

Once the SR-710 mainline stub is removed, the four
direct connector ramps and the one way frontage
road configuration—part of the freeway system—will
no longer be needed. An overarching objective for
the Project is to envision a “right sized,” and complete multimodal circulation network that supports future
mobility. In essence, the long-term vision is to establish a three legged interchange supported by a local street
system capable of serving both regional travel and
the planned development. To achieve this vision, the
following steps are required:
• Repurpose the freeway-to-freeway connector ramps
to and from the SR-710 mainline stub with freewayto-local/local-to-freeway connections. • Modify the existing local roadway network and
develop new local roadways through the area to
support the planned development.
• Reconnect these roadways to the local network in
Pasadena and the regional system.

4.1 Transportation Opportunities
68 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
This Transportation Chapter clarifies how to complete
these three steps at a conceptual level answering:
• What are the best means to reconfigure the stub
to act as a terminus with suitable and adequate
local connections?
• Where are the optimal points to terminate/originate
modified off/on ramps to create a new local
interchange access area and enable supporting
surface street connections?
• How can the project accommodate existing traffic
redistribution, while maintaining access and
connectivity to existing destinations, including the
Huntington Memorial Hospital?
• How can the project reestablish and reconnect the
urban fabric with a more diverse palette of “ways”
that promote mobility for all?
• What levers are available to improve safety,
reduce vehicles miles traveled (VMT) and
ensure that the City of Pasadena can design a
walkable environment?
• If the couplet of St. John and Pasadena Avenue
no longer act as freeway frontage roads and
thoroughfares, how sequentially can the City of
Pasadena modify the network?
The Plan’s transportation goals listed in Section 4.3. will help the City plan both for local mobility, creating a
robust, walkable and resilient circulation network, while appreciating the broader changes to regional traffic
patterns over time.

Throughout the project’s implementation, a close
working partnership with Caltrans, the Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro),
and the Southern California Association of Governments
(SCAG) will be essential.

FIGURE 4.1: TYPE F-1 INTERCHANGE, TRANSFORMING TO A
VARIATION OF THE TYPE F-5 INTERCHANGE IN THE FUTURE
WITH A NEW TERMINATION.
69 RECONNECTING PASADENA
FIGURE 4.2: CURRENT STREET NETWORK AND STREET CLASSIFICATIONS Freeway to Freeway (Regional)
Impacted Arterial/Local Streets
Signature Streets (Colorado Blvd.)
Local One-Way Couplet
Local Complete Streets
N
Colorado Blvd.

St. John Ave.

Orange Grove Blvd.

Maple St.

Corson St.

Pasadena Ave.Fair Oaks Ave.Raymond Ave.

Union St.

Green St.

Del Mar Blvd.

W. Bellevue Dr.

Valley St.

California Blvd.

Holly St.

Walnut St.

Marengo Ave.
70 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT

4.2 What is here today?
East-west traffic volumes through the Project Area are
substantially lower than the north-south volumes, both
because the Arroyo Seco forms a natural barrier west
of Orange Grove Boulevard and because SR-134 and
I-210 provide primary east-west regional connectivity.

Today there are five east-west connections within the
Project Site, including bridges at Walnut Street, Union Street, Colorado Boulevard, Green Street, and Del
Mar Boulevard. California Blvd at the south end of the
Project acts as a primary east-west connector in the City.

Much of the existing east-west traffic across the stub is concentrated on Walnut Street, Colorado Boulevard, and
Del Mar Boulevard. These wide streets provide multiple
travel lanes and dedicated turn lanes that facilitate
access to the 710 Stub from Walnut, Colorado Boulevard
and Del Mar Boulevard freeway ramps.

In contrast to north-south traffic traveling through, most east-west traffic through the Project has an origin or
destination in Pasadena. Union Street and Green Street
effectively provide one-way couplets, as Union Street is a westbound-only street and Green Street, east of the stub, is an eastbound-only street.

The series of existing roadway bridges across the Project Area vary in width and utility. These are summarized in Table 4.1. The Walnut Street bridge, at approximately
80 feet wide, provides five lanes and sidewalks. The
Colorado Boulevard bridge provides five lanes and
sidewalks; however with wide lanes and on-street
parking, its 110 SF cross-section is not friendly for
pedestrians. The Del Mar Boulevard bridge is also
wider than it needs to be for the travel lanes it provides.

None of the bridges crossing the Project Area provide
bicycle lanes.

There are notable gaps in east-west connectivity of
approximately 1,300 feet between Green Street and
Del Mar Boulevard and over 1,700 feet between Del
Mar Boulevard and California Boulevard. These long
gaps affect the accessibility of the existing street network which results in longer trips, thus higher Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT).

FIGURE 4.3: LANES AND TRIP AVERAGES ON EXISTING PROJECT AREA EAST- WEST TRAVELING STREETS 71 RECONNECTING PASADENA
FIGURE 4.4: RELATIVE NORTH SOUTH VS. EAST WEST TRAFFIC DISTRIBUTION.

THIS GRAPHIC SHOWS THE EAST-WEST STREETS IN THE STUDY AREA.

AT A HIGH LEVEL THE COMBINED MOVEMENT ON ALL FIVE STREETS LISTED NORTHBOUND/ SOUTHBOUND ABOVE IS ESTIMATED AT 27,000 VEHICLES DURING THE COMBINED AM AND PM PEAK HOUR. THERE IS ABOUT HALF THIS AMOUNT OR 12,000 VEHICLES EAST/WEST BOUND DURING THE COMBINED AM AND PM PEAK HOUR ON ALL SEVEN STREETS. THIS INFORMATION IS SOURCED FROM THE SR-710 NORTHERN STUB REPURPOSING TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT.

NORTH/SOUTH TRAFFIC ON ALL STREETS ABOVE

EAST/WEST TRAFFIC ON ALL STREETS ABOVE
Between Green Street and Del
Mar Boulevard, there are major
destinations along St. John Avenue,
including apartment buildings,
the Ambassador Auditorium, and
Maranatha High School. Vehicular
traffic from the east side of the stub
must use Green Street or a street
further north to get to St. John
Avenue to access these destinations
and must use Del Mar Boulevard to
return to the east side of the stub,
resulting in concentrated traffic flows
at peak times.

Pedestrian or bicycle traffic to/from
those destinations is discouraged by
the potentially long detours to reach
the existing stub crossing points at
Green Street or Del Mar Boulevard,
which can add several minutes to
a trip and tilt the mode decision in
favor of automobiles.

Streets around the Project Area are
designed to accommodate faster
moving cars. This means streets are
designed to the “automobile scale,”
with less activity or amenities for
pedestrians such as wider sidewalks,
landscape or shade trees. The speed
limit on streets within the study
area ranges between 25–35mph.

However, people drive noticeably
faster than the limit on Pasadena
and St John Avenues.

California Blvd.

Bellefontaine St.

Colorado Blvd.

Green St.

Union St.

Walnut St.

I-210
SR-134
Del Mar Blvd.
12,000 trips AM/PM peak St. John Ave. 710 Stub Pasadena Ave. 27,000 trips
AM/PM peak
Orange Grove Blvd.Fair Oaks Ave.

N
72 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
TABLE 4.1: CHARACTERISTICS OF EAST-WEST STREETS IN THE STUDY AREA

STREET CONNECTS
ACROSS STUB LANES [A] ROAD
WIDTH [A]

BRIDGE/ROW
WIDTH [A] PARKING [A]
Walnut Street Yes 2 WB, 2 EB,
turn lane 62 feet 80 feet - -
Holly Street No 1 WB, 2 EB 46 feet 68 feet - WB bike lanes Union Street Yes 2 WB 38 feet 56 feet WB
only, metered -
Colorado Boulevard Yes 2 WB, 2 EB,
turn lane 86 feet 108 feet both ways, metered
lanes wider
than needed
Green Street Yes 1 WB, 2 EB 44 feet 64 feet WB
only, metered -
Dayton Street No 1 WB, 1 EB 34 feet 54 feet both
ways, metered -
Central Court Paseo No Pedestrian
Only 20 feet - - -
Valley Street No 1 WB, 1 EB 34 feet 54 feet both
ways, metered -
Orange Place No Pedestrian
Only 20 feet - - -
Del Mar Boulevard Yes 1 WB, 2 EB
2 turn lanes 80 feet 100 feet - "Add'l WB lanestriped out" Waverly Drive No 1 WB, 1 EB 34 feet 60 feet both ways - Bellevue Drive No 1 WB, 1 EB 30 feet 60 feet both ways - Palmetto Drive No 1 WB, 1 EB 30 feet 60 feet both ways - California Boulevard Yes 2 WB, 2 EB,
turn lane 56 feet 72 feet - -
Notes:

ROW = right-of-way; WB = westbound; EB = eastbound. All road, bridge, and right-of-way measurements are approximations. [a] For streets with connections across the stub, this is evaluated on the bridge or connection. For those without, it is evaluated just east of Pasadena Avenue.
73 RECONNECTING PASADENA

4.2.1 WALK AND BIKE SHED

CHARACTERISTICS
The Project Area’s walk and bike sheds are .5 mile or a ten minute walk (Walk Shed) to a 3 mile or 15 minute
biking distance (Bike Shed) shown at right. Walk and
Bike sheds provide information on the demographic,
and socioeconomic characteristics of those living near
and traveling near to the Project Area. This information is gathered from Pasadena’s Pedestrian Action Plan,
revised in 20242 which shows the strong potential to
improve walking, biking and transit alternatives.

Socioeconomic Character: Walk- and bikesheds encompass both the wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods in Pasadena. There are larger
concentrations of populations below the poverty line to the northeast. These populations are more likely to rely on walking, biking, and transit for their daily needs.

Population Density: There are 10,000 residents in a
15-minute (1 mile) walkshed and 100,000 residents
within a 15-minute (3 mile) bicycle or micromobility
shed. This density is not evenly distributed.

Neighborhoods to the east of the study area site are
generally denser.

Seniors and Children: Transit-dependent age groups
vary from 30-50% across census tracts in walk- and
bike-shed. Although this percentage is in line with the national average, it is relatively high for an urban area, which tends to have a greater proportion of working age adults. There are more children in the northeast part of the study area whereas with more seniors in the west.

Population with Disability: Approximately 10% of the
population within the walk and bike shed live with a
disability, the same as the national average.
2 https://www.cityofpasadena.net/transportation/transportation-improvements/transaportation-safety-improvements-pasadena-pedestrian-transportation-action-plan-revised-2024-2/ FIGURE 4.5: EXISTING 10-MINUTE WALKSHED HAS A HIGH PEDESTRIAN AND TRANSIT TRIP POTENTIAL. MAP SOURCE: PASADENA PEDESTRIAN

ACTION PLAN SHOWING TRIP POTENTIAL
FIGURE 4.6: EXISTING 15-MINUTE BIKESHED SHOWS HIGH POPULATION AREAS WITH HIGH PEDESTRIAN AND TRANSIT TRIP POTENTIAL.

MAP SOURCE: PASADENA PEDESTRIAN ACTION PLAN SHOWING

TRIP POTENTIAL
74 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT

1. Build Infrastructure To Reconnect
• Redesign bounding streets, especially Pasadena
Avenue to slow traffic and provide crossings at
comfortable walking distances - Complete Streets.
• Coordinate with Pasadena Measure R MIP1 near
term projects for pedestrian crossings, bicycle lanes,
intersection redesigns, and signalization adjacent to
the Project Area.
• Enable east-west “paseos” that cross the Project
Area. These links can be car-free while supporting
fire and life safety.
• Plan for a minimum of two additional vehicular links
across from east-to-west, with one connection north
of Del Mar Boulevard and one connection to the
south of Del Mar Boulevard.
• Connect to Pasadena’s Northwest neighborhoods
with new or redesigned infrastructure and/or transit
and transportation alternatives.

2. Right-size Regional to Local connections
In coordination with Caltrans, identify and address
where regional infrastructure can be adjusted and
optimized. Focus on shifting regional-to-regional,
and regional-to-local connections to local-to-local
connections, while maintaining adequate capacity,
and ensuring regional through travel stays at or below
today’s condition. Ensure connections to Huntington
Memorial Hospital are adequately maintained.

3. Reduce Regional Throughput
Reduce regional cut-through traffic from today’s
travel patterns, estimated at ~50% of existing northsouth travel. Apply comprehensive actions to mitigate congestion particularly at nearby exits at Orange Grove Boulevard, Fair Oaks Avenue and Marengo Ave.
1 Measure R MIP in Pasadena refers to Mobility Improvement Projects (MIP) funded by L.A. County’s voter-approved Measure R sales tax, supporting local transportation upgrades like safer bike/pedestrian paths, better sidewalks, and improved traffic signals.

4. Design for Safety
With safety as the primary design standard, prioritize
improvements to existing local streets that enable future stub redevelopment. Build on the City’s Street Design
Guide to create a circulation network with safe speeds, increase comfort and lower the risk of collision.

5. Enable Future Transit
Enable future transit and innovative transportation
opportunities. Explore a mobility hub (connecting
various regional transit/mobility services to local areas including Northwest Pasadena), and implement a active
transportation network, transit circulator system and
transit and micro-transit connectors.

6. Be Flexible
Assume the circulation network will be multi-year and
multi-phase. Provide a robust, outcome driven vision
to guide negotiations with State and Regional partners.

Develop and adapt the network to the emerging land
use, project delivery, and phasing plan.

7. Use Local Circulation Network To Create Place
Design a multi-modal circulation network to prioritize
walkable, human-scaled environments to enhance
social cohesion, and encourage people to participate in public life. Create a transportation and land use vision to enable residents to walk to parks, shops, schools,
and transit.

8. Commit to a Project-driven Trip Reduction Goal
Commit to a trip reduction goal of 30% for commercial/
employment uses and 35% for residential uses from
baseline. Apply a range of integrated land use, design
and transportation demand management strategies to
reduce project-driven trips and encourage mode shift.

4.3 Transportation Goals
75 RECONNECTING PASADENA
FIGURE 4.7: ONE OF THE OPTIONS FOR A STREET NETWORK AND STREET CLASSIFICATIONS, SHOWING A SHIFT TOWARDS MORE LOCAL CONNECTIONS. THIS FIGURE SHOWS THE “BOULEVARD AND PASEOS” CIRCULATION NETWORK FOR PURPOSES OF ILLUSTRATION. THE DIAGRAM REMOVES THE REGIONAL LINKS AND REPLACES THEM WITH THREE SURFACE LEVEL STREETS (SHOWN IN GREEN).

Freeway to Freeway (Regional)
Impacted Arterial/Local Streets
Signature Streets (Colorado Blvd.)
Local One-Way Couplet
Local Complete Streets
N
Colorado Blvd.

St. John Ave.

Orange Grove Blvd.

Maple St.

Corson St.

Pasadena Ave.Fair Oaks Ave.Raymond Ave.

Union St.

Green St.

Del Mar Blvd.

W. Bellevue Dr.

Valley St.

California Blvd.

Holly St.

Walnut St.

Marengo Ave.
76 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
The Consultant team developed a series of conceptual
street networks to explore how to achieve Transportation Goals. To develop the roadway networks, the team
began with the Relinquishment Feasibility Assessment3
and applied best practices using professional
judgment in transportation planning, urban design
and engineering, along with knowledge of local and
regional conditions. Conceptual roadway networks begin
by disconnecting the area from the regional freeway
system and progressively add means to control regional
traffic flow via a full intersection, roundabout, and/or roadway re-configuration (See Figures 4.8-4.11). For
example, prior to relinquishment and under Caltrans
operation protocols, Pasadena and St. John Avenues
were designed and operated as freeway frontage roads.

This Vision Plan analysis compared existing one-way
operation to that of returning these rights of way to
two-way operation (the same operating context of most
of the surrounding neighborhood streets and arterials)
but, with the express objective of “complete streets” that provided for multi-modal operation, enhanced safety,
slower speeds.

The consultant team built seven high level transportation modeling scenarios from these frameworks. Modeling
variations explore
• Relative effectiveness of arterial network
configurations What is minimum number of lanes
traveling north to south, or east-west needed
for capacity?
• How can the Project Area connect into the regional
freeway system variously from I-210/SR-134
(no connections, full intersection, roundabout,
selected ramps, etc.) Which of these connections
is acceptable to meet safety objectives, and
Caltrans requirements?
• Means to connect regional travelers into the
interchange variously: north of Walnut, at Holly,
at Union, at street level or lower level to maintain
traffic safety.
3 See: https://www.cityofpasadena.net/transportation/
wp-content/uploads/sites/20/SR-710-N-Stub-Repurposing-Technical-Feasibility-Assessment.pdf

4.4 Conceptual Roadway Networks
FIGURE 4.9 REFINEMENT TO RELINQUISHMENT FEASIBILITY
ASSESSMENT (SCENARIO 2).

FIGURE 4.8 “DISCONNECT”. NO CONNECTION TO REGIONAL NETWORK

EXISTING

INFRASTRUCTURE

NEW REGIONAL

INFRASTRUCTURE
77 RECONNECTING PASADENA
• Number of recommended locations for future eastwest vehicular crossings • Number of lanes and preliminary dimensions of
local streets.

Transportation Modeling Scenarios
1 2025 Existing Conditions: This scenario is essentially the existing condition. It looks at the current City Traffic Model in the General Plan and assumes No Project.
2 2035 No Build (Future Base Case): This scenario
provides information on the Project Area assuming
Pasadena’s General Plan land use build out and with the existing freeway network.
3 2035 Disconnect No Project (all ramps removed)
with Project (Fig 4.8) This scenario assumes all ramp
connections between the stub and other three legs of the interchange including SR-134 (west) and I-210 (east and north) are eliminated from the network. This scenario tells us which areas would be impacted even if no land uses
were added.
4 2035 Disconnect With Project (all ramps removed)
This is the same “Disconnected” scenario except it
includes the full development of land uses in the 710
Project Area.
5 2035 Gardens and Terraces (Network) (Fig 4.10,

4.11) Various one-way and two-way connections between
I-210 and St John Avenue and Pasadena Avenue were
tested. This option does not have direct new connections to/from SR-134 and I-210 to the east.
6 2035 Boulevards & Paseos (Network) (Fig 4.11, 4.12)
This scenario incorporates a roundabout north of SR-134 and direct ramp connections to/from all three remaining legs of the interchange.
7 2035 Boulevards & Paseos with TDM (Fig 4.11,

4.12) This scenario tested reduced demand due to the
application of Transportation Demand Management
measures.

The following describes the two roadway networks used
the modeling scenarios and their assumptions.

4.4.1 GARDENS AND TERRACES
This roadway network explored a connection into the
Project Area south of Union Street. There is no Holly
Street extension assumed, and limited change to Maple
Street Overpass. North-to-south movement is bidirectional on St. John Avenue and Pasadena Avenue, and vehicular traffic is controlled and slowed. This
scenario assumes:

1. New measures to slow traffic entering the Project
Area with a new two-way intersection just south of
Walnut St. This assumes traffic moving south bound
from the I-210 to either St. John or Pasadena Avenue
is slowed and may travel on either street to the south, a similar decision is enabled moving to the I-210 NB.

No pedestrians will be allowed at this intersection; the northern interface with the I-210 rises to street level after Walnut Street.

2. Assumes the conversion of St. John Avenue
and Pasadena Avenue to two-way streets, with
slower, controlled traffic movement, stop signs,
signals, and bicycle lanes. Mid-block crossings are
FIGURE 4.10: A FULL INTERSECTION, GARDENS AND TERRACES

SIMPLE DIAGRAM

EXISTING

INFRASTRUCTURE

NEW REGIONAL

INFRASTRUCTURE

NEW LOCAL

INFRASTRUCTURE

IMPROVED

INFRASTRUCTURE

NEW SIGNALIZED

INTERSECTION
78 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
Colorado Blvd.

St. John Ave.

Maple St.

Pasadena Ave.

Union St.

Green St.

Del Mar Blvd.

W. Bellevue Dr.

Valley St.

Holly St.

Walnut St.

St. John Ave.

FIGURE 4.11: GARDENS AND TERRACES CIRCULATION FRAMEWORK

FREEWAY TO FREEWAY

FREEWAY TO LOCAL STREETS

LOCAL COMPLETE STREETS

RELINQUISHMENT AREA

NEW INTERSECTION

EXISTING INTERSECTION

NEW STREET

NEW BIKE/PEDESTRIAN CONNECTION
79 RECONNECTING PASADENA
added as paseos. A cycle track is located along
Pasadena Avenue.

3. Includes a new east-west connecting vehicular
roadway at Valley Street. For purposes of evaluation,
this option does not include a new east-west
connection at Bellevue Street.

4. Assumes a car-free, walking and cycling link,
oriented in a north-south direction, at the center of the site from Union Street to Del Mar Avenue.

5. Assumes all existing bridges within the study area
are adapted and narrowed as necessary to interface
with proposed land uses but would essentially be
maintained as bridges (not rebuilt as streets).

6. The connection from the Stub to SR-134 is removed.

The Pasadena Avenue on ramps (north and south of
Del Mar Boulevard) are closed, and the existing Del
Mar bridge can be rebuilt with a 60’ right-of-way.

4.4.2 BOULEVARDS AND PASEOS
This roadway network assumes interventions can
be made north of Union Street, outside of the
relinquishment boundary. Assumptions of the Boulevards
and Paseos roadway network:

1. A roundabout is constructed to provide local
interchange access and smooth traffic flow into and out of the area from I-210 SB and enable entrance to the
stub at Holly Street. The roundabout location is located north of the interchange at the existing freeway grade
level, offering visual and physical cues to slow speeds.

The roundabout is assumed to include 4-lanes with
6-connecting links. The preliminary roundabout design,
from Caltrans’ best practice guidance, is vehicular only, with no pedestrian access. The approach to street level begins after Walnut Street.

2. St. John and Pasadena Avenues are converted to
two-way streets. Adding a new multimodal boulevard
enables St. John Avenue to be designed for reduced
traffic/local access only. New intersections on both
Pasadena and St. John Avenues are added as necessary,
including mid-block crossings at Paseos.

3. The new multimodal two-way boulevard could
accommodate a new local transit route. It is assumed
at 1-lane in each direction, with parking. The traffic
flow could be managed to provide added capacity in
peak hours by precluding on-street parking during these hours. A 2-way bicycle track could be incorporated.

4. Valley Street and Bellevue Drive are new east-to-west vehicular connections with traffic control. Holly Street Extension is included.

6. Maple Street connects into a calmed St. John
Boulevard and can be redesigned to improve cycling
and walking access to the study area.

7. There is an opportunity to connect to the study area from SR-134 EB at Holly Street. The existing SR-134 EB
could be designed to enter as a transit-only route to a lower-level “mobility facility.”

9. The Del Mar Boulevard on ramps are closed and Del
Mar is rebuilt with a 60' right of way.

FIGURE 4.12: “BOULEVARD AND PASEOS”

EXISTING

INFRASTRUCTURE

NEW REGIONAL

INFRASTRUCTURE

NEW LOCAL

INFRASTRUCTURE

IMPROVED

INFRASTRUCTURE

NEW SIGNALIZED

INTERSECTION

PROPOSED

MOBILITY HUB
80 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
FIGURE 4.13: BOULEVARD AND PASEOS CIRCULATION FRAMEWORK INCLUDES A ROUNDABOUT CONNECTION NORTH OF WALNUT STREET AND A NEW NORTH TO SOUTH STREET TO CONNECT THROUGH THE SITE. THIS NEW BOULEVARD CONNECTS THROUGH TO THE SOUTH, WHILE ST. JOHN AVENUE TERMINATES AT DEL MAR BOULEVARD IN A T INTERSECTION (SIMILAR TO CURRENT CONDITIONS).

Colorado Blvd.

St. John Ave.

Boulevard
Maple St.

Pasadena Ave.

Union St.

Green St.

Del Mar Blvd.

W. Bellevue Dr.

Valley St.

Holly St.

Walnut St.

FREEWAY TO FREEWAY

FREEWAY TO LOCAL STREETS

LOCAL COMPLETE STREETS

RELINQUISHMENT AREA

NEW INTERSECTION

EXISTING INTERSECTION

NEW STREET

NEW BIKE/PEDESTRIAN CONNECTION
81 RECONNECTING PASADENA

4.4.3 MOBILITY HUB OPPORTUNITY
In coordination with the Caltrans District 7/City of
Pasadena Mobility Working Group, the project team
identified an opportunity for a “mobility hub” at/or
beyond the northern end of the relinquishment area
between Walnut and Union Streets, designated as a
potential “gateway.”
There is a robust basis in policy and, most importantly, in the existing and planned multi-modal transportation
options available and connectivity to both regional
and local destinations that make a mobility hub at this location an opportunity to provide people with more
access and mobility choices, thus reducing singleoccupant motor vehicle traffic., and additionally, a generally positive public response in has emerged in
support of a well-designed and activated mobility hub
in this location. And finally, this feature would also
support the underlying “transportation purpose” of the
710 relinquishment.

For purposes of evaluation, a “mobility hub” has
been assumed in the “Boulevard and Paseos”
roadway network.

The Gardens and Terraces scenario could also host
a mobility hub, provided it is located south of Union
Street and may be more moderate in scale and service
provision. In both cases, the mobility hub offers a means to address the core issues around the interface between the regional and local circulation and helps both slow
and most importantly, convert regional movement to
local movement.

See more discussion on the Mobility Hub in
Section 4.6.3.

4.4.5 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
A transportation evaluation assessed high-level metrics for a) corridor volumes using screenlines, and b)
vehicle-miles of travel (VMT). A comparison between
the seven scenarios listed on Page _ was conducted
in a refined Travel Demand Model maintained by the
City of Pasadena given regional and local growth in
LA County to 2035. The Vision Plan does not include

4. Variation in land use assumptions between Gardens and Terraces and Boulevard and Paseos scenarios primarily result from the total amount of space dedicated to building area; e.g. Boulevards and Paseos has less land area dedicated to the street network. See Chapter 5 Page _ for more detail.
detailed transportation findings, such as Intersection
Level of Service (LOS) analysis, or CEQA level traffic
analysis. These would be completed in subsequent
phases of work. Land use program capacity referenced
in the transportation models were generalized and noted as follows:4
Boulevard and Paseos Land Use Assumptions-
• 1.9 million square feet Residential
• 1.3 million square feet Commercial
Gardens and Terraces Land Use Assumptions
• 2.1 million square feet Residential
• 1.4 million Square feet Commercial
Tests on these roadway networks highlight characteristics that have the greatest influence on “project generated” traffic including:
• How traffic may be redistributed in the area,
• Possible trip reduction strategies for both projectgenerated trips, and regional through trips, • Which of the conceptual circulation networks
provides optimal balance between the new
neighborhoods, the City and regional traffic.

The following elements are foundational to an
optimal multimodal circulation system and should
be incorporated during the future planning and
design phases:

Avoid a north-south one-way couplet. As discussed
in earlier sections, Pasadena Avenue and St. John
Avenue in their current one-way couplet configuration
are not compatible with the optimal roadway network
that will serve the Project Area. As two-way roadways,
both streets will function more compatibly as complete
streets to serve the future development and connect with Pasadena’s remaining street network.

Create a new full local interchange to the north of
the relinquishment. A full local interchange, such
as a roundabout interchange, is essential to provide
complete and efficient access between the future 50‑acre 82 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
development area and the regional freeway system. This
new interchange would accomplish the following:
• Prevent project‑generated roadway traffic from
overloading nearby streets and adjacent interchanges,
including Colorado/Orange Grove and Fair Oaks,
by giving drivers a direct and appropriate point of
freeway access.
• Offer a more balanced and safer connection for
longstanding regional vehicular through‑traffic traveling north, east, and west, which is expected to continue using the area’s “right‑sized” street network.

By accommodating these movements at a dedicated
interchange, regional vehicular through‑traffic is less likely to divert onto and overburden Pasadena’s other
interchanges and arterial streets.

Accommodate capacity with adequate lanes traveling
north-south. It is important to provide no less than three continuous north–south roadways that are appropriately
sized and well designed. These corridors (e.g. Pasadena, St. John and another boulevard) should be capable of
accommodating projected traffic while also incorporating multimodal complete‑streets features which will support travel by car, transit, bicycle, and pedestrians.

Include new east-west connections. Three properly sized additional east-west connecting streets (i.e. Holly Street, Valley Street and Bellevue Drive) may be necessary to
provide adequate multimodal access to future developments and connections to adjacent areas in Pasadena. Of these, Holly Street will offer a potential multimodal connection between City Hall, the Metro A Line Memorial Park Station and the west side.

Plan for transit and travel demand management. The
travel demand analysis indicates that once the stub and unnecessary ramps are repurposed, and the roadway
network is properly reconnected, the corridor can operate at manageable traffic levels in the long term—comparable to today’s traffic volumes—even with the additional trips generated by the project’s proposed land use development.

Achieving this outcome, however, depends on meeting
trip‑reduction targets assumed in the analysis and
described in Section 4.5. The next phases of planning
FIG 4.14 SCREEN LINE TESTS (ABOVE) The project team
conducted three screenline tests to understand traffic
volumes extracted along the Transportation model for
street segments. When considering traffic volumes at the screenline level, the combination of the proposed network alternatives plus the project land uses generate traffic forecasts that do not substantially increase traffic in the project area.

Findings showed that all “With Project” scenarios generate slightly more east-west traffic serving local neighborhoods within the City Pasadena and substantially less north-south traffic compared to 2035 No Build scenario. From this analysis the consultant team can assume there will likely be less north-south through traffic traveling to the City of South Pasadena (and beyond) in the “With Project” alternatives.

See Appendix C for more information.
must include proactive, practical strategies such as
high‑quality transit interconnectivity (new routes,
stations, and links to existing and planned regional
transit), development of a regional mobility hub,
and strong policies to implement and monitor
travel‑demand‑management measures for the
new development.

The “screenline”
estimates all
traffic passing
through the line
Del Mar screenline
north/south traffic
east/west trafficPasadena Ave screenline
east/west traffic Raymond screenline
83 RECONNECTING PASADENA
It is possible to lessen future project-driven trip
generation and vehicular miles traveled (VMT) using
strategies that intentionally mix land uses, with
intentional form, street and block design. Taken together, these strategies could help the future project meet a trip reduction target of 30% for commercial/employment
uses and 35% for residential uses from baseline.
(For more information on this Goal see Appendix C.)
This project trip reduction goal would be used over
time to ensure transportation and land use decisions
happen in tandem, inform decision-making around
parking locations and amounts, and put in place various incentives to offset projected trips. The city can evaluate the performance of the system at each phase and adjust
as necessary, prior to proceeding with the next phase of development. Detailed assessment of these strategies
will depend on the nature of the future occupants, not
known at this time, and who may change throughout the
project’s lifespan. The Boulevards and Paseos circulation network already exhibits many design characteristics
supportive of lower-vehicular miles traveled (VMT)
outcomes.

4.5.1 INTEGRATING LAND USE AND

TRANSPORTATION
The following strategies are organized following
the “6Ds of Transit-Oriented Development;” a wellresearched framework describing how the built environment influences an individual’s transportation
choice. Together, they create a mutually reinforcing
system where land-use design and a mobility
management framework work in tandem to lower the
length and distance of an auto trip, improve safety,
expand travel choices, and support more sustainable,
efficient urban development.
1TRB/IOM Committee on Physical Activity, Health, Transportation, and Land Use (2005).”Does the Built Environment Influence Physical Activity? Examining the Evidence”. TRB Special Report 282, Transportation Research Board/Institute of Medicine. 2 Frank, L. and Pivo, G.1994. “Impacts of Mixed Use and Density on Utilization of Three Modes of Travel, Single Occupant Vehicle, Transit and Walking.” Transportation Research Record. Vol. 1466, pp 37-43 3 Handy, S. 1993. “Regional Versus Local Accessibility; Neo-Traditional Development and its Implications for NonWork Travel.” Built Environment, Vol. 18, No.4, pp. 253-267.

In fact, transit rich, pedestrian friendly environments show statistical reductions in traffic injuries or fatalities, reduced air pollution and increased levels of daily
physical exercise.1 The following 6 “Ds” are core to the Project Area transportation approach:

Density: concentrate people and activities.

Land uses that concentrate housing, jobs, and amenities within a compact footprint (near transit) help reduce
trip lengths because more daily needs can be met
close by. Studies consistently show that compact, mixed neighborhoods are better able to allow individuals and
families to reduce their reliance on autos and provide
better mobility for non-driving populations.2,3 Increased population density also supports frequent, high-capacity transit service by generating consistent ridership for
rapid transit.

Diversity of land use mix: daily needs can be
met nearby.

Land use diversity typically includes residential units of varying types and price points, retail and services
(such as grocery, childcare, dining, personal services), employment uses (such as office, co-working, medical,
civic), and public spaces and amenities. When close
together, diverse uses can significantly reduce car
dependency. This helps people choose to stay, walk, and spend their dollars locally rather than drive elsewhere.

For this reason, it is important to maintain a balanced mix of residential and non-residential uses—to reduce
the need for auto trips, increase foot traffic for local businesses, and balance travel movement at different
times of day (not just during commuter peaks).

4.5 A project-driven trip reduction goal
84 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
FIGURE 4.16: BOULEVARD AND PASEOS BLOCK STRUCTURE WITH 1/4 MILE WALKSHED. 10-min walk
Holly St
Union St
Green St
Bellevue Dr
St. John Ave
Pasadena Ave
Colorado Blvd
Del Mar Blvd
FIG 4.15 LEVEL OF CONGESTION ON CORRIDORS. VMT is an indicator of the total the amount of traffic traveling within a location. “Level of Service” (LOS) shows degrees of congestion, LOS A represents free flow conditions while LOS F represents highly congested conditions. The above chart compares Total and Congested VMT within a one and a half mile radius of the Project Area using the scenarios described on p.84. Overall VMT increases with the addition of the project, but the Boulevards and Paseos scenario forecasts slightly less total VMT and less congested VMT compared to the Gardens and Terraces alternative. Some of the differences above can also be attributed to adding new East West and North to South streets in the Project Area. (LOS D,E & F)
85 RECONNECTING PASADENA
Design for Pedestrians
Human-scaled streets and buildings create a
comfortable environment that makes walking, biking,
and transit use intuitive and enjoyable. Building massing, high-quality public realm and, an easy-to-navigate street grid contribute to the walking experience.

Speed also factors into design—the likelihood of a
pedestrian being hit and the severity of injury increases with higher vehicle speeds; most pedestrian deaths occur on urban roads with posted speed limits of 45–50 miles
per hour. Research shows that reducing speed limits
from 30 mph to 20 mph reduces the likelihood of severe
injury or death for pedestrians struck by a vehicle from 45% to 5%. Similarly, 20 mph zones in the UK reduced
child pedestrian and child cyclist accidents by 67%.4
Destination Accessibility
This strategy ensures people can reach many jobs and
services quickly via transit or other active modes.

Distance to Transit
Minimizing the time and effort required to access highquality transit leads to a compounding economic benefit of well-planned density. The Project Site is located
within ½ mile of two Metro A Line light rail stations
(Memorial Park station and Del Mar station) and has
the potential to be served by future Bus Rapid Transit
(BRT). Significant linkages between the availability of active transportation options also correlate strongly with improved health factors.5
4Pilkington P. Reducing the speed limit to 20 mph in urban areas. Child deaths and injuries would be decreased. BMJ. 2000 Apr 29;320(7243):1160. doi: 10.1136/bmj.320.7243.1160. PMID: 10784528; PMCID: PMC1127572

5. Frank, L. et. al (2005). “Travel Behavior, Environmental and Health Impacts of Community Design and Transportation Investment (LUTAQH) A Study of Land Use, Transportation, Air Quality And Health in King County, WA” Atlanta GA, L. Frank and Company, Inc.

Demand Management
Transportation Demand Management uses strategies
such as parking pricing, transit benefits, and mobility services to further reduce reliance on single-occupant
vehicles. In established urban areas, TDM strategies help reduce auto dependence and make the transportation
system more efficient. TDM strategies work by: Providing alternatives to single-occupant vehicles (transit, biking, carshare, walking, telecommuting);
• Making alternatives more attractive (convenience,
cost savings, time savings);
• Making driving less attractive in certain contexts
(pricing, limited parking); and
• Supporting people through information and
incentives (education, mobility services).

In addition to the six “Ds,” Parking strategies can be
one of the most powerful land-use levers for influencing travel behavior by managing parking supply and pricing.

An oversupply of free parking encourages driving,
while charging for parking and giving residents and
employees the option to forego paying for spaces they
don’t need shifts choices dramatically.

Right sizing parking supplies can free up resources for more productive uses. People are more likely to bike,
walk, or take transit if it is more convenient and/or less expensive than driving, travel times are competitive,
there is clear wayfinding and safe infrastructure,
and they have access to carshare or rideshare for
occasional trips.
86 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT

THE DIVERSITY OF LAND USES ALONG HUMAN-SCALED STREETS AND BUILDINGS IMPROVE AND ENCOURAGE THE PEDESTRIAN EXPERIENCE, AS SHOWN IN THIS PHOTO OF ROBSON STREET IN VANCOUVER, B.C,, CANADA.

The impacts of Vancouver City Council’s momentous
1973 vote to halt the I-5 freeway at the city’s southern boundary rippled across the Metro Vancouver Region. An
action Pasadena is considering today with the removal
of the SR-710 connector. Fifty years later, Vancouver is a leading model for the successful implementation of
transportation strategies that make transit, walking and, cycling realistic alternatives to driving.

When combined with planning that emphasizes compact,
walkable and transit accessible land uses this results in changed behaviors.

From 1996–2011, the city reported a 25% reduction in
the number of vehicles entering the downtown peninsula, despite a population increase over the same period of
75%. Indeed, with a focus on higher density housing
options, people who live and work on the Downtown
peninsula make 52% of their estimated daily trips by
non-motorized means. Furthermore, the City is tracking
a decline in the number of registered automobiles, while access to a private vehicle through car sharing has
remained steady at 86%.

CASE STUDY: Making A Walkable Downtown - Vancouver, BC
87 RECONNECTING PASADENA
Returning the Project Area to a mix of walkable blocks
requires tools—from transit alternatives to rethinking
connection holistically. This means transforming
streets now operating as components of a fast-moving
“regional system,” to emphasize a multimodal approach
that results in safer, and slower local travel.

Moving forward with a future preferred roadway network
will influence the street and block pattern, infrastructure costs, project phasing as well as the amount of land
available for development. In this way, the roadway
network is critical path to future project implementation as it will also determine how much vehicular capacity
can be accommodated and at what level in the
north-south and east-west directions. The City should
coordinate with other transportation agencies (e.g.

Caltrans, Metro, SCAG) to deliver on the most feasible
roadway network that meets the Plan’s Transportation
Goals. To support discussion this Vision Plan maintains both high and lower intervention roadway networks and
offers the following activities. Activities are organized within a) the Project Area, b) outside of the Project but within the City of Pasadena’s control, and c) Regional
activities to be conducted in partnership with the State and other actors.

Project Area Change
Both Boulevards and Paseos and Gardens and Terraces
offer public streets with safe and comfortable routes
for vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles. Both concepts
introduce a regular, walkable block structure.

Improving North-to-South Mobility
The total amount of north-south capacity is apportioned to either two primary roadways or three, as noted there is a preference for three north to south moving streets. • In the Gardens and Terraces circulation network,
north-south vehicular movement would be
maintained on existing streets (Pasadena Avenue,
St. John Avenue). In Gardens and Terraces, the
future right-of-way for St. John and Pasadena Ave is
2-lanes in each direction, with a parking lane.
• In Boulevard & Paseos, a new street traveling from
Union to Del Mar contributes to vehicular, transit,
and non-motorized movement. It would have a
travel lane in each direction, parking lane, and
cycle route. Boulevard & Paseos would enable the
de-emphasis of St. John Avenue and Pasadena Ave
as arterials.

Improving East-to-West Mobility.

Both roadway networks include new east-to-west
vehicular streets, with a minimum of one full crossing
assumed north and south of Del Mar; e.g., Valley
Street and Bellevue Drive. Valley Street connects to Fair Oaks Avenue while Valley Street breaks down the super
block evenly. The final location of the two vehicular
street locations is flexible, a third location outside the scope of this Plan could be considered at Holly Street.

Observations:
• Consolidated land uses to the west of the site
(Ambassador College, Maranatha High School)
reduce the cost/benefit for additional vehicular
through streets to the north of Del Mar.
• Shifts in topography to the south of Del Mar
constrain a new east-to-west vehicular crossing at
Waverly, Palmetto, or Bellevue to connect into the
street network in West Pasadena. In both circulation
frameworks, Bellevue Street is assumed as a local
connector, with a T intersection at St. John Avenue.
• The primary mode of access from east-to-west within
the study area could be pedestrian-friendly paseos
that connect between St. John Ave and Pasadena

4.6 Managing Change
88 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
FIGURE 4.18: A NEW CENTRAL BOULEVARD COULD ENABLE ST. JOHN AVE. TO ACT AS A LOCAL STREET. THIS SECTION SHOWS A LINEAR PARK, AND ADDS A NEW SURFACE LEVEL NORTH-SOUTH COMPLETE STREET.

FIGURE 4.17: A NEW LINEAR PARK IS SHOWN BETWEEN ST. JOHN AVE AND A NEW NORTH-SOUTH BOULEVARD. ~50’ R.O.W. ~60’ R.O.W. ~81’ R.O.W.

LOCAL STREET ACTIVATED LINEAR PARK NEW N-S COMPLETE STREET 89 RECONNECTING PASADENA
Ave. Paseos are assumed at a regular distance of
200–300 feet.
• Paseos should be open to the public and may be
delivered as a condition of development. In some
instances, paseos could connect into semiprivate or
private courtyards for residential buildings.
• In both scenarios the City will need to plan and
facilitate conversion of specific bridges to local
streets, more study would be required to facilitate
this once a preferred roadway network is identified.

Other Recommendations
• A ground floor environment should include attention
to distance between building entries, materiality,
landscape and programs.
• Plan for enabling street infrastructure projects, e.g., coordinate Measure R near term projects with the
emerging roadway network.
• Streetscapes should enable a mature tree canopy,
lighting, seating, and other amenities.
• Integrate bicycle networks and secure bike
parking facilities.
• Pursue a well-designed TDM program concurrent
with redevelopment to make alternative mobility as
competitive as possible with driving alone.
• Coordinate new parking resources to support public
parking uses and alleviate vehicular demand in
a “park once” environment. Continue to explore
synergies to efficiently use public garages on
Holly Street.

FIGURE 4.19: TYPICAL EAST-WEST STREET. FIGURE 4.20: GREEN PEDESTRIAN PASEO. FIGURE 4.21: URBAN PEDESTRIAN PASEO. ~60’ R.O.W. ~30’-40’ R.O.W. ~30’-40’ R.O.W.
90 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
FIGURE 4.23: ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATION SHOWING HUMAN-SCALED BUILDINGS LINING AN IMPROVED PASADENA AVENUE.

FIGURE 4.22: EXISTING CONDITION OF THE PASADENA AVENUE LOOKING NORTH 91 RECONNECTING PASADENA
Table of street
dimensions
existing/proposed?
FIGURE 4.25: ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATION OF THE INTERSECTION OF PASADENA AVENUE AND DEL MAR BOULEVARD, SHOWING HUMAN-SCALED STREETS AND BUILDINGS IMPROVING THE EXPERIENCE FOR MOTORISTS, PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS.

FIGURE 4.24: EXISTING CONDITION OF THE PASADENA AVENUE AND DEL MAR BOULEVARD INTERSECTION. 92 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT

4.6.1 CITY SCALE CHANGE
The Project Area’s redesign can improve access to
City Hall, Metro A line Stations, the Arroyo, the Rose
Bowl, and neighborhoods beyond. In particular, the
710 Project can connect to Pasadena’s Northwest
neighborhoods focusing on creating an improved nonmotorized link. Caltrans has also identified the I-210 overpasses directly east of the highway interchange
as the highest priority for improving non-motorized
connectivity, better connecting Northwest Pasadena to
Memorial Park station.

Fig 4.28 explores how north of Union Street could can
act as buffer, activated place, and mobility resource.

There is an opportunity to explore the concept of a
“mobility hub,” a facility that could incorporate design elements to facilitate transfer between different modes, alongside elements for passenger comfort, safety,
and convenience. Mobility hubs can be optimized for
movement while integrating active uses and programs
like cafes, retail spaces for commuters waiting for buses and making connections.

Fig. 4.29 shows how Project Area within the context of
the City’s transit network can help to “connect the dots” between destinations and in its long term transit vision.

The forthcoming Pasadena Transit Short Range Transit
Plan already pursues better integration between local
and regional transit; improved transit service to the Rose Bowl and upper Arroyo; establishment of more direct
connections between West and East Pasadena and the
potential for bus only lanes on Colorado Boulevard
designed to complement LA Metro’s NoHo to Pasadena
BRT project.

This progressive approach to managing the Project
Area’s future transit and transportation resources
could also be applied to the Project Area’s future
parking resource as well. In Old Pasadena, curb space
may become more critical as uber/lyft/waymo and
delivery service popularity rise. Heavy use of these
services along with the City’s shift towards priced
parking could eliminate some off-street parking
demand. In its Citywide Parking Strategic plan, the
City of Pasadena outlines ways to balance short-term
parking and delivery needs, including timed and
priced parking. Redevelopment in the stub offers an
opportunity to explore more broadly and coordinate this changing dynamic.

Recommended Items
• In coordination with Caltrans, the City should
continue to redesign, and plan for the phased
closure of I-710 stub frontage roads and on-ramps.
• The City, in coordination with Pasadena Transit
should leverage the Project Area location to explore
a local, zero-emission transit connector (such as
Streetcar) running north-south within the Project
Area, potentially connecting to a variety of local
destinations (e.g, Old Town, Northwest Pasadena,
Huntington Hospital and medical services etc.)
• As a feasible, the City should plan to redesign
the Maple Street overpass, concurrent with the
development of a preferred local roadway network.
• Include design treatments to reduce the perceived
distance to transit with safe, comfortable, and well lit pedestrian or bicycle paths to Memorial Park Station
and Del Mar Metro A Line stations.
• Connect to the Rose Bowl. LA Metro A Line riders
from Downtown Los Angeles and potential parkand-riders could use a dedicated location to access shuttles or other modes to reach the Rose
Bowl. Future event staging could be organized
in an adaptable location to be identified in
subsequent phases.
• Explore the potential for shared parking within the
Project Area creating a “park once” environment
and find synergies in coordination with efficient use
of the public garages on Holly Street.
93 RECONNECTING PASADENA
FIGURE 4.27: MAPLE STREET PEDESTRIAN
AND CYCLE ONLY CONCEPT COULD.

REMOVE CAR ACCESS, TURNING THE RAMP

INTO A FULLY PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE
ONLY BRIDGE.

FIGURE 4.26: MAPLE STREET PEDESTRIAN,
CYCLE AND CAR IMPROVEMENTS CONCEPT.

MAINTAINS A TWO LANE CAR ACCESS, WITH

THE ADDITION OF A WIDER MULTI-USE PATH

TO ACCOMMODATE PEDESTRIANS AND
BICYCLISTS. A RAISED PLANTER ALLOWS FOR
TREES AND LANDSCAPE.

FIGURE 4.28: THIS DIAGRAM SHOWS AN EAST-WEST CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ARROYO SECO, THE PROJECT SITE AND CITY HALL. THIS CONNECTS THROUGH THE SITE AT A FUTURE “GATEWAY” OR MOBILITY HUB LOCATION WITH DIRECT FREEWAY ACCESS.

Colorado Boulevard - Major Bus Corridor
Garfield Avenue - Civic Center Axis
Union Street - Bicycle Corridor Future Arroyo Link Trail Maple Street -
Improved Connection
Holly Street - Restored Civic Link
N

GATEWAY

MEMORIAL

PARK STATION
94 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
FIGURE 4.29: THE PROJECT AREA OFFERS AN OPPORTUNITY TO RETHINK LOCAL TRANSIT SERVICE, INCLUDING A LOCAL TRANSIT CONNECTION THAT TRAVELS THOUGH THE SITE TO CITY DESTINATIONS.

ROUTE 10
ROUTE 20
ROUTE 33
ROUTE 40
ROUTE 51

METRO MICRO

METRO A LINE

NEW MULTIMODAL CONNECTION

NEW BIKE/PEDESTRIAN EMPHASIS
10 33
B/P
B/P
B/P
B/P
20 40
51 112,000 annual
outpatient visits
California Blvd.

Del Mar Blvd.

Pasadena Ave.S.Fair Oaks Ave.S. Raymond Ave.S. Arroyo Pwy.S. Marengo Ave.

St. John Ave.

Colorado Blvd.

Green St.

Union St.

Walnut St.

Holly St.

Old Pasadena
40,000 pp/weekend
160,000
visitors/year
1,000,000
visitors/year
N
95 RECONNECTING PASADENA

4.6.2 REGIONAL SCALE CHANGE
The City of Pasadena must navigate how proposed
changes to the freeway ramp and interchange will affect travel patterns well beyond the Project Area. These
choices will affect not only the amount of regional traffic that can be accommodated through the Project Site, but
also on other streets in the City.

The implementation of a new intersection to the north
of the stub can slow traffic from the freeways (including southbound and westbound from I-210) and serve as a
transition to the local street network. To implement this project, the City must continue to pursue partnerships
with both state and regional actors.

Suggested actions in the next Project phases
should include:
• Partner with Caltrans to select the preferred
termination option north of Union St, and proceed
into the Caltrans Project Initiation Process. As noted, under the Gardens and Terraces circulation scenario,
a new signalized intersection would be located
between Walnut Street and Union Street, providing
access to St. John Avenue and Pasadena Avenue.

Under the Boulevard & Paseos circulation scenario,
the I-210 would terminate at a roundabout located
north of Walnut Street, and leading to the New
Central Boulevard.
• Encourage Caltrans to improve the operations
of I-210 interchange to improve safety and
reduce weaving.
• Work with Caltrans to replace and reassign existing
freeway signs, particularly I-210 southbound
direction and SR-134 eastbound direction that direct
drivers to the 710 stub to reach SR-110 toward
downtown Los Angeles.

FIGURE 4.30: PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE FREEWAY TO LOCAL

STREETS TRANSITION IN THE BOULEVARD AND PASEOS SCENARIO

EXISTING FREEWAY

NEW ON/OFF RAMP CONNECTION

AND ROUNDABOUT

FREEWAY TO LOCAL STREET
Holly St.

St. John Ave.New BoulevardPasadena Ave.

Walnut St.

Maple St.

I-210
SR-134
I-210
N

GILMAN STREET ROUNDABOUT IN BERKELEY, CA
SOURCE: CALIFORNIA DOT
96 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
FIGURE 4.32: NOHO BUS RAPID TRANSIT AND METRO A LINE PROVIDE REGIONAL TRANSIT ACCESS.

FIGURE 4.31: SUMMARY OF PROPOSED PROJECTS

PROJECT SITE

FREEWAYS

METRO A LINE

NOHO BUS RAPID TRANSIT
N
N
SR-710/I-210 INTERCHANGE

TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS

RELINQUISHMENT AREA

PASADENA DRIVEN (MEASURE R)

PARTNERSHIP DRIVEN
(CALTRANS+CITY)

REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
(CALTRANS, METRO, CITY)
97 RECONNECTING PASADENA

4.6.3 PARTNERING FOR FUTURE MOBILITY
The City and Caltrans identified an opportunity for an
activated multi-modal facility positioned to the north
of Union Street. Redevelopment in this location could
support transit connectivity from local to regional transit, and a variety of transportation and accompanying
services along with pedestrian-oriented design features and other uses. Redevelopment of the “gateway”
site—as facilitated by the repurposing of the freewayto-freeway connectors to local-to-freeway/freeway-tolocal—could enable the extension of Holly Street as an improved link into the City, and lay the basis for an architectural landmark where new programs could be
serviced directly via access to the freeway interchange.

Preliminarily, a “gateway” could be the recipient of reuse and repurposing of existing ramps from SR-134. This advantage could offer unique spatial opportunities for
bus layover space, and/or transfer. A future design could also showcase views and spaces that capture the energy
of people meeting, moving, and connecting.

Goals for the gateway site might include:
• A transit facility that supports a full complement of transportation choices, pairing transit services and
features to balance and complement LA Metro’s
planned investment in the Memorial Park LRT Station.
• Reuse, and repurposing of existing ramps to the
gateway mobility hub.
• Enabling future connection to LA Metro’s planned
NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

FIGURE 4.33: ARTISTS DRAWING SHOWING THE NORTHERN “GATEWAY” SITE SUPPORTING NEW PROGRAMS, AND TRANSIT FACILITY 98 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 4 | PHYSICAL RECONNECTION - DRAFT
TABLE 4.2: MOBILITY HUB ATTRIBUTES

BOULEVARD AND PASEOS GARDENS AND TERRACES

ROADWAY NETWORK MOBILITY HUB
(BOULEVARDS AND PASEOS)

MOBILITY HUB
(GARDENS AND TERRACES)

ENABLES REGIONAL

TRANSIT ACCESS
Direct highway access enabled via mobility
deck; opportunity for interconnected
services, as well as layby.

Regional access to site from bus routes at
Fair Oaks or Orange Grove at street level.

ENABLES LOCAL TRANSIT ACCESS;

CONNECTS TO NORTHWEST

NEIGHBORHOODS
Enables transit area with efficient transfers
to connecting services; enables options for
local bus and/or future transit connection
on new Boulevard. Potential for transit/
shuttle route as a circulator.

Accommodates local bus in future with
potential access on Union Street. Potential
for shuttle route to act as circulator on
existing streets.

PEDESTRIAN/BIKE CONNECTIVITY Holly Street is extended as a multi-modal corridor and connects to Memorial Park.

Does not assume a Holly street connection
to Memorial Park.

PLACEMAKING
High potential for active, attractive public
realm connections. Potentially supports
mixed-use, cultural or institutional
co-location.

Focus on bike/ped, and select non
motorized services. Good temporary or
tactical urbanism opportunity.
• Extending Holly Street as a multi-modal corridor-to
connect the northern end of the Project Area.

Areas needing further resolution include:
• Ownership: Parties responsible for next phases,
including partner providers and participants, delivery
strategies, design and engineering, permitting
and entitlement, construction, and operations and
maintenance.
• Project Development Structure: Phasing and
sequencing of a gateway mobility hub and its
relationship to the interchange reconfiguration, the
project area, and to key adjacent destinations and
other regional mobility options serving the City.
• The gateway site could be included in a future
Caltrans Project Study Report under a cooperative
agreement with Caltrans.
99 RECONNECTING PASADENA

HUMAN

CONNECTIONS
5 5.1 Design Principles
The Vision Plan reimagines the 710-corridor land uses
and urban form to create a shared future with both
physical and social reconnection. These concepts give
shape to what might replace the existing freeway “stub,” weaving together ideas for mobility - walkable streets, and transportation infrastructure with a more equitable, resilient built environment.

The Project Area offers the opportunity not only to
“solve for itself” but to address a host of challenges
facing the City as a whole. There is more to be gained
than just filling in the gap. Concepts respond to the
following Design Principles. Both Concepts further City opportunities that include, but are not limited to
• anchoring the west end of the Holly Street civic axis • addressing parking, and access needs for Rose
Bowl events
• filling in the gap along Colorado Boulevard
• establishing a Rose Parade viewing site
• connecting between local streets
• unlocking value for development, and
• mending the edges of the freeway frontage roads (St.

John and Pasadena Avenue) on both the west and
east sides between California Blvd and Walnut Street.

Extend Pasadena’s Urban Edge West
This Design Principle emerges from the fundamental
difference between the east and west sides of the 710
stub. The west side is generally lower density, greener and more sub-urban; while to the east exists a more
urban mix of uses, walkable streets, and robust
character defining places like Old Pasadena, De Lacey
and Huntington Memorial Hospital. Buffering the west
from the east acts as a container for the Project Area, while extending the downtown into the stub leads to
design choices for Pasadena Ave as a more walkable
environment, and the connections of paseos and
walking paths.

FIGURE 5.1: THE PLAN MOVES THE URBAN EDGE TO THE WEST
102 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
Establish Three Complementary Neighborhoods
This Plan seeks to create neighborhoods that are
compatible, taking clues from existing adjacent land
uses. At the northern end of the Project Area, Colorado Boulevard’s lends its character as the City’s “main
street” helping to define the proposed “Colorado Civic
area.” Between Green Street and Del Mar, the De Lacey
neighborhood to the east and the Ambassador Gardens,
Auditorium and Maranatha School to the west side offer
help define the “Central Area.” Del Mar is a wide street, it is the limit of a space now characterized by greater topographical changes, stormwater collection, and a
high ridge to the west. This larger district is influenced by the Arts & Innovation Flex District, Huntington Hospital to the east and Sequoyah school to the south.

Build Up and Build Down
Each area must be responsive to a timeframe and
specific project/s needs that will vary over the life of the project. The Vision Plan anticipates and encourages a
variety of approaches to leverage the already excavated ditch. Perhaps more importantly the plan does not
encourage uniform capping or filling of the Project
Area, each of the Vision Plan concepts point to how to
use multiple levels—in the street network, public space network, and ultimately in the vertical development. For more information see the following page.

FIGURE 5.3: EACH AREA/PROJECT CAN RESPOND TO THE TOPOGRAPHIC

CHALLENGES OF THE SITE UNIQUELY, PROVIDED THE URBAN DESIGN OBJECTIVES ARE MET.

FIGURE 5.2: CREATE THREE DISTINCT AREAS/NEIGHBORHOODS
103

RECONNECTING PASADENA

1. Complete Fill: Importing soil to recreate the
“natural” topography of the site would require a
substantial amount of heavy vehicle road trips over
many years only to return the site to a starting point.

2. Full Cap: This implies the continued use of the
freeway stub function below a constructed cap or lid,
both expensive and not fulfilling the placemaking
and development objectives of the vision plan.

3. Building Down: This strategy takes advantage of the
current topography of the excavated site, yielding
both a natural earth base and the opportunity for
multiple levels of additional development below
street level.

4. Build Down & Build Up: This strategy affords the
opportunity of a lower-level podium (parking/water
storage) and the opportunity for some additional
development below street level with sunken plazas
and gardens.

5. Building Up: This strategy maximizes the podium
below street-level for the development of parking
and/or mobility supporting uses, creating a new
opportunity for street-level plazas, court yards
and gardens.

6. Terraced Slopes: This strategy, most suitable at the south end, allows for new landforms to be created
for parks, gardens and play areas as well as the
planting of larger specimen trees in natural ground.

7. Lakes and Streams: This strategy encourages the
use of water as both passive and perhaps active uses
to be incorporated in the design.

Exploring Topography: Build Up and Build Down in the Project Area 104 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
Gardens and Terraces—Central Area (Typical E-W Section) This approach anticipates the location of the primary north-south spine of public open space to be at the lowest garden level of the project, below street level. The open space, gardens and terraces, would be incrementally built by the developers as a public easement, and coordinated by the project delivery team.

Boulevard and Paseos—Central Area (Typical E-W Section) This approach anticipates the location of the primary north-south spine of public open space to be at street level. The open space, a linear greenway, would be located on the western edge of the site between the new boulevard and the reconfigured St. John Street. At the lower level, below the new boulevard, would be a service road/utility corridor serving the new development sites.

Pasadena Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

St. John Ave.

St. John Ave. New Boulevard
105

RECONNECTING PASADENA

5.2 Three Neighborhoods
The Plan suggests up to 1,800 units of housing can be
accommodated across the site. Residential uses are to be complimented by a variety of programs that make this
neighborhood walkable, and livable—including spaces
for jobs, public services, eating, entertainment, shopping, and new business enterprise. Total developable area
(Table 5.1) assumed in the following concept plans
is estimated between 3.2 to 3.5 million SF. Land use
estimates were created to support information gathering and are generalized.

Up to a million SF of combined parking is assumed to
be located in underground in parking garages within
the already excavated “ditch.” The Project Area is subject to state law which does not allow jurisdictions to set
parking minimums tied to land uses near to transit stops (AB 2097). For purposes of this Plan, land use scenarios assume parking rates comparable to recent and relevant
City of Pasadena development and would be influenced
by the market. Parking rates would also be controlled
as part of the Transportation Demand Management
framework outlined in Chapter 4, future street and
circulation access strategies, and could offer various
shared parking scenarios, that effectively “unbundle”
future spaces from land uses.

Figure 5.4 shows the three approximate neighborhood
areas within the Relinquishment boundary, and a
fourth area to the north, the “Gateway.” The gateway
comprises the interface with the interchange, from
Holly Street to Union Street. This area would be heavily FIGURE 5.4: THREE DISTINCT LAND USE AREAS WITHIN THE RELINQUISHMENT THIS SUGGESTS AN APPROXIMATE AREA TO ORGANIZE PROJECT AREA URBAN FORM AND LAND USE.

Pasadena Ave.

Fair Oaks Ave.

St. John Ave.

St. John Ave.

Orange Grove Blvd.

Walnut St.Holly St.Union St.Colorado Blvd.Green St.Del Mar Blvd.California Blvd.

GATEWAY AREA

COLORADO CIVIC AREA

CENTRAL AREA

INNOVATION AREA

RELINQUISHMENT AREA N
106 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
influencing and influenced by changes to the Project
Area. Areas described following include:
• Civic and cultural uses centering on Colorado
Boulevard; this area is envisioned with a broad
mix of uses, but might naturally veer towards more
intensive commercial use.
• A Central area from Green Street to Del
Mar Boulevard as a sustainable green urban
residential village.
• To the South of Del Mar Boulevard, and the lowest
part of the Project Area, offers opportunities
to accommodate various innovation spaces, in
dialogue with Pasadena’s high tech and life-science
cluster. Alternatively this area could support a future workforce and residential neighborhood.

TABLE 5.1 PRELIMINARY PROJECT AREA CAPACITY ESTIMATES

AREA GARDENS AND TERRACES BOULEVARD AND PASEOS
Relinquishment Total Area (including all
rights of way) 38.02 ac 1,656,285 sf 38.02 ac 1,656,285 sf Total Development Area (excluding rights of way) 22.91 ac 997,855 sf 20.98 ac 913,991 sf Relinquishment Dedicated Park Area 9.07 ac 394,492 sf 7.57 ac 329,750 sf Maximum Construction Area 3,491,600 sf 3,072,535 sf
Generalized Land Use
Breakdown
Residential 2,097,500 sf 60% 1,852,070 sf 60%
Non Residential 1,394,100 sf 40% 1,220,465 sf 40%
107

RECONNECTING PASADENA
The concepts shown at right offer
a vision of what the Project Area’s
build-out might accomplish.

Both concepts focus on
establishing walkable spaces,
and special places (town square,
courtyards, linear, neighborhood
parks, gardens).

Plans show the great variety of new
addresses that could be provided.

The Boulevard and Paseo’s
concept realigns the southern
portion of St John Avenue and
introduces a new surface street.

Gardens and Terraces maintains
the full area between bounding
streets for redevelopment.

Both concepts celebrate Colorado
Boulevard with a multipurpose
civic space and offer a variety
of public spaces to the south
of Del Mar.

The following section describes
urban design characteristics,
desired attributes and
distinguishing features for the
three neighborhood areas.

Holly St.Union St.Colorado Blvd.Green St.Dayton St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

Holly St.Union St.Colorado Blvd.Green St.Dayton St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

New Boulevard

5.3 Vision Concepts
108 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
FIGURE 5.5: GARDENS AND TERRACES ILLUSTRATIVE PLAN: THIS CONCEPT EXPLORES DEVELOPING THE INTERIOR OF THE SITE. EAST-WEST BRIDGES ARE ADAPTED TO FUNCTION AS STREETS, BLOCKS ARE DELINEATED BY NEW WAYS ACROSS EAST TO WEST. PUBLIC EASEMENT IS ESTABLISHED WITH NEW DEVELOPMENT TO ENABLE A CONTINUOUS NORTH-SOUTH, POTENTIALLY AT DIFFERENT LEVELS.

Valley StDel Mar Blvd.Waverly Dr.Bellevue Dr.Palmetto Dr.California Blvd.

FIGURE 5.6: BOULEVARD AND PASEOS ILLUSTRATIVE PLAN: A NEW BOULEVARD CONNECTS INTO THE TERMINATION OF THE FREEWAY. THE BOULEVARD IS A COMPLETE STREET CONNECTION, WITH NEW INTERSECTIONS AND CROSSINGS. A NEW PUBLIC LINEAR PARK OFFERS A NORTH SOUTH OPEN SPACE WITH PUBLIC PROGRAMMING. THIS BOULEVARD AND PARK COULD CONNECT SINGER PARK IN THE SOUTH WITH A REIMAGINED, PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY MAPLE STREET IN THE NORTH.

Valley StDel Mar Blvd.Waverly Dr.Bellevue Dr.Palmetto Dr.California Blvd.

N
N
109

RECONNECTING PASADENA
Colorado Civic Area between Union Street and Green
Street establishes a vibrant, and activated commercial
mixed residential neighborhood, anchoring the western
end of Colorado Boulevard as a destination for
commercial, cultural, hospitality and housing.

A plaza or town square spanning Colorado Boulevard
creates a new space for seasonal activities and
events, such as a Farmers Market, a space framing
the beginning of the Rose Parade, and/or a place for
remembrance and civic celebrations.

Buildings along Colorado Boulevard maintain the 2-3
story character to the east with select taller buildings set back from the street. Thoughtful arrangement of
building volumes and height around the town square will highlight views of the mountains beyond.

The ground plane will be activated with cafés,
restaurants and shops for both residents and visitors.

Shade trees, lighting, planters, public art, and water
features contribute to a charming and comfortable
environment. While the area draws inspiration from Old
Pasadena, it serves to compliment it and not compete.

Vehicular traffic along Colorado Boulevard circulates
around the town square, using the Green-Union Street
couplet on event days, providing a car free environment.

A parking structure below the area is shared
between programs.

5.3.1 Colorado Civic Area
FIGURE 5.7: BUILD UP
110 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
FIGURE 5.8: ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATION OF PROPOSED CIVIC AREA FOR BOULEVARD AND PASEOS. 111

RECONNECTING PASADENA
FIGURE 5.10: GARDEN AND TERRACES—CIVIC AREA N
FIGURE 5.9: ENVISIONING A MORE OPEN CIVIC PLAZA, LINED WITH COMMERCIAL AND HOSPITALITY Holly St. Union St. Colorado Blvd.

Green St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

GARDENS AND TERRACES
• A plaza similar in size to courtyard at City Hall is contained by active building frontages with residential and commercial uses above.
• A signature civic plaza with curb-less paving crosses Colorado Boulevard and can be closed for special events like parades or street fairs.
• Buildings along Colorado Boulevard remain low to tie into the historic character to the West, with higher buildings set back from the street.
1 1
2 2
3 3 3
3 3
112 PERKINS EASTMAN
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BOULEVARD AND PASEOS
• A large civic plaza with curb-less paving straddles Colorado. More open space at the ground plane is offset with the potential for taller buildings, and more intensive development to the south. • The linear park, new boulevard and civic plaza create a gateway to the west. Some active public program flows to the south.
• The new boulevard offers pedestrian, cycling and transit access into the project. 1 2
3 1
2 2
3 FIGURE 5.12: BOULEVARD AND PASEOS—CIVIC AREA N
FIGURE 5.11: ENVISIONING A CIVIC PLAZA CONNECTING INTO THE NEW BOULEVARD Holly St. Union St.

Colorado Blvd.Green St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

New Boulevard
113

RECONNECTING PASADENA

DESIGN AND LAND USE VISION
Estimated total program area: 620,000 to 750,000 square feet.

LAND USE DESIRED ATTRIBUTES
TOTAL LAND AREA 293,640 SF
(6.74 ac)
RESIDENTIAL ~200-300 units Apartments and condos for sale and rent, workforce housing, affordable housing, family-sized units
SMALL BUSINESS & RETAIL ~10% of
program area
Extend the small scale retail character west along Colorado Boulevard, including a market hall and small scale vending.

CULTURAL &

ENTERTAINMENT
~10% of
program area Enable and extend cultural facilities into the area, with smaller footprints.

HOSPITALITY ~20% of
program area
A new ~250 room hotel adjacent to Old Pasadena can complement destinations, and office spaces.

PUBLIC OPEN SPACE

ALLOCATION
~20% of
total land area
Create an active public space spanning Colorado Boulevard for holding events, viewing the parade, and local cultural programs.

FIGURE 5.13: CIVIC AREA BIG IDEAS
Urban Form Ideas

1. Taller building floor plates
capture & frame views to the
north, while providing noise
protection from the I-210/ SR134 interchange.

2. Extend the street surface level
across district in both schemes.

Include passages that connect
to adjacent alleyways. Create
a shared parkign resource
underground.

3. Maintain a lower scale street
wall on Colorado to complement
historic scale.

4. Public programming spaces.
2 3
4 1
Green St.

Colorado Blvd.

Union St.

Holly St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.
114 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
TOP FIGURE 5.14: ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATION

OF PROPOSED CIVIC AREA AS SEEN FROM

THE THE COURTYARD OF TRUE FOODS AT THE

INTERSECTION WITH PASADENA AVENUE,

LOOKING WEST INTO WHAT COULD BE A
FARMER’S MARKET ACTIVITY.

BOTTOM: EXISTING CONDITIONS PHOTO OF

COLORADO BOULEVARD BRIDGE LOOKING

EAST INTO DOWNTOWN PASADENA FROM THE
INTERSECTION WITH ST. JOHN AVENUE.
115

RECONNECTING PASADENA
The area between Green Street and Del Mar will be
residential, characterized by smaller scale open spaces, and shady pedestrian paseos. The area incorporates
east-west connections for cars (Valley Street) and at
least three new pedestrian-first public accessible ways.

Corner stores, cafes, coffee shops and local serving
businesses—such as gyms, daycare, or professional
services activate Green Street, the new Valley extension and a re-imagined Del Mar Boulevard. These uses are
incorporated into residential buildings.

Street frontages through out the area offer groundoriented housing with semi-private porch spaces that are generously scaled, set back and screened from the street edge- offering future residents both prospect and refuge and encouraging their use.

Creative building volumes incorporate terraces and
gardens at multiple levels, looking on to smaller interior spaces and courtyards. Plantings and tree canopy
combine to create a climate appropriate native habitat, where each development contributes to a holistic
landscape. Green high performance buildings apply
passive design strategies, and contribute to sustainable water (greywater) and power (renewables) systems.

Building form and massing build off of design standards already at the city, while enabling necessary flexibility to encourage green and high performance strategies.

5.3.2 Central Area
FIGURE 5.15: BUILD UP/DOWN
116 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
FIGURE 5.16: ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATION OF PASADENA AVENUE AS A COMPLETE STREET. 117

RECONNECTING PASADENA

GARDEN AND TERRACES
• Bridges and paseos connect at street level.
• A linear lower level semi-public garden reaches from Green Street to Del Mar Boulevard and connects to the south.
• New East-West street goes through at Valley Street
• At street level, small courtyards, patios, and balconies provide semi-private spaces to residents.
1 2
3 4
3 4 4
4 4
1 1
1 1
FIGURE 5.!8: GARDEN AND TERRACES— CENTRAL AREA N
St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

Green St.Dayton St.Valley St.Del Mar Blvd.

FIGURE 5.17: ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATION DEPICTING THE INTERNAL OPEN SPACE WITH RESIDENTIAL OPENING INTO IT AT DIFFERENT LEVELS. 2 2
118 PERKINS EASTMAN
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FIGURE 5.20: BOULEVARD AND PASEOS—CENTRAL AREA N Green St. Dayton St. Valley St. Del Mar Blvd.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

New Boulevard

BOULEVARD AND PASEOS
• Paseos connect at street level. These link into park areas on the west side. • Linear public park spaces enable sustainable stormwater treatment, various play and green spaces.
• New East-West street goes through at Valley Street
• Semi-private courtyards provide open space to residents 1 2
3 4 4
4 4
1 1 1
1 FIGURE 5.19: ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATION OF PASEO CONNECTING FROM PASADENA AVENUE INTO THE COURTYARDS OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS. 3 4
2 2 2
119

RECONNECTING PASADENA
Urban Form Ideas

1. Amenity spaces and courtyards
are distributed among the
residential buildings at
multiple levels.

2. Green St., Valley St. and Del Mar
Blvd. are active complete streets
and provide neighborhood
supporting retail.

3. Courtyards and creative building
forms keep visual interest,
with multiple architects and
developers contributing to the
District over time.

4. Public programming spaces.

DESIGN AND LAND USE VISION
Estimated total program area: ~1.3–1.6 million square feet

LAND USE DESIGN ATTRIBUTES
TOTAL LAND AREA 650,720 sf
(14.94 ac)
RESIDENTIAL ~1,000–1,400 units
Target special demographics such as student and senior housing, and workforce. Enable ground-oriented, family-sized units, and buildings offering various floor plates and unit sizes.

SMALL BUSINESS, RETAIL
AND, FOOD & BEVERAGE ~2% of program area Limited small scale retail and personal services COMMERCIAL ~2% of program area Neighborhood-scale commercial

PUBLIC OPEN SPACE

ALLOCATION
~20% of
total land area
Create a green North-South open space connection between Green Street and Del Mar Boulevard, and new East-West public connections/paseos.

FIGURE 5.21: CENTRAL AREA BIG IDEAS
2 2
2 3
4 3
3 1
1 1
Green St.

Colorado Blvd.

Del Mar Blvd.

Dayton St
Valley St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.
120 PERKINS EASTMAN
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TOP FIGURE 5.22: ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATION

OF PROPOSED LINEAR PARK SHOWING

RESIDENTS ENJOYING THE AMENITIES OF THE
NEW OPEN SPACE.

BOTTOM: EXISTING CONDITIONS PHOTO OF ST.

JOHN AVENUE LOOKING NORTH.
121

RECONNECTING PASADENA
With a larger scale, this area could accommodate a
campus like environment. Topographic changes invite
a unique design response with terracing, play and
active landscapes. One concept (Gardens and Terraces)
connects below a rebuilt Del Mar, while Boulevards
and Paseos rebuilds the street at the surface level. Both concepts reconfigure St. John Ave to bring this up to
connect into Del Mar Ave. With the Caltrans Stormwater
basin relocated, an active park space of three to four
acres could showcase a storm water collection function.

New park spaces could be lined with research and
development and/or residential mix offering program
that blends into the park spaces.

Cars travel to local destinations from St. John and/
or a new Boulevard east on Bellevue Dr. Two to three
pedestrian ways traverse east to west; these bridges offer pathways into the park via stairs, terraces or hillsides. A public/private partnering strategy leverages Pasadena’s existing assets, bringing together learning environments, innovation and public programs continuing Pasadena’s
competitive advantage in the region.

5.3.3 Del Mar to California
FIGURE 5.24: WATER COLLECTING FUNCTION
FIGURE 5.23: BUILD UP & BUILD DOWN
122 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
FIGURE 5.25: ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATION OVERLOOKING FORMER DITCH AT THE SOUTHERN END OF THE RELINQUISHMENT AREA 123

RECONNECTING PASADENA
2 2
FIGURE 5.27: GARDEN AND TERRACES - INNOVATION AREA N
FIGURE 5.26: ARTISTIC AERIAL ILLUSTRATION OF GARDEN AND TERRACES - INNOVATION AREA St. John Ave.

Del Mar Blvd.

Pasadena Ave.

Waverly Dr.Bellevue Dr.Palmetto Dr.

GARDENS AND TERRACES
• Compact buildings complete the street wall of Pasadena Avenue and provide terraced passageways to public park space below.
• Subterranean water detention is covered with active open spaces, shallow waterways and green space.
• The large topographic change on the west side provides an opportunity for steps and terracing. This concept assumes one new crossing at Bellevue Drive as a pedestrian way. • The Del Mar Boulevard bridge is retained; buildings and open spaces gently terrace down from the street level to park space within the former ditch. 1 2
3 1 1 1
4 4
3 3
124 PERKINS EASTMAN
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BOULEVARD AND PASEOS
• Larger floor plates on Pasadena Avenue face towards transitioning HeART arts and innovation District. A campus like environment enables future employment/ innovation/ mixed with larger institutional or private partners.
• A new street connection at Bellevue Drive provides greater access for potential commercial or institutional campus uses.
• New public open space including water features, natural systems, terraces, and water-based active play spaces, connect south to the Sequoyah School campus. 1 2
1 1
3 2
FIGURE 5.29: BOULEVARD AND PASEOS - INNOVATION AREA N
FIGURE 5.28: ARTISTIC AERIAL ILLUSTRATION OF BOULEVARD AND PASEOS - INNOVATION AREA Del Mar Blvd.

Pasadena Ave.

Waverly Dr.Bellevue Dr.Palmetto Dr.

New Boulevard
3 125

RECONNECTING PASADENA

DESIGN AND LAND USE VISION
Estimated total program area: ~750,000 to 1.1 million square feet

LAND USE DESIGN ATTRIBUTES
TOTAL LAND AREA 473,485 sf
(10.87 ac)
RESIDENTIAL ~200–300 units Flexible land uses. The site can accomodate a variety of uses and typologies.

GENERAL COMMERCIAL,

RESEARCH AND

DEVELOPMENT
up to 75% of
program area
Create a catalyst for the area. Flexible use spaces that enable innovation, research, and arts.

PUBLIC OPEN SPACE ~35% of total
parcel area
Create an active public space that integrates the topography of the stub.

Enable new educational programming.

Urban Form Ideas

1. Buildings line Pasadena Avenue
and give way to open space to
create a sensitive transition to
the single-family neighborhood
to the west.

2. Public open space takes
advantage of the existing
topography with terracing,
public steps, water features and
abundant landscaping.

3. Complete streets are
complimented by paseos,
bridges, and pathways through
the park space.

FIGURE 5.30: INNOVATION AREA BIG IDEAS
2 2
2 3
3 1
1 1
Waverly Dr
Bellevue Dr
California
Del Mar Blvd.

Palmetto Dr
New Boulevard
Pasadena Ave
126 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
TOP FIGURE 5.31: ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATION

OF PROPOSED GARDEN AND TERRACES
- INNOVATION AREA AS SEEN FROM
HAVENDALE DRIVE.

BOTTOM: EXISTING CONDITIONS OF THE
“DITCH” AS SEEN FROM HAVENDALE DRIVE
LOOKING SOUTH.
127

RECONNECTING PASADENA
Landscape as a tool for
Restorative Justice

5.4 Public Realm Strategy
The Restorative Justice Standing Committee (RJSC)
recommended documenting those displaced by
the construction of the SR-710 and I-210. The
following public realm strategy suggests a multilayered landscape network—one that delivers tangible community benefits, including improved
microclimate, cleaner air, and biophilic environments,
while also providing a platform to respectfully honor
the community’s rich and complex history.

The following section focuses on the landscape
strategies that can help build a more just and
restorative environment for all.

FIGURE 5.32: 1952 AERIAL OF THE CITY OF PASADENA ILLUSTRATES SOME OF THE MEANINGFUL COMMUNITY AMENITIES AFFECTED BY THE CREATION OF THE FREEWAYS. SPECIAL RESEARCH COLLECTIONS, UCSB LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA; AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION. PASADENA [AIR PHOTO]. 1:20,000. FLIGHT ID AXJ-1952. FRAME 14K-11. PASADENA, CALIF. 1952. ,
128 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
The RJSC recommends a range of strategies to reinvest
in community wealth. Within the public realm—both
built and natural—there is a powerful opportunity
to invest in the commonwealth: the shared spaces
collectively owned, experienced, and stewarded by the
public.This section articulates the “why” behind the
landscape strategies presented in the remainder of this document. It establishes the conceptual and ethical
foundation that guides the design moves that follow.

Memory Traces
The harm inflicted on the landscape includes the
demolition of homes and buildings. This loss to the built environment can be acknowledged through landscapebased commemorative gestures. For example, the 107 buildings demolished within the 710 relinquishment
area could be translated into 107 distinct landscape
moments. These may take the form of literal imprints
or more abstract, gestural traces—spatial markers that
embed memory into everyday experience.

Ecology as Healer
Two of the major streets crossing the site—Green
and Del Mar—already allude to the region’s broader
ecological identity, connecting symbolically to the San Gabriel Mountains to the north and the Pacific Ocean
to the south.

By investing in the public realm as commonwealth,
the landscape can reference the larger environmental
systems that define the region. Design strategies
may draw from four major ecoregions—Coastal
and Marine, Coastal Plain, Coastal Sage Scrub
and Grasslands, and Chaparral and Scrubland—
positioning ecology not only as context, but as an active agent of restoration and healing.

Commonwealth|Community Wealth
Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and Confire Forest
Chaparral and Scrubland
Coastal Plain, Coastal Sage Scrub and Grasslands
Coastal and Marine Environment
FIGURE 5.33: FOUR ECOREGIONS SUMMARIZE THE ENVIRONMENT OF PASADENA

IN ITS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CONTEXT, FROM HILLS TO OCEAN 129

RECONNECTING PASADENA
A Tripartite Engagement with
the Public Realm: Celebrating,
Weaving, and Pausing
FIGURE 5.34: CONCEPT DIAGRAM FOR A LANDSCAPE OF
COMMONWEALTH AND COMMUNITY MEMORY.

Celebrating
Weaving
Pausing
lifeways
everyday
commemoration
Building on the foundational principles
outlined above, three interrelated expressions:
celebrating, weaving, and pausing describe
landscape interventions. These actions
describe not only design strategies, but the
ways in which the community may engage
with the public realm in the future—through
commemoration, everyday experience, and
the continuity of their lived practices, their
“lifeways.” While each of these expressions
can occur throughout the site, emphasizing
them differently across the areas identified in

5.4. can translate the “why” into spatial and
experiential strategies for the Project Area.

Pausing for Commemoration
Pausing creates intentional spaces for
reverence, reflection, and quiet connection.

It Invites a slowing of movement—of people,
of stormwater, of traffic—and offers moments
where memory and ecology intersect.

South of Del Mar lends itself particularly well to this expression. Here, the site’s natural stormwater detention capacity can be enhanced and paired with recreational
water features. In the Gardens and Terraces scheme, this takes the form of a canal extending into the heart of the community as a blue spine. In the Boulevard and Paseos
scheme, it becomes a park of pools and naturalized
detention areas—spaces where water, landscape, and
reflection converge.
130 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
Weaving the Everyday
Weaving embeds environmental
awareness into daily life. Proposed
green infrastructure replaces the gray
infrastructure that once fractured the
community, transforming it into a visible,
living system.

In the Project’s Central Area, layered
ecologies respond to the site’s
topography, creating immersive green
environments. To the south of Del Mar
interconnected stormwater systems form
a continuous hydrological network. Plant
collections extend shade and soften
thresholds, while stormwater features
manage water locally and connect
to the broader system. Together, they
demonstrate that infrastructure can
be ecological, integrated, and lifesupporting.

Celebrating in our Lifeways
Celebrating acknowledges that individual
spaces—balconies, gardens, courtyards,
shaded walkways—also contribute to the
public realm, they are the space in which
we perform our rituals, embrace our
uniqueness.

In this way, private and semi-private
spaces participate in a collective
network, reinforcing the idea that a
commonwealth is greater than the sum
of its parts. Through everyday acts—
walking, gathering, tending, resting—the
landscape becomes a shared expression
of continuity, resilience, and belonging.

Immersion
Visual Accumulation
FIGURE 5.35: GREEN AND BLUE ECOLOGICAL NETWORKS FORM A HEALING COMMONWEALTH,

SERVING AS THE CANVAS FOR LAYERED LANDSCAPE INTERVENTIONS OF MEMORY AND COMMEMORATION.

THE WAY EACH

INTERVENTION IS WOVEN

INTO THE SPACE CREATES

A SENSE OF CONTINUITY
AND EXPANSIVENESS—

ESSENTIAL TO THE

OVERALL PUBLIC
REALM CONCEPT.
131

RECONNECTING PASADENA
Holly St.

Union St.Colorado Blvd.Green St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

New Boulevard
FIGURE 5.36: PUBLIC REALM FRAMEWORK FOR GARDENS AND TERRACES FIGURE 5.37: PUBLIC REALM FRAMEWORK FOR BOULEVARD AND PASEOS Holly St. Union St. Colorado Blvd. Green St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

Colorado Civic Plaza
Colorado Civic Plaza
132 PERKINS EASTMAN
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Dayton St.

Valley StDel Mar Blvd.Waverly Dr.Bellevue Dr.Palmetto Dr.

N
Dayton St.Valley StDel Mar Blvd.Waverly Dr.Bellevue Dr.Palmetto Dr.

N
Central Area - Linear
Gardens and Terraces
Central Area - Boulevard,
Linear Park and Paseos
Innovation Park
Innovation Park
133

RECONNECTING PASADENA
FIGURE 5.38: GARDENS AND TERRACES
FIGURE 5.39: BOULEVARD AND PASEOS
Celebrating
Weaving
Pausing
lifeways
everyday
commemoration
Holly St.Union St.Colorado Blvd.Green St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

Holly St.Union St.Colorado Blvd.Green St.

St. John Ave.

Pasadena Ave.

New Boulevard
134 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
Dayton St.Valley StDel Mar Blvd.Waverly Dr.Bellevue Dr.Palmetto Dr.

Dayton St.Valley StDel Mar Blvd.Waverly Dr.Bellevue Dr.Palmetto Dr.

NN
135

RECONNECTING PASADENA
Commemoration Landscape Typologies
The commemoration typologies embedded in the
landscape pose a central question: Can common
spaces be designed to serve the everyday needs of
the community while also telling the stories of what
once existed here? A sequence of rocks evokes the
region’s arroyos; a provocative sculpture recalls what
infrastructure once sought to erase.

FIGURE 5.40: LANDSCAPES THAT MIX AMENITIES WITH STORYTELLING.

Landscape Typologies
To guide the deployment of the three
expressions of the commonwealth—
celebrating, weaving, and pausing—
this Plan proposes a series of
typologies within each category.

Typologies serve as organizational
tools, helping translate overarching
values into spatial strategies that can
be implemented across the site.

In the pages that follow, we
define each family of open
spaces and present a curated
catalog of examples. Together,
these illustrate how landscapes
can be intentionally designed to
express commemoration, support
everyday life, and reflect the
community’s lifeways—ensuring
that each intervention contributes
meaningfully to the larger public
realm framework.

FIGURE 5.41: EVERY CORNER OF THE COMMONWEALTH OFFERS A
MOMENT TO PAUSE, REFLECT, AND ENCOUNTER HISTORY.

GREEN VALLEY TOWN SQUARE, NAUCK, VA
136 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
Lifeways Landscape Typologies
The lifeways open space typologies are spaces that foster interaction among community members. They occur at
intersections, within openings in building massing, along thoroughfares, and throughout open space spines. As a
strategy, they pose a guiding question: Can these open
spaces provide safe, healing environments woven into
the development to maximize health, educational, and
recreational benefits?
FIGURE 5.44: LANDSCAPES THAT ENCOURAGE INTERACTION.

FIGURE 5.45: SAFE, PRACTICAL AMENITIES SHARED BY ALL—WOVEN

WITH TRACES OF URBAN PATTERNS THAT CONNECT SITES AND
EVOKE MEMORY.

Everyday Landscape Typologies
The everyday typologies in the landscape propose a new
paradigm for open space design. Can private spaces
within the development—balconies, gardens, building
entries, and gated courtyards—be designed to maintain
their privacy while functioning as an interconnected
network of green and blue infrastructure? In doing so,
they would integrate the entire landscape and remind us of the power of continuity.

FIGURE 5.42: LANDSCAPES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO A LARGER
URBAN ECOLOGY.

FIGURE 5.43: PRIVATE AND SHARED AREAS ARE VISUALLY CONNECTED,

AS OPEN SPACE THEY FORM A CONTINUOUS LANDSCAPE, A
COMMONWEALTH.
137

RECONNECTING PASADENA

5.5 A Visual Catalogue of Special Places

5.5.1 A Place to Live—Residential Inspiration From Around the Region and the Globe
Multiple Levels and Terraces
LA Plaza Village is a 425,000sf mixed-use complex
in Los Angeles Historic District. 355 units with 20%
affordable located in five buildings on multiple levels.

Integrated public features
Housing incorporates ground level support spaces -
restaurants, outdoor dining, street graphics, public
art, special paving, pedestrian plazas, benches,
wayfinding signs.

LA PLAZA VILLAGE
SOURCE: COLLINS MORLEY

DEL MAR STATION - PASADENA
SOURCE: MOULE & POLYZOIDES

IVY STATION - CULVER CITY
SOURCE: KFA, LLP

LA PLAZA VILLAGE - LA
SOURCE: COLLINS MORLEY
138 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS
Sustainability features
Model sustainable development with solar technology
green building features for natural lighting, heating and cooling, and sustainable water systems.

Integrated green spaces
The pedestrian paseo offers programmed events
and activities that connect Garey residents to the
neighboring community.

CLICHY BATIGNOLLES - PARIS
SOURCE: METALOCUS

GAREY BUILDING - APTOS LA
SOURCE: LOWE REAL ESTATE

CLICHY BATIGNOLLES, PARIS
SOURCE: METALOCUS

GARY BRIDGE
SOURCE: LOWE REAL ESTATE
139

RECONNECTING PASADENA

5.5.2 A Place for Arts—Arts, Cultural and Community Uses—Inspiration

THE BROAD MUSEUM
SOURCE: HOOD DESIGN
The Broad Museum
The Broad is sited on site on Grand Avenue in downtown
Los Angeles to act as a cultural anchor, accelerating the revitalization of Grand Avenue into a vibrant, mixeduse district. Since opening, the museum has increased foot traffic, supported nearby businesses, and brought
over $54 million in economic benefits to LA County.

The Broad’s 24,000-square-foot plaza, designed by
Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Hood Design Studio, was
developed alongside the 2015 museum opening to
catalyze downtown L.A.’s pedestrian life. It features a “bosque” of 100-year-old Barouni olive trees, a sunlit
lawn, and unique, salvaged-wood seating to serve as a
public, artistic, and functional, urban landscape.

SHERMAN PHOENIX MARKETPLACE, MILWAUKEE WI
SOURCE: PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES.

Sherman Phoenix Marketplace
In 2016, following civil unrest in the Sherman Park
neighborhood of Milwaukee, the building that is now
the Sherman Phoenix was one of many that were
burned down.

This history transforms it from a simple retail space into a symbol of transformation and triumph, a “phoenix
rising from the ashes.” It represents the community’s
ability to turn fire and water damage into a vibrant
marketplace and business incubator. the Phoenix
operates as a social enterprise. It provides essential
technical assistance and support, going beyond a simple tenant-landlord relationship. This model has struck a
chord because it prioritizes the success of its resident businesses. https://www.pps.org/article/how-to-growhope-legacy-wealth-in-marketplaces 140 PERKINS EASTMAN
SECTION 5 | HUMAN CONNECTIONS

5.5.3 A Place for Learning Environments, Campuses & Innovation—Inspiration YOUTUBE CAMPUS EXPANSION.

SOURCE: EHDD ARCHITECTS.

EXPEDIA HEADQUARTERS
SOURCE: SURFACEDESIGN, INC.

YouTube Campus, Silicon Valley
The landscape design follows a transect from the San
Bruno Mountains to the Bay, incorporating 2.8 acres of
native planting and 445 locally native trees to support pollinators and local biodiversity.

The campus features buildings constructed with a mass
timber framework, which, along with other low-carbon
materials, reduced embodied carbon by approximately
22,000 metric tons. An onsite 391,000-gallon rainwater
cistern captures and diverts up to 1.3 million gallons of water annually for irrigation and plumbing.

An all-electric design supported by 1.4 MW of solar
panels and a 5.3 MWH battery microgrid allows the
campus to operate off-grid for up to five hours daily.

Expedia Campus, Seattle
Expedia Group’s 40-acre Seattle headquarters on Elliott Bay is designed around biophilic principles, achieving
LEED v4 Gold, SITES v2 Gold, and Salmon-Safe
certifications. The campus integrates high-performance
environmental systems with extensive public-facing
waterfront amenities. The campus captures and collects
approximately 95% of all rainwater that falls on-site
through nine rain gardens, four green roofs, and
permeable surfaces. This captured water is recycled into a 12,000-square-foot cascading water feature and used
for landscape irrigation. The design repurposed five
existing lab buildings and salvaged 800,000 square feet of lab equipment.
141

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SPLASH PAD PARK, OAKLAND, CA
Weaving the Everyday

VIADUCT RAIL PARK, PHILADELPHIA, PA (TEMPORARY INSTALLATION) Celebrating in our Lifeways

CALIFORNIA GARDENS AT THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CA

EVERY CORNER OF THE COMMONWEALTH OFFERS A MOMENT TO
PAUSE, REFLECT, AND ENCOUNTER HISTORY.

MC COLL PARK, TENSEGRITY SCULPTURE, CHARLOTTE, NC
Pausing for Commemoration
LIFT EV’RY VOICE AND SING PARK, JACKSONVILLE, FL

5.5.1 Landscape and Public Places for commemoration, celebration and the everyday
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SHADE STRUCTURE AT INTUIT DOME, CLIPPERS ARENA, INGLEWOOD, CA THE BROAD MUSEUM, LOS ANGELES, CA

SOLAR STRAND, BUFFALO, NY BAISLEY PARK, QUEENS, NEW YORK, NY 7TH STREET GATEWAY, OAKLAND, CA AUGUST WILSON HOUSE, PITTSBURGH, PA ALL IMAGES ON THESE PAGES: HOOD DESIGN STUDIO
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RECONNECTING PASADENA

6 RESILIENCY +

SUSTAINABILITY

CONCEPTS
Rebuilding in the SR-710 project area presents a rare opportunity. This former freeway stub can be re-imagined as a climate-positive and healthy community designed to embed resilience, public health, and equity into its physical form from day one.

Rather than retrofitting sustainability onto an inherited urban fabric, the 710-redevelopment can be a
demonstration of what it means to plan for a hotter,
drier, and more carbon-constrained future from the
start. The unique conditions and scale of the Project Area offer a chance for “district-scale” implementation of the Pasadena Climate Action Plan, and can help translate
its targets into place-based, measurable outcomes.

Similarly at leveraging the scale of this multi-block site, the City of Pasadena can deploy shared infrastructure,
achieve cost-effective decarbonization, embed climate
resiliency, and pilot climate strategies that would be
impractical in isolated developments. Relevant to the
710-redevelopment are the city’s current adopted plans
and policies:
• Pasadena Climate Action Plan (CAP): carbon
neutrality, heat resilience, and mode shift
• Pasadena Water & Power Resolution 9977:
100% carbon-free electricity by 2030
• Green City Action Plan and Water Integrated
Resources Plan (WIRP): stormwater capture, reuse,
and groundwater recharge
• ITS Master Plan: safe, low-carbon, and
multimodal mobility
Aligning early with these frameworks reduces regulatory risk, avoids costly future retrofits, and prevents stranded assets—while accelerating progress toward Pasadena’s
long-term climate commitments.

6.1 Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity
The City of Pasadena’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) aims
to build resilient, sustainable communities by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing our carbon
footprint. CAP highlights:

Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Sustainable Mobility and Land Use
Solid Waste Reduction
Water Conservation
Urban Greening
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FIGURE 6.1: ANNUAL THERMAL COMFORT NOW AND FUTURE CLIMATE

6.1.1 THE RESILIENCE CHALLENGE:

PASADENA’S FUTURE CLIMATE
The following environmental conditions must be
mitigated through design:

Extreme Heat. Climate projections indicate that
Pasadena’s “heat stress” days could triple by 2080. The existing condition—now dominated by asphalt, concrete,
and minimal tree canopy—exacerbate urban heat
island effects, increasing cooling demand and publichealth risks.

Air Quality. The Project Area ranks in the 80th percentile for pollution burden according to CalEnviroScreen

4.0. With more than 40,000 heavy-duty diesel trucks
traveling the adjacent corridor daily, exposure to
PM2.5 and nitrogen oxides poses a chronic health risk,
particularly for vulnerable populations.

Acoustic Stress. Continuous freight traffic generates
elevated noise levels associated with sleep disruption, cardiovascular stress, and diminished mental well-being.

These challenges underscore the need for future
design and construction strategies to explicitly mitigate environmental stressors rather than amplify them.
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To address challenges, the 710 Reconnecting Pasadena
Vision Plan focuses on three integrated objectives.

1. Net-Zero-Ready Energy | This section provides
approaches to make the future redevelopment a model
for clean, resilient energy in Pasadena and establishes a roadmap that makes net-zero energy both feasible
and cost-effective. This would also commit Pasadena to
tracking energy use down the line.

2. Climate, Health, and Wellness | This section
describes how to design comfortable, livable
environments year-round and recommends approaches
that mitigate heat, and support cleaner air, acoustic
comfort, and public health from the outset.

3. Water and Resource Circularity | Leveraging the
multi-block nature of the site, intentional planning for the project’s redevelopment offers real opportunities
to treat water, materials, and land as closed-loop
systems, prioritizing conservation, reuse, and
ecological regeneration.

Note: this chapter is not intended to serve as a
comprehensive resilience and sustainability plan.

Instead, it identifies only the core strategies that should guide future project phases, including target setting,
infrastructure investment, and developer requirements,
ensuring that sustainability is foundational rather
than additive.

6.2.1 Integrated Energy and Carbon Strategy
To achieve net-zero performance across the site, the
Project must address two interrelated challenges:

Decarbonization: Electric only energy is balanced
by renewable generation, micro-grids and supports
Pasadena Water & Power’s transition to 100% carbonfree electricity by 2030. This approach will also eliminate fossil fuel emission and insulate the district from future carbon-related costs.

Resilience: As heat stress days increase, electrical
demand and outage risks will rise, making passive
survivability and distributed energy systems essential for public safety.

To meet these challenges, the Vision Plan proposes an
energy hierarchy that front-loads low-cost, high-impact strategies to permanently reduce energy demand while
positioning the district to benefit from California’s
increasingly clean grid and available incentives.

Energy Hierarchy:
• AVOID: Minimize energy demand through
climate-responsive urban form, heat reduction
interventions, high-performance envelopes, and
an all-electric requirement. Include low embodied
carbon in material selection.
• REDUCE: Deploy high-efficiency/heat reducing
building systems and district-scale infrastructure
that shares thermal loads.
• RECOVER: Capture waste heat and maximize onsite renewable energy paired with storage. • MITIGATE: Address remaining impacts through
urban greening and carbon sequestration.

Consider purchasing off-sets.

Four net-zero strategies (see Table 6.1) are structured and described across two scales: district-or site-wide
approaches that leverage the 710 Project Area’s
full extent, and building-specific measures. Each
recommendation has been tested for its estimated
carbon reduction and co-benefits.

6.2 Sustainability Framework
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TABLE 6.1: NET ZERO STRATEGIES FOR THE 710-PROJECT AREA & SCALE OF INTERVENTION

NET ZERO STRATEGY DISTRICT WIDE BUILDING

1. Apply Passive Design
• Street and block orientation &
proportions
• Urban Forest
• Design tight envelopes
• Right size openings
• Provide shading

2. Explore sustainable
mechanical systems
• Municipal waste heat recovery
• Ground source heat exchange
• Thermal storage tanks
• Central Utility Plant
• Require all electric buildings

3. Facilitate on-site generation and
maximize renewable sources
• Microgrid
• Urban Solar
• Battery storage
• Develop energy goals for the Project
• Commit to specific energy goals for
the project
• Rooftop Solar above code
• Battery Storage

4. Plan for embodied carbon reduction
• Minimize cut and fill
• Lower embodied carbon
of infrastructure
• Infrastructure adaptive reuse
• Minimize cut and fill
• Lower embodied carbon of
construction materials
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FIGURE 6.2: PROJECTED ENERGY LOAD (FULL BUILD OUT).

Projected Energy Load (Full Build Out)
kW
kW
Code-compliant peak load
Net zero ready (energy efficiency)
This scenario reflects peak load reduction after adding energy efficiency measures.

Diversified Demand
Actual demand will be diversified across programs. This scenario reflects a conservative diversity factor of 0.85.

Roof Solar
This scenario reflects additional potential for peak load reduction with onsite solar generation and battery storage. -66%
Projected Energy Load Projected Energy Reduction

6.2.2 66% Potential Peak-Load Reduction for
710 Development
Layered energy strategies extend power capacity and
postpone the need for new power generation.

To optimize the energy resilience of the 710 development and minimize the strain on local utility infrastructure, a layered demand-reduction strategy was modeled.

This approach evaluates the compounding benefits of
efficiency and technology:
• Baseline Compliance: A standard codecompliant development. • Efficiency Gains: Transitioning to ‘Net Zero Ready’
building envelopes and systems reduces this
requirement, representing a significant decrease in
initial cooling and heating loads.
• Operational Diversity: By accounting for the
non-simultaneous nature of energy use across the
diverse program types (using a conservative 0.85
diversity factor), the projected actual demand is
further refined.
• Onsite Generation & Storage: The final layer -
integrating roof-mounted solar photovoltaics and
battery storage systems shaves the remaining peak.

The resulting 66% total reduction in peak load is critical for the project’s long-term sustainability. By lowering the peak demand threshold, the development can
effectively extend existing power capacity and postpone the capital-intensive requirement for new district power generation plants. This not only reduces operational
costs but also aligns the 710 development with regional decarbonization goals.
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FIGURE 6.3: BUILDING ENERGY EFFICIENT STRATEGIES.
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6.3.1 APPLY PASSIVE DESIGN FOR

THERMAL COMFORT
Passive design is the most cost-effective and time-tested strategy. At the site planning or district scale this means orienting future streets and blocks to channel prevailing breezes, a robust urban forest and cool-pavement
technology, and provision of architectural features that shade public spaces. At the building scale, passive
design requires intentional building systems—such as
controlled ventilation, right-sized glazing, cool roofs and comprehensive exterior shading.

Collectively, these passive design strategies could reduce projected operational energy use by approximately 30
percent across the full project site while improving
indoor comfort, reducing peak loads, and maintaining
habitability during power outages. Air tight building
envelopes have other benefits—enhancing indoor air
quality and acoustic performance, both key to building
in the Project Area’s freeway adjacent location.
• Recommendation: Further define, and require
passive design performance metrics for the site
above code, such as limits on cooling loads or
minimum shading coverage.
• Recommendation: Include passive design
features into future building design guidance; e.g.
guidelines, regulations, and incentives to encourage
these practices.

6.3.2 EXPLORE SUSTAINABLE MECHANICAL
SYSTEMS | A GAME-CHANGING OPPORTUNITY
Mechanical thermal systems capitalize on load diversity across multi buildings and mixed uses. Waste heat
rejected from one building can be recovered and
used elsewhere, maximizing efficiency and reducing
equipment redundancy. With good planning, a site-wide
thermal loop can be augmented over time as buildings
come online. The team evaluated and identified
the following systems as the most applicable to the
Project Area:
• Ground-source heat exchange
• Waste heat recovery
• Thermal storage
In each instance the City of Pasadena can continue to
evaluate the application of these district-scale systems through a business case and technical study aligned
with future infrastructure and proposed land uses.

Unlike retrofit projects, future utility corridors, sewer alignments, and plant locations can each be planned
in coordination—maximizing performance while
minimizing future disruption.

6.3.2.1 BUILDING SCALE: HIGH-EFFICIENCY, ALLELECTRIC SYSTEMS All buildings in the Project Area should be fully electric, eliminating on-site combustion and aligning with
Pasadena Water and Power’s clean-energy trajectory.

With no existing gas infrastructure, all-electric
construction avoids the upfront cost of new gas lines,
connection fees, and future upgrades—while reducing
seismic risk, fire hazards, and building ventilation
requirements. Studies have deemed all-electric new
construction cost-neutral or cost negative compared
to mixed-fuel systems once avoided gas infrastructure
is accounted for. Furthermore, heat pump systems
deliver two to four times the efficiency of gas equipment, reducing heating energy by 30–60 percent and
operational carbon emissions by up to 90 percent.
• Recommendation: Establish an all-electric building
requirement and set energy metrics, prohibit new
gas infrastructure within the Project Area.

6.3 Net Zero Feasibility
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THE VILLAGE ON FALSE CREEK, VANCOUVER, BC.

THE VILLAGE IS PART OF A NEIGHBORHOOD THAT WAS DESIGNED FOR HIGH ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE.

PASSIVE DESIGN FEATURES INCLUDE SOLAR ORIENTATION WHICH

MAXIMIZES THE AMOUNT OF NATURAL DAYLIGHT AND HEAT GAIN INTO BUILDINGS WHILE REDUCING THE NEED FOR ELECTRICITY GENERATION.

SOLAR SHADING THROUGH OVERHANGS WHICH PROTECT FROM THE

HIGH-ANGLE SUMMER SUN WHILE LETTING IN THE LOWER-ANGLE

WINTER SUN, AND THE LUSH VEGETATION IN ITS COURTYARDS AS NATURAL BARRIERS FOR THE SUN.

PARKLIFE, NIGHTINGALE VILLAGE, AUSTRALIA.

PARKLIFE IF PART OF AUSTRALIA’S FIRST CARBON NEUTRAL
RESIDENTIAL PRECINCT WHICH IS A HIGH-PERFORMING COMMUNITY.

SOLAR SHADING THROUGH OVERHANGS PROTECT FROM THE HIGHANGLE SUMMER SUN WHILE LETTING IN THE LOWER-ANGLE WINTER

SUN, AND AN ENERGY RECOVERY VENTILATION SYSTEM THAT PROVIDES

FRESH AIR WHILE MAINTAINING HIGH ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN AN AIRTIGHT BUILDING.

SOURCE: MERRICK ARCHITECTURE SOURCE: AUSTIN MAYNARD ARCHITECTS 153

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6.3.2.2 DISTRICT SCALE: GROUND-SOURCE

HEAT EXCHANGE
Shallow geothermal systems, or fifth-generation district heating and cooling (5GDHC), are particularly well
suited to Pasadena’s climate. By leveraging stable
underground temperatures and the excavation already
present in the Project Area, these systems can reduce
operational carbon emissions by 50–80 percent,
especially as the electric grid continues to decarbonize.

Comparable projects—from Stockton, California, to
Denver’s National Western Center—demonstrate the
scalability and resilience benefits of (shallow) district geothermal systems, even in warm climates.

Central Utility Plants (CUPs) allow cities, neighborhoods and campuses to achieve efficiencies that are
fundamentally unattainable at the single-building level.

By aggregating heating and cooling loads, recovering
waste heat, and deploying thermal energy storage,
CUPs reduce energy use, water consumption, peak
electrical demand, and greenhouse gas emissions—
while improving resilience and long-term cost stability. • Recommendation: During project design phases,
reserve space to enable future utility corridors for a
Central Utility Plant and thermal storage to serve the
710 Project Area.
• Recommendation: Initiate an early-stage feasibility
study evaluating heat recovery potential, load
diversity, water savings, and phased implementation
aligned with district build-out.

6.3.4 FACILITATE ON SITE GENERATION

AND MAXIMIZE RENEWABLE SOURCES
District energy systems and electrical microgrids enable buildings to share energy, balance loads, and maintain
power during outages. Microgrids can integrate on-site
generation, energy storage, and controls across multiple buildings, operating either connected to or independent from the main grid.

Preliminary massing studies suggest that available roof area could supply approximately 12 percent of site
energy demand through solar PV alone. Case studies
from Pasadena, Santa Monica, UC Irvine, and Stone
Edge Farm demonstrate 20–50% operational carbon
reductions over 10–15 year payback periods. There is
also significant resilience benefits during heat waves and wildfire events
• Recommendation: Reserve physical space and utility
corridors for future district energy infrastructure
and explore an Integrated Energy Services Provider
(IESP) model.
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The following three case studies demonstrate that the
greatest gains in efficiency, resilience, and emissions reduction come from treating energy and waste
streams as shared, district-scale resources. Planning
now for a Central Utility Plant enables the project to
leverage heat recovery from buildings from thermal
storage, and from wastewater- transforming hidden
systems into civic assets and aligning infrastructure
investment with long-term climate goals. Central Utility Plants integrate multiple complementary strategies—heat recovery, thermal storage, electrification, and wastewater energy harvesting—into a single, resilient system. A
CUP that combines load diversity–based heat recovery
(Stanford), thermal energy storage for load shifting
and grid alignment (Google) and municipal and onsite wastewater heat recovery (South East False Creek Neighborhood Energy Utility (NEU)) could significantly
reduce operational carbon emissions, potable water use, and peak electrical demand, while improving long-term
affordability and resilience.

HEAT RECOVERY AND LOAD DIVERSITY:

STANFORD UNIVERSITY
At Stanford University, energy monitoring revealed
that approximately 70 percent of campus heating and
cooling demands overlap in real time, driven by the
diversity of uses across housing, classrooms, and labs
and medical facilities. This overlap creates a powerful opportunity: cooling one set of buildings generates
waste heat that can be captured and reused to heat
others. Stanford’s Central Energy Facility leverages this dynamic through a heat recovery–based district energy
system, dramatically reducing the need for evaporative
cooling and fossil fuel combustion. The system has
achieved significant reductions in natural gas use. Lower reliance on cooling towers and more than 70 percent
STANFORD UNIVERSITY CENTRAL UTILITY PLANT (2015)
SOURCE: HTTPS://SESI.STANFORD.EDU/ENERGY-SYSTEMS/CENTRALENERGY-FACILITY

CASE STUDIES
Central Utility Plants & Thermal Energy Systems—Proven Models average annual water savings, is another critical cobenefit in drought-prone California.

Thermal energy storage further amplifies these benefits.

By heating or cooling water during optimal conditions—
rather than at peak demand—the system smooths load
fluctuations across the campus. This flexibility improves system efficiency, reduces operating costs, and enhances resilience during grid stress events. The future land
uses in the 710 Project Area will likely host a mix of
residential, institutional, commercial, and potentially civic uses with differing occupancy schedules. This
diversity creates the same opportunity for heat recovery and load balancing at a larger scale.
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FULLY ELECTRIC SYSTEMS AND THERMAL
STORAGE: GOOGLE’S MOFFETT

PARK CAMPUS
As Pasadena Water & Power advances toward 100
percent carbon-free electricity, district-scale thermal storage can help the future neighborhood operate in
harmony with the grid—reducing costs while improving
reliability during extreme heat events. At Google’s
Moffett Park campus, a fully electric, fossil-fuel-free energy system demonstrates how thermal storage can
support both decarbonization and grid responsiveness.

The campus relies on four large-scale thermal energy
storage tanks as a core component of its mechanical
strategy. While total energy-use reductions are relatively modest—on the order of five percent—the system’s true
value lies in load shifting. Thermal storage transforms electrification from a liability into an asset, allowing buildings to align energy use with grid conditions rather than exacerbating peak demand.

By operating heating and cooling systems during periods of lower grid carbon intensity and more favorable
ambient temperatures, the campus:
• Displaces more than 5,250 metric tons of carbon
emissions annually
• Significantly reduces peak electrical demand
• Achieves operational cost savings that result in
payback periods under ten years

MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER HEAT
RECOVERY: VANCOUVER’S FALSE CREEK

NEIGHBORHOOD
The False Creek Neighborhood Energy Utility (NEU)
in Southeast False Creek, Vancouver provides space
heating and domestic hot water to a dense, mixeduse neighborhood through a closed-loop district energy network. At the core of the system is a sewage
heat recovery plant that extracts thermal energy from
municipal wastewater—capturing heat from showers,
laundry, and dishwashing that would otherwise be lost.

Heat pumps raise the recovered water temperature to
approximately 176°F (80°C), achieving roughly 320
percent efficiency. This recovered heat supplies about
70 percent of the system’s energy, with a commitment GOOGLE’S MOFFETT PARK CAMPUS. TOP: CONCEPT MASSING; BOTTOM:

PHOTO OF THE BUILT CONDITIONS. SOURCE: WEST8.

CASE STUDIES
Central Utility Plants & Thermal Energy Systems—Proven Models 156 PERKINS EASTMAN
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AT RIGHT: SOUTH EAST FALSE CREEK NEIGHBORHOOD ENERGY
UTILITY (NEU). TOP: FALSE CREEK ENERGY CENTRE; MIDDLE: CONCEPT DIAGRAM OF THE SYSTEM; BOTTOM: AERIAL PHOTO OF SOUTHEAST FALSE CREEK NEIGHBORHOOD.

SOURCE: CITY OF VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA; PERKINS EASTMAN
to transition to 100 percent renewable energy by
2030. During peak demand periods, a renewable gas
boiler provides supplemental capacity. The facility was strategically located beneath a bridge to minimize landuse impacts, and its exhaust stacks were designed as public art—transforming necessary infrastructure into a visible civic asset.

Critically, the NEU is owned and operated by the City
of Vancouver, making it both publicly accountable and
financially self-sustaining. The utility generates a return on investment while maintaining competitive energy
rates, demonstrating that low-carbon district energy can be both economically viable and socially responsible.

The system was designed to be scalable and modular,
expanding in phases as development comes online. This
approach avoids costly retrofits and allows infrastructure investment to keep pace with growth.
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6.3.5 PLAN TO REDUCE EMBODIED CARBON
The carbon embedded in infrastructure systems—streets,
utilities, grading, and water management—will be a
defining component of the 710 Project Area’s whole-life climate impact. Because the district will be built largely from the ground up, early decisions about roadway
construction, utility alignments, stormwater systems, and earthwork have a greater influence on total embodied
carbon than individual buildings alone. Minimizing this impact requires embedding carbon-conscious decisionmaking into infrastructure planning and procurement, not just architectural design. Future development
agreements and public infrastructure contracts should
treat sustainability as a core value by prioritizing:
• Minimized cut-and-fill and balanced earthwork,
reducing hauling, soil and export, and
associated emissions
• Re-use demolition concrete as aggregate as feasible.
• Efficient street and utility layouts that reduce digging, pavement area, and material quantities
• Low-embodied-carbon materials for roads,
sidewalks, pipes, and structures, including reducedcement concrete, recycled aggregates, and optimized asphalt mixes
• Infrastructure co-location and multifunctional
systems, such as stormwater capture integrated into
streetscapes, bioswales, and public spaces.
• Adaptive reuse of existing infrastructure where
feasible, avoiding unnecessary demolition
and replacement.
• Sustainable waste management programs
These strategies will be refined and operationalized
through developer RFPs, infrastructure design standards, and public works specifications, where the greatest
leverage exists to reduce embodied carbon at scale.

Recommendation
• Treat embodied carbon as a primary infrastructure
performance metric. Require embodied-carbon
assessments for major public and private
infrastructure projects—including roads, utilities, and water systems—and establish district-wide carbon
reduction targets aligned with state and regional
benchmarks.
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6.4 Water Circularity & Resilient Water Systems
Water resilience is a core component of community health, climate adaptation, and long-term affordability. As climate change intensifies drought cycles and extreme storm events in Southern California, the 710 District presents a critical opportunity to shift from a linear, supply-dependent water model to a circular water system that prioritizes conservation, reuse, and local resource recovery.

The 710 Project Area has no existing potable water,
sewer, or stormwater infrastructure. Undeveloped from
a utilities standpoint, it requires new connections to
the Pasadena Water Department and municipal sewer
system to support future development. Planning-level
assumptions estimate a full build-out potable water
demand of approximately 707,580 gallons per day
(5,929 acre-feet per year)
The site also functions as a low point within the
surrounding watershed, receiving stormwater runoff
from adjacent roadways and surrounding areas. Runoff
is conveyed through the City’s storm drain system to
the Los Angeles River; however, the existing system
is unable to accommodate 100-year storm events,
creating localized flood risk due to the site’s depressed elevation. There is no on-site stormwater detention,
infiltration, or reuse infrastructure, and any future
wastewater service would require construction of a sewer lift station to connect to municipal sewer lines located at higher elevations.

6.4.1 REDUCE POTABLE WATER DEMAND

THROUGH EFFICIENCY
High-efficiency fixtures, drought-tolerant landscaping, and smart monitoring can reduce potable demand by
20–30 percent.

Recommendation
• Require water-efficient fixtures and smart monitoring to exceed baseline code performance.

6.4.2 WATER REUSE AND ALTERNATIVE SUPPLIES
To move beyond efficiency alone, non-potable
water reuse at both the building and district scales
is encouraged. There are several viable strategies
that can significantly reduce potable water demand
while remaining adaptable to regulatory and
phasing constraints.

Recommendation
• Recycled or greywater for irrigation can be sourced
from city or on-site wastewater treatment systems
• Enable greywater reuse for indoor non-potable
applications, such as toilet flushing and laundry,
enabled through dual plumbing and onsite treatment.
• Rainwater harvesting, integrated with stormwater
detention systems to support irrigation, reduce
potable demand and alleviate the pressure on the
urban stormwater drainage system.

6.4.3 STORMWATER MANAGEMENT, DETENTION,

AND RECHARGE
Stormwater management is both a life-safety issue and
a resource opportunity in the 710 Project Area. Because it lies below surrounding roadways and existing storm
drains cannot accommodate 100-year storm events, an
integrated detention system is recommended to manage
extreme rainfall and reduce downstream flooding.

Rather than treating stormwater solely as runoff to
be conveyed offsite, the Vision Plan prioritizes on-site 159

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FIG 6.4 EXTENT OF STORMWATER FLOWS INTO EXISTING STORMWATER FACILITY.

DRAINS TO

CALTRANS BASIN

CALTRANS BASIN

STORAGE

DRAINS TO SITE
N
TABLE 6.2—WATER USE ASSUMPTIONS
Baseline Water Use 707,580 GPD 5,929 acre-ft/year
Less Additional Conservation (5) 141,516 GPD 1,186 acre-ft/year Total Potable Water Use 566,064 GPD 4,743 acre-ft/year
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capture, reuse, and infiltration. District-scale stormwater strategies include:
• Detention systems integrated beneath green spaces,
streets, or boulevards
• Rain gardens, bioswales, and landscaped
detention ponds
• Permeable paving and smart irrigation controls to
enhance infiltration
• Detention tanks sized for irrigation reuse and
groundwater recharge
These systems reduce pollution loads, support
groundwater replenishment, and create
visible landscape features that reinforce
environmental stewardship.

Recommendation
• Establish stormwater capture and reuse targets
that exceed minimum low impact development
requirements and prioritize multi-benefit
infrastructure that combines flood control, water
supply, and public realm enhancements.

6.4.4 WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND

RESOURCE RECOVERY
Conventional wastewater management relies on
off-site municipal treatment. This will require a new
sewer lift station due to site topography and lack of
existing infrastructure.

Alternatively, the 710 Project Area offers opportunity
to introduce decentralized site-wide treatment for the
whole area. These treatment systems meet sustainability objectives as they enable reuse and recover resources.

These decentralized systems also offer reduced
conveyance needs, thermal heat recovery, and can be
flexibly implemented in phases.

The following decentralized systems were evaluated as
potential solutions for the site at a high level:
• District greywater systems, such as Epic Cleantech,
enabling nutrient and thermal energy recovery
• Blackwater treatment systems (this system was not
selected to move forward)
• Packaged wastewater treatment plants (e.g., Smith &
Loveless, Kubota), offering modular scalability
District- or building-scale greywater systems can treat up to 205,000 gallons per day, supporting irrigation and
indoor reuse while providing educational and visibility benefits for residents and visitors.

Recommendation
• Initiate phased feasibility studies to select an
appropriate district-scale wastewater treatment,
including governance models, lifecycle costs, and
integration with energy systems.
• Require new buildings to demonstrate greywater and
recycled-water readiness, including space allocation,
dual plumbing pathways, and coordination with
public health approvals.
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FIGURE 6.5 ILLUSTRATION SHOWING A RANGE OF SUSTAINABLE WATER TREATMENTS THAT COULD BE INCORPORATED INTO THE PROJECT AREA.

NOTE THAT THIS DIAGRAM ASSUMES A STORM WATER BASIN IS LOCATED BELOW GRADE SOUTH OF DEL MAR AVENUE TO DETAIN AND STORE STORMWATER FLOWS.

6.4.5 REMOVAL OF EXISTING CALTRANS

STORMWATER PUMP
To facilitate future development in the 710 Project Area, the team conducted a conceptual drainage design to
relocate the existing Caltrans detention basin and pump.

This study included:
• Delineation of all drainage areas reaching the
existing basin using best available topographic data
and storm drain mapping.
• Concept level hydrologic analysis using LA County’s
Modrat to conservatively quantify peak flow rates
and volumes.

The analysis found that the vacated 710 Project Area
would continue to need its own detention basin for its
drainage, although in the future, this would be City
controlled and that pumping is likely necessary.

Further work is needed to
• Identify and verify design constraints and
considerations; validate all assumptions to manage
the division of future water stormwater flows
between the City and Caltrans. Further study would
also identify future areas where basins, above or
underground may be feasible.

St. John
Relinquishment Area
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Once an agreement on the overall approach for the
basin removal is confirmed,
• Caltrans and the City of Pasadena can work
together to establish responsibility for ownership and
maintenance;
• Identify additional studies needed- i.e. geotechnical studies, detailed hydrologic and hydraulic analyses
to fine tune designs;
• Identify funding sources for studies, design and
construction and jurisdiction responsibility;
• Identify timing of studies, design, and funding
as relates to the overall 710-redevelopment
project planning, design and expected
construction schedules.

Pasadena
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6.5 Climate, Health, and Wellness
The Vision Plan establishes strategies to address three interrelated challenges:
air quality, noise, and heat. Taken together, these measures position the 710 Project Area as a healthier alternative to conventional freeway-adjacent development—one that actively mitigates environmental stressors rather than accepting them as unavoidable.

Climate resilience at the 710 Project Area is inseparable from human wellness. The legacy of freeway
infrastructure has left the surrounding area exposed
to elevated air pollution, chronic noise, and extreme
heat—all of which disproportionately affect children,
seniors, and other vulnerable populations. Health is a
design responsibility, where urban form, landscape, and infrastructure work together to reduce exposure and
improve daily living conditions. The following strategies ensure that future residents are not merely protected
from environmental hazards, but benefit daily from a
neighborhood designed to support physical, mental, and
social well-being.

6.5.1 AIR QUALITY AND NOISE MITIGATION—

REDUCE EXPOSURE TO AIR POLLUTION
The corridor exposes nearby residents, schools, and
parks to elevated concentrations of fine particulate
matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), pollutants
linked to asthma, cardiovascular disease, and
developmental risks in children. Addressing this
exposure is most critical for sensitive uses such as
housing, schools, childcare facilities, and outdoor
recreation spaces.

The most effective strategies are distance and buffering; e.g. increasing the physical separation between pollution sources and sensitive receptors, while using design to
dilute, filter, and redirect pollutants.

At the planning level, Air Quality strategies focus on
increasing distance from pollution sources, buffering
sensitive uses, and improving filtration. Air-qualityinformed site planning and ventilation strategies should apply to all sensitive uses, supported by exposure
analysis during entitlement and design review.

The following best practice strategies apply to the
Project Area:

Consider Air Quality When Siting Future Land Use
• Consider minimum 150–300 foot setbacks between
the freeway and sensitive uses, informed by
exposure modeling and peer precedent.
• Locate less sensitive uses such as parking,
commercial services, or utility functions closest to the freeway edge.

Create Green Buffer Zones
• Create continuous vegetated buffers and berms
along the freeway interface.
• Use multi-layered vegetation (trees, shrubs, and
groundcover) selected for pollutant interception
and dispersion.
• Integrate buffers with stormwater and habitat
functions to maximize co-benefits.

Future Building Design and Ventilation
• Position air intakes and operable windows away
from the freeway.
• Require MERV-13 or higher filtration for residential
buildings and all sensitive occupancies.
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FIG 6.6 CALENVIROSCREEN TRAFFIC IMPACT PERCENTILE MAP
FIG 6.5 NOISE MAP SHOWING THE PROJECT AREA SOURCE: HTTPS:// NOISE-MAP.COM/HOME/#CONTACT-SECTION
• For schools and childcare facilities, consider
enhanced HVAC requirements, including
advanced filtration.

6.5.2 REDUCE NOISE EXPOSURE
Chronic exposure to highway noise is associated
with increased cardiovascular stress, sleep disruption, and cognitive impacts—particularly for children.

Noise mitigation is addressed through land-use
placement, massing, and façade performance and
can be supplemented by the intentional placement of
noise barriers.

Recommendation
Adopt acoustic performance standards tied to measured
or modeled noise exposure, ensuring mitigation is
tailored to site-specific conditions rather than applied uniformly. The following best practice strategies reduce noise exposure:

Noise Mapping
• Conduct noise mapping to inform land use
placement, building orientation, and façade design.

Strategic Massing and Use Placement
• Place less noise-sensitive uses (parking, commercial, service spaces) closest to the freeway.
• Locate residential buildings, schools, and parks
further from the noise source, shielded by
intervening structures and landscape buffers.

Building Configuration
• Orient buildings so that quieter interior spaces—
such as bedrooms and classrooms—are located on
façades facing away from the freeway.
• Use courtyards and U-shaped building forms to
create acoustically protected outdoor spaces.
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Façades and Barriers
• Establish minimum acoustic performance
standards for façades, including target STC (Sound
Transmission Class) and NRC (Noise Reduction
Coefficient) values appropriate to exposure levels.
• Employ a mix of barrier materials—such as
earth berms, concrete, masonry, wood, metal, or
transparent panels—integrated with landscape
design to reduce visual and acoustic impacts

6.5.3 URBAN HEAT MITIGATION AND TREE
CANOPY—TREES AS ESSENTIAL HEALTH

INFRASTRUCTURE
Urban heat is one of the most immediate and dangerous
climate risks facing Pasadena. Designing streets, parks, and plazas with large canopy trees, shaded walkways,
and planted public spaces is essential to ensuring
that people can safely enjoy the new neighborhood
throughout the day and across seasons.

A strong urban forest delivers multiple, overlapping
benefits: it reduces ambient temperatures, improves
air quality, supports mental health, enhances social
cohesion, and encourages walking and cycling. These
benefits are particularly important in freeway-adjacent communities where heat and pollution burdens overlap.

Pasadena brings a strong foundation to this work.

The City has been recognized as a Tree City USA for
nearly three decades, manages more than 60,000
public trees across 250+ species, and enforces one of
the region’s most robust Tree Protection Ordinances.

Recent increases in annual tree planting paired with an emphasis on drought-tolerant native species signal a
continued commitment to canopy expansion as a climate
resilience strategy.

Public health research consistently shows that
neighborhoods with higher tree cover experience lower
rates of heat-related illness, reduced stress, improved mental health, and better overall health outcomes, even when controlling for socioeconomic factors.

Recommendation
• Establish canopy coverage targets as a binding
planning metric, supported by long-term
maintenance requirements and species selection
guidelines aligned with drought resilience and
habitat goals. The following quantitative canopy
targets are tailored to the district’s climate and
land use mix. While many Southern California
communities average 15–20% canopy cover, higher
targets are both achievable and necessary to
meaningfully reduce heat exposure in this context.

Recommended Targets
• Expanded canopy at the following levels can reduce
local temperatures by 4–7°F, significantly improve
outdoor thermal comfort, and dramatically increase
walking and cycling rates—supporting both public
health and climate goals.
25–30% canopy cover district-wide
30–35% canopy cover for parks, schools, pedestrian
corridors, and key public spaces
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6.6 Leveraging Third-Party Rating Systems
Third-party rating systems provide a structured framework for implementation, verification, and accountability ensuring that Vision Plan goals translate into measurable performance over time.

For the 710 District, district-scale certification systems such as LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED ND)
and the WELL Community Standard offer complementary
pathways to reinforce the City’s climate, equity, and
public-health objectives.

Rather than prescribing a single certification outcome, it is possible to strategically align with the frameworks and metrics of these systems, using them as tools to guide
design, coordinate stakeholders, and verify performance. • Align goals and checklists with LEED ND and WELL
Community credit structures
• Encourage certification for select catalytic projects, or early phases
• Require select credits or performance thresholds
(e.g., air quality, canopy, walkability) regardless of
formal certification
• Use third-party verification to support CEQA findings, grant applications, and public accountability
Potential Benefits
• Reduced Risk: Clear, tested frameworks reduce
uncertainty for developers and reviewers.
• Accountability: Independent verification ensures
performance commitments are met.
• Funding Leverage: Many state and federal
grants prioritize projects aligned with recognized
rating systems.
• Public Trust: Transparent standards build confidence
that health and climate goals are real, not symbolic.

6.6.1 LEED FOR NEIGHBORHOOD
DEVELOPMENT: CLIMATE-POSITIVE URBAN FORM
LEED for Neighborhood Development is specifically
designed to evaluate sustainability at the district scale, integrating land use, transportation, energy, water, and ecosystem health. Its structure aligns closely with the Vision Plan’s emphasis on compact development, shared
infrastructure, and reduced environmental exposure. It
also provides a phased certification pathway, allowing
early design commitments to be locked in while
accommodating long-term build out.

Recommendation: Use LEED ND as a planning and
entitlement alignment tool, referencing its credit
categories to structure zoning overlays, street standards, and infrastructure requirements—without requiring full
certification unless market conditions support it. Key
LEED ND alignments include:

Integrated Land Use and Transportation
• Encourages compact, mixed-use development
that reduces vehicle miles traveled and
associated emissions.
• Supports walkability, transit access, and bicycle
infrastructure—reinforcing the City’s ITS Master Plan.
• Climate and Energy Performance
• Rewards district energy systems, on-site renewable
generation, and reduced operational carbon.
• Supports all-electric strategies and infrastructure
readiness for future decarbonization.
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Heat and Ecology
• Incentivizes tree canopy expansion, green
infrastructure, and heat island mitigation—directly
supporting urban heat and wellness goals.

6.6.2 WELL COMMUNITY STANDARD:

HEALTH-CENTERED NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN
As an alternative or supplementary to LEED, the WELL
Community Standard focuses explicitly on human health
and well-being at the community scale, addressing
air, water, sound, thermal comfort, movement, and
mental health. It complements LEED ND by translating
environmental performance into direct public
health outcomes.
• Recommendation: Reference WELL Community
metrics as health performance benchmarks,
particularly for sensitive uses and public spaces, to
ensure that wellness outcomes are measurable and
verifiable. Key WELL Community alignments include:

Air and Acoustic Health
• Establishes performance-based thresholds for
indoor and outdoor air quality, filtration, and
noise reduction.

Thermal Comfort and Heat Resilience
• Encourages shaded public spaces, heat mitigation
strategies, and passive survivability—critical in a
warming climate.

Active Living and Mental Health
• Promote walkable streets, access to green space,
and social infrastructure that supports community
cohesion and stress reduction.

Equity and Vulnerable Populations
• Emphasizes protection for sensitive uses such as
schools, childcare facilities, and senior housing—
aligning with Pasadena’s public health priorities.

INTERNATIONAL WELL BUILDING INSTITUTE—

THE WELL COMMUNITY STANDARD
US GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL—LEED

FOR CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
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IMPLEMENTATION
+ NEXT STEPS
7 7.1 Feasibility at the Concept Stage
To build in the 710-corridor, the City must assume a
full complement of infrastructure—multi-modal (transitfriendly, vehicular and pedestrian complete streets) mobility improvements, new public spaces, and critical
systems—including potable water and electrical power. It must also rework existing water storage and stormwater
facilities. Implementation of the vision requires a
robust process, conducted over multiple phases with
an estimated duration of approximately 20 years to full build out. Each element must be carefully planned to
support future public and private vertical development
(estimated at 3–3.5 million gross square feet). In
addition to baseline public infrastructure, this Plan
also puts forward a compliment of aspirational public
objectives through its Restorative Justice Framework, and a set of resilience and sustainability recommendations.

To support early-stage planning and provide a rough
understanding of some of the potential costs, the
Consultant team conducted a “Scenario Feasibility
Analysis.” This analysis looked at the “horizontal
costs,” based on the foundational roadway network
assumptions, and preliminary “vertical costs,” based on generalized land uses and buildings (multifamily with
below grade parking).

Additional funding streams and approaches will be
needed to support the type of high-quality, sustainable, resilient, and equitable development the City seeks to
reach its policy goals. The Consultant team found that
in 2025, high construction material costs, elevated labor costs, and sustained high interest rates significantly
constrain the projected development feasibility. These
factors are dynamic. Using the analysis as a framework, the City can revisit assumptions and update feasibility as market conditions, policy priorities, and project designs evolve. Potential land value payments, infrastructure cost sharing, or other public-benefit contributions can be
layered on in subsequent phases. Enabling flexible land uses at this early stage can help to ensure long-term
feasibility, allowing the project to pivot to the market.

7.1.1 Scenario testing for affordable housing
To provide a basis to understand the effects of a
commitment to increased affordability as sought by the
RC Advisory Group, the Project team conducted a series
of sensitivity tests—these test focus on how requirements for affordability both in its depth of affordability and the number of affordable units might impact overall project feasibility. Tests show that the redevelopment must
carefully balance ambition with market realism. Across
all tested scenarios, increases in the share of affordable housing units generally reduce net profit and increase
the required financing gap.
• Residential land uses were assumed in all scenarios
in accordance with the requirements of the City’s
existing Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.
• Sensitivity test scenarios developed to explore higher percentages of residential units (e.g. 75% of the total program is assumed as residential) performed better,
and showed the strongest net profit, equity multiple,
levered internal rate of return (IRR), and resilience to affordability and timing sensitivities.
• However, timing assumptions will strongly influence
feasibility, pushing implementation more towards
shorter phased strategies, as well as additional
clarity needed for future public-sector participation
(non-profit structure, ownership or rental) which is
unknown at this stage of the project.
• Higher commercial shares modestly improve
feasibility, reflecting current demand dynamics and
revenue performance.

7.1.2 Preliminary Roadway Cost Estimating
Table 7.1 shows preliminary infrastructure cost estimates needed to complete a portion of the multi-modal
transportation network envisioned: the “complete streets” roadway program. These estimates include all roadway
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infrastructure within the public right-of-way (streets, sidewalks, curbs, landscaping, light poles, etc.), but do not include major water or utility-related costs, as there is not enough information at this stage to cost those
elements. Horizontal infrastructure costs are not inclusive of future resilience and/or sustainability commitments.

These costs are unlikely to be fully reimbursed by private development under current conditions, indicating a
need for public-sector funding mechanisms, including,
but not limited to, Enhanced Infrastructure Financing
Districts (EIFDs), Community Facility Districts (CFDs), grants, or long-term financing. Table 7.1 shows how
as additional streets are added in the Boulevard and
Paseo’s concept the costs rise. Two versions of the
Boulevard and Paseo’s concept were explored reflecting
various means to rebuild streets; e.g. on fill (building up the dirt underneath) or on a deck; e.g. deck enabling a connected volume of structured spaces below.

7.1.3 Project Revenues
The consultant team quantified the potential increase in property tax revenues associated with a build-out of the proposed development programs, including estimates
of how those revenues could be distributed among the
TABLE 7.1 ROADWAY ONLY INFRASTRUCTURE COST ESTIMATES

COST ESTIMATES

GARDEN AND TERRACES BOULEVARD AND PASEOS
Maintains/adapts majority
of east-to-west bridges
Adds new, and Rebuilds
East-to-West Street on Fill
Adds new, and Rebuilds Eastto-West Streets Slab on Deck Low Range $127 million $235 million $339 million
Estimated Probable Cost $132 million $247 million $355 million High Range $147 million $272 million $392 million
TABLE 7.2 PROPERTY TAX PROCEEDS

GARDEN AND TERRACES BOULEVARD AND PASEOS
Land Use Mix
Assumptions 75% Residential 60% Residential 75% Residential 60% Residential 100-Year Property
Tax Proceeds $12.1 billion $11.4 billion $11.0 billion $10.3 billion Estimated City
Share (20%) $2.4 billion $2.3 billion $2.2 billion $2.1 billion SOURCE: AECOM
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City of Pasadena, Los Angeles County, and other taxing
entities in a typical stabilized year. Preliminary analysis indicates that cumulative 100-year property tax revenues could exceed $10 billion in total, with approximately $2 billion accruing to the City of Pasadena. These long-term revenues represent a significant public-sector return
associated with redevelopment, even in the absence of
near-term land payments (e.g. lease structures).

In addition to property taxes, the project is expected
to generate substantial other public revenues over
its lifecycle, including sales tax, income tax, hotel
occupancy tax (where applicable at nearby sites), and
other transaction-based taxes at the local, state, and
federal levels. Fee revenues, such as permit fees, impact fees, and planning fees, are also anticipated and are
embedded within the construction cost assumptions
used in the proforma analysis. As with all planning-level analyses, these value capture estimates reflect current market conditions and baseline assumptions and will
evolve over time as project design, phasing, policy
frameworks, and economic conditions change.

Determining Next Steps
With City Council’s consideration, and their direction
on vision concepts, the next phases of work will clarify choices. The City will determine the planning process
for entitlement and environmental clearance, project
schedule and phases, and the potential for new
investment partnerships. The Project may be subdivided
into a series of capital projects alongside developer and private sector driven investment. A phased approach to
the Project Area’s development offers benefits. This can help balance the upfront cost of infrastructure needed to support future vertical development. A phased approach
could involve a series of actions, strategies and
partnerships, in addition to new internal city resources and/or management structures. Phased development
could also offer longer hold periods to materially
improve feasibility, and could offer various incremental delivery, long-term ownership and/or public-private
partnership opportunities.

The final redevelopment must also be stewarded
by sustained and coordinated operations—from
maintenance of potential new park facilities to
programmatic activation of this urban neighborhood
within the overall services of the City of Pasadena.

It is anticipated that the City will establish a governance entity to oversee a Finance, Design, Build, Operation
and Maintenance (FDBOM) strategy that generates
community benefit, leverages increased value, and
ensures long-term operational success.

Next steps include the resolution of outstanding
questions—technical, programmatic, and financing
to make the vision into a reality. At high level, these might include:
• Initiate process for entitlements and
regulatory requirements
• Clarify City land contribution assumptions
• Delivery mechanisms: Determine the appropriate
path, e.g. ground lease structure vs. land sales and
related trade-offs between land value, public benefit,
and project outcomes.
• Ensure a delivery mechanism is coordinated with the
Restorative Justice strategy.
• Resolve phasing, funding strategies, and risk
considerations, including assessments of ongoing
city costs of operating the site (public services)
Section 7.2 summarizes the next steps and unresolved
issues for the areas discussed in this Plan. Next steps are organized into Near Term (0-5 years) and Mid Term
(5–10 years).
• Restorative Justice
• Physical Reconnection | Mobility and Circulation
• Land Use Programs and Affordability
• Sustainability Objectives
• Funding and Finance
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FIG 7.1: VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT WILL BE DEVELOPED IN CONCERT WITH NEW INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ROADWAYS, ENERGY, WATER AND POWER FIGURE 7.2: FUTURE PHASES MAY COMBINED BOTH VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL DEVELOPMENTS TO ACHIEVE KEY PUBLIC OBJECTIVES. BLACK LINES ARE AN EXAMPLE OF HOW PHASES COULD BE BROKEN OUT.
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7.2.1 Restorative Justice
Near term actions for Restorative Justice focus on
validation of feasible targets for affordability and other public benefits. The Restorative Justice Framework
commits the City to enable new housing for impacted
communities, and other specialized populations—
students, seniors, and families.

Advisory Group recommendations (yet to be endorsed
by Council) suggest that the City initiate a mechanism
that ties restorative justice goals to the project’s long term redevelopment, offering ideas for a community led
oversight body.

ACTION TIME FRAME

1. Conduct necessary studies to confirm housing affordability targets within the project area’s boundaries. (RJ Element Affordable housing and Affordable Housing Registry) Near-term

2. Build on the work conducted in the Reconnecting Pasadena “Historic Project” to confirm a strategy for the creation, and maintenance of a Restorative Justice “registry” for displaced and impacted community members. Work on this strategy in coordination with appropriate citizenled organizations. (RJ Element Affordable housing and Affordable Housing Registry) Mid-term

3. Initiate a “public realm plan” for the Project Area concurrent with Council direction and identify a site to incorporate a memorial or public art dedication. Mid-term

4. Issue a formal apology from the City of Pasadena (RJ Elements Highway Construction and Historic Acknowledgment) specific to the 710 corridor. Near-term

5. Clarify commitments and projected potential costs associated with RJ elements including remuneration recommendations, to be used in future project financing assumptions. (RJ Element Communities Wealth Generation through Home and Business Ownership) Near-term

7.2 Next Steps
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7.2.2 Physical Reconnection, Mobility and Circulation
Council-approved direction on an initial roadway
network will influence the street and block pattern,
related infrastructure costs, initial project phasing as well as the amount of land available for development.

Clarity on the circulation network is critical to future project implementation as it will also determine earlyphase vehicular capacity that can be accommodated and at what level in the north-south and east-west
directions. Next steps should also include City
coordination with Caltrans to repurpose the SR-134/
SR-710/I-210 interchange to a feasible local-to-regional circulation network that meets transportation goals—
complementing three north-south running streets, and a
full terminus to slow regional traffic.

ACTION TIME FRAME

1. Complete Memorandum of Understanding with Caltrans District 7, defining roles and responsibilities for Projection Initiation Agreements to address I-210/SR-134 ramp closures and reconfiguration.

Evaluate and establish a preferred circulation approach, either the Boulevard & Paseos or the Gardens & Terraces framework, to support regional-to-local connections.

Identify phasing of ramp reconfiguration with Caltrans, followed by required Project Study Reports (PSR) to be prepared by Caltrans.

Near-term/Midterm
2 Coordinate with Caltrans on the “Gateway” parcel for a mobility hub and ancillary land uses. Near Term 3 Encourage Caltrans to address freeway and interchange improvements adjacent to the Project Area to alleviate bottlenecks and improve safety; e.g. means to reduce weaving in the 210-to210 movements.Mid-Term 4 Conduct Measure R Coordination: Update street designs for Pasadena Ave to anticipate its future 2-way street configuration. Identify and design related enabling projects; e.g. assess opportunity for Del Mar Ave on-ramp reconfiguration and/or closure to support early redevelopment project phases.

Near-term
5 Leverage the project’s central location and provide for a local transit circulator/connector to provide transit connectivity to Northwest Pasaenda, Old Pasadena, Huntington Hospital, and other key local and regional destinations.

Mid-Term
6 Initiate a project with Caltrans District 7 to reassign/remove directional signage on I-210 to alleviate through traffic, specifically, signs encouraging travelers to use the SR-710 stub to get to the I-110.

Mid-Term
7 Coordinate with Metro on regional improvements to Memorial Park Station and the No Ho to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project. Mid-Term
8 Coordinate with the former Parsons redevelopment regarding design of Holly Street and plan for the street extension into the future neighborhood. Near-term 9 Develop a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) plan for the area and consider setting up a Transportation Management Organization (TMO) for the project area. Mid-Term/Long Term 10 Continue to explore the potential redesign of Maple Street—as part of multi-modal options for connectivity to key Pasadena destinations. Mid-Term
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7.2.3 Land Use Programs and Affordability
The Vision Plan describes the programmatic attributes,
targeted uses, and urban form vision for three
proposed areas including the potential for up to 1800
housing units of many types. The next step is to create a preferred scenario, identify phased development
projects, with a focus first on residential uses. Additional work must also be conducted to remove the Caltrans
stormwater facility south of Del Mar and plan for the
required new stormwater and electrical infrastructure to complement the new growth.

ACTION TIME FRAME

1. Conduct additional land use planning and programming for entitlement and environmental clearance. Further refine all land use mix assumptions and develop both design and development standards that support cultural programming, educational activities, and commercial use to serve corridor communities.

Near-Term

2. In coordination with future project governance, conduct a residential housing study to determine target household demographics and conduct further testing to determine the location, scale and affordability levels that can be supported in the Project Area, without becoming infeasible.

Target demographics should be inclusive of student, senior and family housing. Consider means to prioritize residential land uses in identified early project phases and explore working with select housing partners.

Near-Term

3. Consider a contiguous 4-acres of new park space on the site, including active and passive programs (sports fields, recreation facilities and learning opportunities) as pert of future entitlement process.

Develop a Public Realm Plan as part of the entitlement process that supports an inventory of additional smaller plaza, park spaces on each block to increase the park and public space allocate to approximately 7 acres.

Near-Term/Mid-Term

4. Coordinate with City Planning on the next General Plan Update (specifically updates to the Land Use and Circulation Elements). Mid-Term
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7.2.4 Sustainability and Resilience
All sustainability and resiliency actions should be
developed and implemented in conjunction with future
land use and comprehensive mobility planning. A policy
decision will be required to commit to “game changing”
and district level solutions explored in the document—
around specifically district energy, and piloting leading technologies reducing the Project’s carbon impact
by half. The Vision Plan encourages exploration of
pioneering, district-level sustainability and resilience strategies that could position the Project as a leader
within the Southern California region.

ACTION TIME FRAME

1. Coordinate with the City of Pasadena Climate Action Plan update, and commit to a net-zero feasible 710 Development. Near-Term

2. Circular Water Planning—Coordinate with Caltrans to identify a new location for the existing stormwater facility and initiate the necessary technical study to size and locate the new stormwater pump(s).

Near-Term

3. Conduct technical studies to plan for “game-changers”—future district scale stormwater and renewable energy strategies and systems such as a Central Utility District, microgrid etc.

Coordinate these findings with the funding and financing plan, with consideration of overall return on investment.

Near-Term/Mid-Term

4. Coordinate with Pasadena Water and Power to allocate space for future battery storage facility in coordination with solar power, and micro grid. Mid-Term

5. Include public health targets in future design guidelines with attention to air quality, noise and extreme heat. Near-Term

6. Commit to sustainability goals and potential Third Party certifications—LEED and /or Well. Near-Term 7 Embed heat mitigation strategies as part of entitlement and development standards (e.g., cool roofs, cool pavement, tree canopy, etc.) Near-Term
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7.2.5 Funding and Finance
The Project Area is well positioned to leverage a
layered funding and financing strategy that combines
development-based contributions, local value capture
tools, and state and federal capital programs. At the
project level, development-based funding sources such
as impact fees, development agreement provisions,
exactions, and direct developer equity and conventional debt represent the most immediately available and
controllable tools. These mechanisms could be directly
tied to project phasing and entitlement and can support a wide range of on-site infrastructure, including streets, utilities, open space, and vertical development.

Land-secured and municipal financing mechanisms
provide opportunities to supplement developmentbased funding and support larger-scale horizontal improvements. Community Financing Districts CFDs
and Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFD)
are particularly strong fits for the site, as they allow the City to capture future value created by redevelopment
through parcel-based assessments or tax increment to
fund infrastructure, public facilities, and transit-oriented improvements. While General Obligation (GO) bonds
and parcel taxes offer broader funding capacity, their
reliance on voter approval and citywide priorities make them less reliable as primary sources.

State and federal programs represent a critical
source of catalytic capital, particularly for affordable housing, transportation, green infrastructure, and
climate resilience improvements. Affordable housing
development can be supported through a combination
of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and taxexempt Private Activity Bonds (PAB). Non-residential and community-serving components of the project may
leverage New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) to support
job-generating commercial and mixed-use development.

Transportation, stormwater, and public realm investments could be especially well aligned with regional, state and federal grant programs, including Measure W, Active
Transportation Program, Prop 1 Stormwater Grant
Program, Urban Greening, and CalFire Urban Forestry.

Some of these programs also support complete streets,
multimodal access, green infrastructure, heat mitigation, and nature-based solutions, all of which are central to reconnecting the site to surrounding neighborhoods.

Larger-scale transportation and infrastructure
improvements may also be eligible for federal credit
assistance through Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) or long-term financing
through Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
Section 108. Collectively, these sources can significantly reduce the local funding burden while advancing equity, climate resilience, and economic development goals.

Overall, the strongest funding strategy for the 710
Project Area is a coordinated approach that aligns
development-based contributions and value capture
tools with targeted state and federal grants and
financing programs. This approach enables the City
to maximize leverage, phase infrastructure investment
alongside development, and align funding sources with
specific project components.
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ACTION TIME FRAME

1. In conjunction with a Reconnecting Pasadena governance structure, explore the formation of funding and finance powers and opportunities, including, but not limited to, a taxing district (Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District) to help finance the long-term build-out of the area.

Near-term

2. In conjunction with a Reconnecting Pasadena governance structure, develop a financing plan and coordinate with potential grants, partners and state level objectives.

As part of the above, identify funding streams and public private partnership approaches to support high-quality, sustainable, resilient, and equitable development goals—including community and cultural facilities, learning centers, and intergenerational spaces.

Near-term

3. Identify and fund critical enabling projects with a positive cost/benefit outcome for the City of Pasadena. Near-term/Mid-term
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1 Reconnecting Pasadena 710 Vision Plan
Recommended Restorative Justice Elements by the Restorative Justice Standing Committee (RJSC)
*For the purposes of this document, “DISPLACED COMMUNITIES” is defined as people and their descendants who were forced to move due to the construction of the 710 and 210 freeways. This includes those displaced from neighborhoods within the parameters of the 710 and 210 freeway bounded approximately by Northwest Arroyo/Woodbury to the north, Mentone/Montana to the northeast, St. John Avenue to the west, and Pasadena Avenue to Columbia Street on the east, or other institutional policies, practices, and projects that contributed to segregation, including housing discrimination, redlining, and the redevelopment of the central business district and adjacent areas. **For the purposes of this document, “IMPACTED COMMUNITIES” are adjacent to those that are negatively impacted, but not displaced by the 710 & 210 parameters as stated above.

Eligibility for specific recommendations are reflected in the element’s recommendations below. 2 Restorative Justice Element RJSC Recommendation

1. Highway Construction The Restorative Justice Standing Committee (RJSC) acknowledges that the City of Pasadena recognizes the harm caused by the construction of the SR-710 and, through the Reconnecting Communities Planning project, is working to recognize and address this harm.

2. Policy Adoption The City should consider the RJSC’s revised restorative justice elements for application to the 710 Vision Plan project and to the entire City where applicable. Prioritizing measures that prevent future harm caused by infrastructure or policies to impacted or vulnerable communities in Pasadena.

3. Historical Acknowledgement 1. A formal public acknowledgment of harms and an apology from the Mayor on behalf of the City of Pasadena. We also encourage apologies from other government entities, involved in the displacement of the impacted communities (e.g. State and Federal government).

2. The creation of permanent programmable and publicly accessible physical space reflective of the community, that brings to life the cultural, and physical aspects of the community that existed before the construction of the SR-710, and triggers reflection of cultural histories for the future.

3. The creation and inclusion of an educational or performing arts component, based on the history of the 710 Stub area, in the curriculum of local schools and/or libraries. 3 Restorative Justice Element RJSC Recommendation

4. Hard Infrastructure The City should prioritize circulation and mobility options for the 710 Vision Plan project that prioritizes infrastructure connectivity with the historically redlined Northwest section of Pasadena. Creating infrastructure that will foster involvement and movement to and from impacted communities and the entire City into the proposed 710 Stub area and related community engagement events or opportunities.

5. Restorative Justice Community
Oversight Committee (RJCOC)
While the RJSC recognizes that the decision-making power in Pasadena lies in the hands of the City Council, it understands the importance of open dialogue with impacted communities** in the development of the 710 Stub area. This should be a structured and inclusive process where impacted community members are actively heard, allowing them to share their experiences, express concerns, and articulate their aspirations for their community, even if the community isn't a formal or final decision-maker.

What is the Restorative Justice Community Oversight Committee? The Restorative Justice Community Oversight Committee (RJCOC) is a body of community stakeholders that will be responsible for ensuring that all aspects of implementation of development of all matters pertaining to the 710 Stub will be consistent and will follow all the RJ Elements of the RC 710 Vision Plan.

The RJCOC will play an essential role in ensuring the success and accountability of the project. Working in close coordination with the Planning Commission, the RJCOC will be integrated into the process at a key stage to help keep the project on track and aligned with community expectations.

The RJCOC is responsible for reviewing project plans prior to their presentation to the Planning Commission and City Council, providing early input and oversight. The committee will be actively involved in all aspects of the project, offering guidance, raising concerns, and ensuring transparency throughout the planning and implementation phases.

This is a stipend-based position, requiring a significant time commitment.

Specific recommendations include:

1. Creation of a RJCOC appointed by the City Council, with at least 51% of the members being descendants and/or a representative of those displaced or impacted by the construction of the SR 710 freeway and 210 freeway (between Northwest- 4 Arroyo/Woodbury, Northeast- Mentone/Montana, West-St. John, East Pasadena Ave to California Street). The priority criteria for RJCOC selection of the 4-year term must include the following:
a. Representation of the displaced, descendants and those that were directly harmed or their designated representative (51%) and those that no longer reside in Pasadena.
b. Representative demographics and ethnicity as specified in the UCLA report Representation of each City Council District
c. Individual or professional skills
d. Renters

2. The RJCOC will facilitate and ensure impacted communities participate in an inclusive open dialogue process meant to guide the implementation of the 710 Vision Plan project.

3. To enable participation, the RJCOC will be tasked with creating a registry of those displaced by the partial construction of the 710 freeway within the parameters listed above and other institutional policies, practices, and projects that contributed to segregation, including housing discrimination, redlining, and the redevelopment of the central business district and adjacent areas for identification, of right of first opportunities outlined in the remainder of the document.

6. Community Benefits Planning
Framework
Meaningful, measurable community benefits, such as equitable labor practices, affordable housing, or shared public spaces, should be delivered and maintained. Legal agreements to be considered include, but are not limited to, Disposition and Development Agreements, Ground Leases, and Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs). City policies applicable to the entire 710 stub area, such as Specific Plans, may also apply. These instruments are legally binding and commonly used in development negotiations. Ultimately, the City Council serves as the final decision-making authority and signatory to any agreements.

Specific recommendations include:

1. Based on the Restorative Justice Elements, a matrix of the anticipated community benefits will have been received by the end of the project. The matric will include all of the different types of benefits outlined in this document, the potential funding sources of the benefit, and the timeline.
5 2. RJCOC to receive copies of each legal agreement signed by the City, along with a summary of the community benefits included in the agreement, the mechanism for enforcement, applicable penalties outlined by the RJCOC (to be determined), and the implementation schedule. RJCOC shall also have the capacity to monitor compliance with these agreements, including reviewing progress, identifying non-compliance, and recommending corrective actions to the City Council as needed. 6 7. Communities Wealth Generation
through Home and Business
Ownership
The City should prioritize housing affordability, but more importantly, home and business ownership as part of the implementation of the 710 Vision Plan. The RJSC believes home ownership is a vehicle for wealth generation. Displaced Community members at various levels of affordability should have access to priority home ownership and/or business ownership incubator programs. The approach recognizes that lasting economic justice requires not only jobs and services but also asset-building, ensuring that community members can own property, build equity, and remain rooted in their place.

Specific recommendations include:

1. The focus of community wealth generation through home or business ownership must be on displaced homeowners, renters, and non-profit, business owners and institutions affected by the construction of the SR-710 and I-210 freeways, as well as other institutional forces such as land-use regulations, redlining, and racially restrictive covenants, regardless of age or income level. Displaced communities include institutions and businesses that were also displaced.

2. The RJSC aims to make community wealth generation accessible to all Impacted communities by providing a range of ownership opportunities across various income and age levels and by ensuring access to homeownership opportunities for low-, moderate-, middle-income households and above. They support ownership models that allow for upward mobility and neighborhood stability. Some homes may contain covenants that ensure a constant inventory of affordable housing while also requiring a portion of housing units in all sizes, allowing for the eventual resale to help residents build equity. a. The total housing benefit for Targeted Beneficiaries will be valued at least $25M 2025 dollars, or 1% of the estimated value of the housing and commercial, whichever is higher. These housing benefit dollars can be used for any of the programs listed below, or any additional programs developed by the City and the RJCOC. These housing benefit dollars are meant to be in addition to the value of the 20% set-aside, in-lieu fees and any external subsidies, such as tax credits. b. Financing for the proposed 1% of estimated housing benefit dollars should be included in first round of tax increment financing, infrastructure bonding or other financing tools.
7 c. Prior to initiating the project, a survey shall be completed of Displaced Communities, to determine the optimum affordability and size mix that would meet the needs of the greatest number of interested and qualified buyers and renters.

Based on this information, the RJCOC will work with the City to define recommended affordability levels (15% ownership affordable and 20% rental affordable) and unit sizes for the affordable for-sale and rental homes in the 710 Stub area, within the parameters of what is typically finance-able.

3. The RJSC strongly believes in creating generational wealth through education, scholarships, internships, and other workforce-development opportunities, with priority given to the project's impacted communities. Opportunities for workforce development should be tied to the CBA, other mechanisms and RJ elements.

4. Additional research will be conducted to identify the mechanism to administer the funds the Community Trust will provide support for eligible individuals and projects within the impacted communities by providing such as but not limiting to:
a. The proposed 1% of estimated housing benefit dollars, referenced above in 2a will also fund remuneration to homeowners, business owners, and institutions displaced by the 710 freeway. Remuneration payments will be calculated to be approximately $150k based on the 1% estimated housing benefit calculation and the number of businesses, institutions, and residents displaced identified in the Architectural Resources Group report. Additional data and verification is necessary to identify, locate and determine the number of qualified participants and the potential cost of this entire proposal.
b. Forgivable second mortgages
c. Business loans
d. Educational scholarships
e. Tuition assistance
f. Grants to impacted or displaced cultural institutions 8 8. Affordable Housing and
Affordable Housing Registry
Create an affordable housing registry for individuals displaced by the 710 and 210 freeways, serving as a mechanism to facilitate accessibility to affordable housing for those on the registry. The system will use marketing to notify qualified communities about housing stock availability, ensuring a transparent and seamless application process and emphasizing that 25-35% of affordable housing units built in the 710 Stub Area shall be affordable, as well as the development of workforce housing units.

1. The City will create an eligibility registry for affordable housing in the 710 study area. The registry will prioritize those who are eligible, with Displaced Community members and their descendants at the top of the list, followed by other Impacted Community members. Those at the top of the list will have the first right of opportunity to rent or purchase a home in the 710 Stub area.

2. A survey of Displaced Communities shall be conducted to determine the optimal mix of affordability levels, unit sizes and types. Based on the survey findings, the RJCOC will collaborate with the City to recommend affordability targets— ex. 15% affordable ownership and 20% affordable rental—as well as appropriate unit sizes, including familysized units with three or more bedrooms, that would best meet the needs of the greatest number of interested and qualified buyers and renters of for-sale and rental homes in the 710 Stub area. The creation of affordable housing will be responsive to internal/external subsidies available and prioritized at the Federal and State funding levels. a. Displaced Homeowners - Persons who previously owned and occupied the 710 properties at the time it was acquired by the state and were displaced due to the project.
b. Displaced Renters (Including Impacted Communities) - Individuals who rented and were displaced from the area because of the construction of the SR-710 freeway. c. Adjacent Displaced - Individuals displaced by Parsons, Ambassador Auditorium, Pepper Street Project, and the Norton Simon Museum.

9. Business Development Support The City should provide or increase the existing 5% bid preference for certified small businesses in procurement and contracting for development in the 710 Stub area. Additionally, creating mechanisms to facilitate the use of local training and hire programs for the local workforce requirements. Impacted communities or those harmed who no longer reside in Pasadena are also eligible to participate.

Specific recommendations include but are not limited to:

1. The Restorative Justice Community Oversight Committee (RJCOC) will work with City staff in building a local business database and maintaining a certified registry of impacted 9 community businesses owned by individuals or families displaced by the construction of the SR 710.

2. Request for Proposals (RFPs) will be created to prioritize accessibility, encourage participation from local and small businesses, and maximize the likelihood of success.

3. Access to micro-loans, working capital, or mobilization funding for businesses preparing to fulfill contracts.

4. Require or incentivize prime contractors and developers to subcontract with impacted community businesses, where possible utilize materials sourced from local suppliers.

5. Facilitate joint venture partnerships that benefit all types of business structures including co-ops and intentionally cultivating business districts that support displaced business populations.

10. Workforce Development The City should include the impacted communities and those who were harmed, even if they no longer reside in Pasadena, in any training or workforce development programs created as a result of the RJSC's work.

Specific recommendations include:

1. At the direction of the RJCOC City staff (EDD) will develop a local business database and maintain a certified registry of impacted community businesses owned by individuals or families displaced by the construction of the SR-710, even if they no longer reside in Pasadena. The creation of a partnership with existing businesses in Pasadena as well as new businesses in all industries occupying the 710 Stub area to train and develop impacted communities. Training and employment percentage requirements will be part of the CBA that will cover the entire 710 Stub area.

2. Business interventions should include training programs in project management, compliance, and finance.

3. Facilitate mentorship or joint venture partnerships between large firms and small, local, disadvantaged businesses.
1 Appendix X
Restorative Justice Framework and Policy - DRAFT
Table of Contents
Control + Click to jump to section
Section Content
Section 1- Executive Summary Summarizes the key takeaways from the Restorative Justice Framework (RJF).

Section 2 – Project Context Provides context for the specific harms that the RJF intends to address.

Section 3- Methodology Outlines the methodology to develop the RJF.

Section 4- Background Describes the approaches and theories of restorative justice that informed this process
Section 5- Defining PasadenaFocused Restorative Justice Introduces Pasadena’s working definition of restorative justice for the SR-710 master plan. This includes a set of guiding principles that ground this work and support the case study analysis and identification of promising practices.

Section 6- Restorative Justice
Elements
Establishes elements of restorative justice that the City may employ. This includes interventions that address the following:
(1) acknowledging the past, (2) establishing inclusive
processes, (3) focusing on equitable outcomes, and (4)
promising tools that support the City’s restorative justice goals.

Section 7- Restorative Justice Case
Study Analysis
Analyzes case studies to surface relevant examples of how other jurisdictions have applied concepts of restorative justice.

The case studies will be part of the final Restorative Justice 2 Framework, informing recommendations, best practices, and pathways for the City of Pasadena’s consideration.

Section 8- Pasadena- Focused
Restorative Justice Promising
Practices
Summarizes input from the 710 Advisory Group, 710 Advisory Group subcommittees, and the broader public. This section informs the prioritization of the restorative justice elements and recommendations.

Section 9- Recommendations:

Outlines recommendations to inform the City’s Reconnect Pasadena Master Plan process. Together, these items will act as the north star for the RJF.

1. Executive Summary
Introduction
Estolano Advisors (EA) developed a Restorative Justice Framework (RJF) for the City of Pasadena to inform its redevelopment of the 710 “stub.” The research was grounded in theoretical, historical, and case study analyses, with the goal of producing a tool that helps the City of Pasadena weigh land use, development, sustainability, and mobility options. To support the planning process, the consultant team worked with the City of Pasadena and project stakeholders to develop the following: (1) a working definition of restorative justice, (2) an overview of key restorative justice themes and promising practices; (3) a list of key restorative justice elements to help weigh options and measure success; and (4) a set of case studies that contain relevant best practices for the City of Pasadena. Using these inputs, the consultant team created a list of recommendations to inform the City’s next steps.

Pasadena's Restorative Justice Definition
The guidance and feedback of several stakeholders – including representatives from City Council, city staff, and the 710 Advisory Group – informed Pasadena’s working definition of restorative justice:

Restorative Justice takes action to address past harm caused by construction of the 710 freeway in Pasadena. It seeks to identify, acknowledge, remedy, and respond to these harms through open and responsive engagement with impacted communities with the goal of developing meaningful community-identified solutions for City Council’s consideration.

Key Themes
EA reviewed academic literature to guide the development of Pasadena’s RJF and surface key themes. Restorative, transformative, and reparative planning frameworks are theoretical 3 approaches developed to address harms such as displacement, gentrification, and environmental injustice.

Remedy, healing, restitution, and reform are key themes for these planning approaches.

They emphasize the needs of unfairly burdened communities and ask decision-makers to examine – and address – the underlying conditions that harm marginalized groups.

Participants may define success by evaluating the depth of community engagement, the inclusivity of the decision-making process, as well as the outcomes for priority populations Restorative Justice Elements
The literature review informed the development of practices, interventions, and approaches that ground Pasadena’s Restorative Justice Framework. These elements highlight model policies, inclusive processes, and holistic evaluation criteria from across the country. For Pasadena, these draft Restorative Justice Elements can be used to examine alternatives, articulate priorities, and ensure alignment between community members and local government.

The Restorative Justice Elements are grouped into four categories:
• Past: acknowledging historic harms
• Process: fostering inclusive engagement to ensure community priorities and preferences are clearly defined
• Outcomes: evaluation frameworks to measure progress
• Tools: promising policy interventions that support more equitable outcomes Within these four categories, there are 12 elements:
1) Historical Acknowledgement (past): The project connects to the historical legacy of a project that harmed a marginalized community. The history of the project is acknowledged, documented, and incorporated in future planning efforts, with an eye for creating interventions that respond to historic inequities. 2) Open Dialogue (process): A formal mechanism whereby impacted community members are heard. This allows them to air grievances with the expectation that decision-makers will take action to address their issue(s) and recognize the importance of their lived experiences.
3) Clear Feedback Process (process): The project has a transparent and accessible mechanism for community members and local leaders to provide feedback.

Community members have a clear understanding of how their input will be considered and incorporated into the final product.
4) Co-Creation Planning (process): The planning process is collaborative and considers the community as a designer and decision-maker. It acknowledges that community members are well-equipped to articulate what they want to see in their community.
4 5) Support Community Oversight (outcomes): The project gives community representatives an official supervisory duty, formally establishing their role in the implementation process.
6) Impacted Communities Wealth Generation (outcomes): The project articulates an inclusive approach to economic development. It specifies how wealth is generated, who stands to gain financially, and identifies the populations that are typically excluded. It includes mechanisms for impacted low-income communities to share in the project’s economic benefits.
7) Legislative Action (outcomes): The project led to or was built upon by formal legislative response of a governmental entity, usually a City Council, in the form of city ordinances or resolutions. Examples include, updating the approach to community engagement for all planning projects, adopting policies that require community benefits agreements when certain conditions are met, and/or formalizing mechanisms that enable community members to formally prioritize investment priorities (e.g., participatory budgeting). The key component of this element is the government body taking direct action through their legislative authority. 8) Community Benefits Agreement (tools): A legally binding agreement between community representatives and a developer that defines specific benefits. These may include construction and operations labor standards, provision of community spaces, and/or affordable housing requirements.
9) Affordable Housing (tools): The project includes required affordable housing units. 10) Procurement Intervention (tools): The project requires the inclusion of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) and Minority/Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WMBE).
11) Small Business/Workforce Investment (tools): The project integrates a workforce training and/or small business development program for community members and entrepreneurs.
12) Hard Infrastructure (tools): The project includes specific multi-modal transportation improvements, open spaces and urban greening, sustainability enhancements, climate resilient infrastructure, and monuments.

Case Study Profiles
The consultant team used the elements listed above to evaluate promising practices in other jurisdictions. As part of the case study research, the consultant team identified projects from across the country that are pursuing inclusive, large-scale redevelopment projects like Pasadena’s. Researchers used the elements to evaluate case studies and surface projects, policies, and outcomes that were most aligned with Pasadena’s stated goals. Based on this analysis, three key case study profiles rose to the top:
• Portland, OR - Broadway Corridor Community Benefits Agreement:

The project area is a 32-acre site, 14 of which is a former United States Postal Service site and is located within the Central City in northwest Portland. It has the potential to create nearly four million square feet of new economic, business, social, and community development opportunities. Prosper Portland is pursuing the planning and redevelopment of the Broadway Corridor with an intentional focus on 5 ensuring that all communities have an opportunity to engage in and benefit from its redevelopment. Robust community engagement informed the approved Master Plan that will guide future development and priorities for public benefits via public and private investment.
• Portland, OR – I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project:

The I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project will construct a cap over a portion of I-5 that displaced members of the Black and Japanese Albina neighborhood in the 60s and 70s. These Reconnecting Communities projects support the reconnection of the previously displaced Northeast Albina neighborhood. This project will build a highway cover, new streets over the highway to connect existing streets, a pedestrian bridge, ramp to ramp highway connections, and relocate the I-5 South-bound off ramp to increase mobility, safety and connection in Northeast Albina. Benefits include improving safety and mobility on local streets, creating new space for community development, and developing a diverse and skilled workforce. • St. Paul, MN – Reconnect Rondo:

This project aims "to create Minnesota’s first African American cultural enterprise district connected by a community land bridge."i The aim is to repair, restore, and revitalize the Rondo neighborhood and address the racial disparity gaps in Minnesota. The project's benefits will help improve the realities for African Americans in Minnesota while addressing the historical harms inflicted by the construction of the I-94 freeway. The concept for this project is "restorative development," where the project provides new housing, jobs, business, and nonprofit workspace. Ultimately, the goal is to inclusively grow Rondo’s economic base and increase the City's revenues by $3.8 - 4.2 million annually.ii
Promising Practices for Pasadena
This section analyzes community input and the current utilization of the restorative justice element in Pasadena. This will incorporate landscape research, additional landscape research on the Pasadena context, and key information from the Reconnecting Pasadena Master Plan process to articulate the applicability of the restorative justice element.

Here are current examples of each restorative justice element and its utilization in the City of Pasadena.

Restorative Justice
Element Definition Current Utilization in Pasadena
Open Dialogue (OD)
A formal mechanism
whereby impacted
community members are
heard. This allows them to
air grievances with the
Our Pasadena- Putting the
Plan in Motion
The City of Pasadena’s
Planning and Community
Development Department
6 expectation that decisionmakers will take action to
address their issue(s) and
recognizes the importance
of their lived experiences.
launched the Our Pasadena
Plan in 2018. The process
has included a series of
community open houses and
rounds of community
workshops to collect input
on the City’s General and
Specific Plans.

Clear Feedback
Process (CFP)
The project has a
transparent and accessible
mechanism for community
members and local leaders
to provide feedback.

Community members have
a clear understanding of
how their input will be
considered and
incorporated into the final
product.

Reconnecting
Communities 710
Advisory Group (RCAG)
The RCAG was formed by
the Pasadena City Council
and members appointed to
provide a mechanism in
Pasadena’s planning
process that creates
opportunity for residents and
local stakeholders to weigh
in, give feedback to the
ongoing process, and advise
council members.

Co-Creation
Planning (CCP)*
*This is a very high bar
requiring community members
to have decision-making
authority in the process.

The planning process is
collaborative and
considers the community
as a designer and
decision-maker. It
acknowledges that
community members are
well-equipped to articulate
what they want to see in
their community.

None
Historical
Acknowledgement
(HA)
The project connects to the
historical legacy of a
planning or development
project that harmed an
under-resourced or
marginalized community.

The history of the project is
acknowledged,
documented, and
incorporated in future
Historic Report on the SR710 Displacement
Part of the City of
Pasadena’s scope for the
710 Planning process
includes the Historic Project
work led by three
consultants, ARG, Allegra,
and UCLA. ARG will
document the demographics
7 planning efforts, with an
eye for creating
interventions that respond
to historic inequities.
of the people displaced &
number, types of buildings,
and institutions. Allegra is
tasked with identifying
persons or descendants of
persons displaced or
impacted by the construction
of the 710 freeway. UCLA
will document the impact the
construction of 710 and 210
freeways had on the
Pasadena community by
analyzing census data from
1950 to the present and
other factors like redlining,
racial covenants, and urban
renewal.

Impacted
Communities
Wealth Generation
(ICWG)
The project articulates an
inclusive approach to
economic development. It
specifies how wealth is
generated, who stands to
gain financially, and
specifies the populations
that are typically excluded.

It includes mechanisms for
impacted low-income
communities to share in
the project’s economic
benefits.

Pasadena Local
Preference and Priority
System Guidelines
The City of Pasadena
outlines preference and
prioritization requirements to
allocate affordable housing
units. Sixth priority is given
to households that have
been “involuntarily
displaced” from the City.
*Although California’s Prop
209 bars public agencies
from giving preference
based on race or gender,
preference to directly
impacted community
members is not.

Support Community
Oversight (SCO)
The project gives
community representatives
an official supervisory duty,
formally establishing their
role in the implementation
process.

None
8 Community
Benefits Agreement
(CBA)
A legally binding
agreement between
community representatives
and a developer that
defines specific benefits.

These may include
construction and
operations labor
standards, provision of
community spaces, and/or
affordable housing
requirements.

Heritage Square Senior
Apartments – Local
Benefits Plan
Housing developers
negotiated a local benefits
plan with the Fair Oaks
Project Area Committee to
codify community benefits
including workforce,
contracting, and housing.

Affordable Housing
(AH)**
**Can be part of CBA
The project includes
required affordable
housing units.

PMC 17.42.040-
Inclusionary Housing
Ordinance
Pasadena’s Zoning Code
requires 20 percent of
residential dwelling units in a
project be sold or rented at
an affordable rate.

Procurement
Intervention (PI)
The project requires the
inclusion of Disadvantaged
Business Enterprises
(DBE) and
Minority/Women-Owned
Business Enterprise
(WMBE).

Pasadena First Buy Local
Where applicable, the City of
Pasadena offers a 5 percent
bid preference to certified
small businesses and local
businesses in procurement,
contracting, and hiring
efforts. Prop 209 precludes
preferences for minority or
women-owned businesses
in public contracting.

Small
Business/Workforce
Investment (SBWI)
The project integrates a
workforce training and/or
small business
development program for
community members and
entrepreneurs.

First Source Hiring
Program – This is a
program that creates
voluntary and mandatory
local hire requirements for
development projects.
9 Hard Infrastructure
(HI)
The project includes
specific multi-modal
transportation
improvements, open
spaces and urban
greening, sustainability
enhancements, climate
resilient infrastructure, and
monuments.

Reconnecting Pasadena
710 Master Plan Process –
This project seeks to
“enhance connectivity,
mobility and quality of life” in
and around the 710 Stub
through “transportation
infrastructure, economic
opportunities, cultural
attractions and green
space.”
Legislative Action
(LA)
The project led to or was
built upon by formal
legislative response of a
governmental entity,
usually a City Council, in
the form of city ordinances
or resolutions. Examples
include, updating the
approach to community
engagement for all
planning projects, adopting
policies that require
community benefits
agreements when certain
conditions are met, and/or
formalizing mechanisms
that enable community
members to formally
prioritize investment
priorities (e.g., participatory
budgeting). The key
component of this element
is the government body
taking direct action through
their legislative authority.

None
Based on the current utilization in Pasadena and community prioritization, here are the elements in which the City has the most opportunity to build promising practices. • Affordable Housing (AH): The current provision of 20% affordable housing in Pasadena’s zoning code presents an opportunity to steward the development of 10 more housing for Pasadena’s most vulnerable residents. The City could increase this provision through the 710 Master Plan.
• Historical Acknowledgement (HA): Akin to the ReConnect Rondo case study, the City of Pasadena could issue a formal apology codified through City Council acknowledging the harm caused by the construction of the freeway interchange that connected SR-710, SR-134, and I-210. The harm cited could include findings from the Historic Project work led by three consultants, ARG, Allegra, and UCLA. • Community Benefits Agreement (CBA): Similar to the Portland Broadway Corridor Community Benefits Agreement, the City could codify through City Council a community benefits plan to ensure all Pasadena residents have the opportunity to benefit from the subsequent development of the Site. Benefits could include but are not limited to provisions to promote workforce construction equity around hiring and wages, targeted procurement requirements for disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE), and affordable housing requirements.

2. Project Context

2.1 – The 710 Harm
As part of the master planning process, UCLA historical researchers used quantitative and qualitative data to analyze the demographic neighborhood impacts of freeway construction.

Specifically, their analysis focused on the demographic conditions before and after the building of Interstate 210 and State Route 710, or the “study area”. The researchers divided the “study area” into five subsections or “tracts”: North, North Center, Center, South Center, and South. The Center section is the massive interchange, with the South Center subsection is the portion that includes the “stub.”
iii (See Figure E-1)
This RJF works to specifically address the harm in the Center and South Center Tracts.

However, this report acknowledges UCLA researcher’s overall quantification of the general harm caused by the 710 and 210 freeway construction and the history of Pasadena’s discriminatory housing practices across all tracts. In total, UCLA researcher’s analysis reveals a loss of nearly 1,800 housing units, a 28% reduction from 1960 to 1970 across all tracts, except the South tract, which was not directly impacted by freeway construction. iv
Their findings detailed that the “center tract, which includes the interchange, was heavily affected by freeway development, where housing units declined from 1,470 units in 1950…to only 433 units by 1980s.”v This 71% cumulative decrease had its most significant drop of 59% during the freeway construction period between 1960 and 1970. Further, UCLA researchers revealed that the South Center tract, which includes the specific SR-710 stub, saw an overall 25% reduction in housing units from 1,153 in 1950 to 865 in 1980.vi 11 The housing unit loss led to population loss. The freeway development shifted racial demographics of the neighborhoods in and around the development sites. The area of the interchange, the Center tract, shifted from a majority non-Hispanic white population in 1950, to a majority residents of color in 1980. The stub area, or the South Center tract, shifted from a majority people of color residents in 1950, to a majority non-Hispanic white population in 1980.vii The share of residents of color in the South Center tract dropped from 52% in 1950, to 23% in 1980. Segregation in the Center tract increased from 1960 to 1970, but remained low to moderate, whereas the South Center tract maintained high levels of segregation between 1960 and 1970. viii
Figure E-1. Pasadena Study Area Tracts
12 Figure E-2. Share of Non-Hispanic White in the Study Area Tracts, 1950-1980

2.2 – Institutional Discriminatory Harm
To amplify their analysis, UCLA researchers also reviewed qualitative data that establishes freeway construction was not the only influencing factor in creating a more segregated and economically unequal Pasadena. Like much of the country, Pasadena historically had a combination of private and public forces creating discriminatory housing practices.ix Restrictive covenants, codified in home deeds, left limited housing options for non-white households, forcing communities of color into a few neighborhoods. While the Supreme Court in Buchanan v. Warley (1917) struck down the constitutionality of such racial discriminatory practices, private actors would still use them, and by 1942 nearly 60% of Pasadena properties had such restrictions.x
Public actors also contributed to a segregated Pasadena. As the researchers noted, “while there is no evidence that the city engaged in explicit racial zoning, it appears Pasadena implemented land-use regulations that, while not overtly racist, had a disproportionate impact on people of color and reinforced segregation (Shook, 2020).” xi Specifically, the City 13 of Pasadena limited multi-family housing and the lot size requirements for single-family homes in land use zoning to restrict housing availability for low-income families and families of color.

Redlining, another prevalent housing discriminatory practice involving banks and insurance company’s financial manipulation tactics, was prevalent throughout the country, including Pasadena. In the 1930’s the federal mortgage loan agency created policies that deemed communities of color as “hazardous” for mortgage lending purposes.xii This practice systematically undervalued properties and created barriers to homeownership for non-white residents. In their report, UCLA researchers analyze a 1939 Homeowner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) redlined map of the City of Pasadena that reveals “areas safeguarded against residents of color were often graded more favorably.”xiii Researchers cross referenced this redlined map to current home values, revealing a lasting impact of northwest Pasadena as a community with a greater concentration of people of color and lower home values.

The impact to northwest Pasadena aligns with the researchers’ revelations that the Northern tract of the study area reflects a “tipping point” phenomenon. The population of this Northern tract moved from being predominantly white in 1950 to predominantly people of color after the completion of the freeways by the 1970s.xiv Their evidence suggest the freeway construction certainly initiated the large population shift of this neighborhood, increasing its overall population and people of color population. However, these prevalent discriminatory housing practices in Pasadena supported further residential segregation.

Although Caltrans ultimately facilitated the displacement through freeway construction of several homes and in turn displaced communities of color, these housing practices exacerbated the harm by making it difficult for displaced residents of color to move into other Pasadena neighborhoods. More so, UCLA researchers point to urban renewal projects as further vessels for disproportionate displacement of communities of color under the guise of eliminating urban blight.
xv Specifically, they assert the “City’s 1962 General Plan, and major developments such as the Norton Simon Museum, Parsons headquarters, Ambassador College, and Old Pasadena—contributed to housing loss and displacement, with residents of color particularly affected near the SR-710 stub.”
xviSimilar to the discriminatory housing
practices, these development projects bolster the demographic shifts in the South center tract beyond the impact of the freeway construction.

Ultimately, this research further establishes Caltrans’ decision to build a freeway interchange resulted in the displacement of residents and businesses – primarily people of color low income homeowners and renters.
xvii An alternative route through the more sparsely
populated Arroyo Seco adjacent to the Rose Bowl was heavily opposed by wealthy, white homeowners in areas such as La Cañada Flintridge and by groups such as the Pasadena Citizens Committee on Freeways.xviii This opposition found a receptive audience in state elected leaders and Pasadena city officials at the time.xix Significantly, the SR-710 interchange displaced an “active central business district,”xx characterized as a “walkable work community” of primarily Black and Japanese residents.xxi This neighborhood was home to many prominent and thriving Black, Mexican, and 14 Japanese-owned and led institutions in Pasadena, including Carrie McAdoo’s Grocery, Jesusita’s Tortilla Factory (now known as Mijares Restaurant), the Bellefontaine Nursery, James Woods Mortuary, and the 1st AME Church.xxii Although many of the businesses relocated, the construction of the SR-710 interchange fragmented a thriving community of color. The interchange represents another chapter in U.S. history where freeway construction disproportionately harmed communities of color by displacing families and businesses, lowering land values, and depressing rents.xxiii

2.3 – The Response
After building the interchange that displaced residents and businesses 60 years ago, the state never completed the freeway. In 2022, Caltrans relinquished portions of the SR-710 interchange to the City of Pasadena.
xxiv In that same year, the City received a U.S.

Department of Transportation (USDOT) Reconnecting Communities planning grant, creating an opportunity to address the 710’s legacy of displacement.xxv Utilizing this funding, the City of Pasadena began the Reconnecting Pasadena Master Plan Process to develop land currently occupied by highway infrastructure. The goal of the master plan is to redevelop the site for the benefit of Pasadena and its residents, with an emphasis on addressing the harms faced by communities that were displaced.

Through the master planning effort, the City of Pasadena aims to set forth a reparative vision for this site -- one where investments, benefits, and the built environment respond to past harms and reflect a more inclusive future. The City engaged Perkins Eastman and Estolano Advisors (EA) to develop a Restorative Justice Framework (RJF) that will address the history of harm that the SR-710 interchange has brought to the surrounding community.

The RJF will accompany and guide the visioning, planning and future re-development of the site, helping to ground decision-making and set forth a process by which the City, residents, businesses, and relevant stakeholders can evaluate the effects of proposed land use alternatives to repair and prevent future harm.

3.Methodology
In February 2024, the City secured Perkins Eastman as a Master Plan consultant to develop a vision for the SR-710 study area. As part of the Perkins Eastman team, Estolano Advisors (EA) led the process of developing the Restorative Justice Framework (RJF). Outside of the Perkins Eastman team, additional consultants have been engaged to document the social, economic, and demographic history of the study area. The information gathered by this wider consultant team will also be integrated into final RJF document. Below, we outline the process to develop the RJF.

3.1 – Phase 1 Scope Refinement and Information Gathering (Q1 2024 – Q3 2024):

Staff from the City of Pasadena worked with the consultant team to conceptualize and refine the concept of restorative justice in the context of the SR-710 interchange. Initially, the EA 15 team drafted a definition based on a literature review of racial justice and the guiding principles included in the City of Pasadena’s General Plan. This definition was refined over the course of the project. Phase 1 activities included:
• Information gathering, landscape scan of restorative justice practices and principles in urban planning and development.
• Development of restorative justice guiding principles. • Definition of 12 core elements of restorative justice. • Identification of select case studies.

EA conducted an assessment and prioritization of case studies in coordination with the City.

The 12 elements were used to identify the most relevant case studies and will be deployed to inform the community’s prioritization of promising practices in Section 8 (“Promising Practices for Pasadena”). Section 7 (“Restorative Justice Case Study Analysis”) includes a description of the three most relevant case studies, while the appendix highlights two additional case studies.

3.2 – Phase 2 Options and Alternatives (Q3 2024 – Q1
2025):

The consultant team conducted case study research and refined the RJF through interviews with relevant stakeholders. The team also held a series of conversations with City staff and the City Council Ad Hoc Committee to present case studies, refine the restorative justice definition, and discuss the 12 RJF elements. The Reconnecting Communities Advisory Group, its subcommittee, and the broader public informed prioritization of restorative justice elements. Section 8 (“Promising Practices for Pasadena”) documents the outcomes of Phase 2. Ultimately, those promising practices will inform the policy recommendations in Section 9 (“Recommendations”).

3.3 – Phase 3 Plan Integration (Q1 2025- Q2 2025):

The final RJF will include findings and recommendations from Phases 1 and 2, codifying commitments and priorities in Section 9 (“Recommendations”). 16 4.Background
This section includes a primer on restorative justice in an urban planning context. It outlines how planning practitioners and decision-makers can recognize, acknowledge, and address historic harms. Because this report uses terminology that may not be widely recognized, the consultant team is listing the terms that we commonly use and explaining how this report defines those concepts.

4.1 – Commonly Used Terms
Pasadena 710 Project
• SR-710 Interchange: In the 1970’s the SR-710 Northern Interchange was constructed to connect the 710 Long Beach Freeway to the 210 and 134 freeways. The construction of the 710 was never completed, resulting in the 710 northern “stub.”
xxvi
• 710 Northen Stub: The northern stub is the area of land between Union Street, Columbia Street, St John Avenue and Pasadena Avenue. This area was relinquished to the City of Pasadena in 2022.xxvii
• Reconnecting Communities Grant: In 2023, the City of Pasadena was awarded a $2 million Reconnecting Communities grant from the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) to fund the planning of the 710-stub redevelopment.

The Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) program is a federal infrastructure program operated by the USDOT to support community-centered connection projects that address the repercussions of previous transportation developments.xxviii
Urban Planning Harms
• Highway construction displacement: the forced removal of residents or businesses to build highways. The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 created a national movement of highway construction that resulted in 475,000 households and over one million people being displaced between 1957 to 1977.xxix As part of this process, property owners sold their properties to the public agency through “hardship acquisition” or “eminent domain.”
xxx
• Redlining: a practice of discriminatory lending established by the Federal Housing Authority and the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) in 1933 that graded neighborhoods on the perceived risks of extending loans. The HOLC 17 assessed a neighborhood’s desirability using the race and ethnicity of residents, where neighborhoods with more residents of color were more likely to be assigned a “D” rating and “redlined.” Redlining increased the barriers to home ownership for communities of color and lowered property values in predominantly non-white neighborhoods.xxxi
• Urban Renewal: refers to the policy era in the 1950s and 1960s that leveraged funding from the 1949 American Housing Act and the 1956 Federal Aid Highway Act programs to demolish “blighted” neighborhoods in cities across the country.

Urban Renewal processes – like highway construction in Pasadena – displaced, separated, and destroyed many predominantly Black neighborhoods in the country.
xxxii
Restorative Justice
• Harms: In restorative justice, harms involve an action that has a negative impact on an individual or community.xxxiii The displacement of neighborhood residents and businesses in and around the SR-710 stub is an example of a specific harm. • Reparative Justice: This is a framework that centers those who were harmed, with the intent of repairing past harm, stopping present harm, and preventing future harms from occurring through: 1) transformation, 2) restoration, and 3) nourish and uplift.xxxiv
• Restorative Justice: This is a holistic and empathetic conflict remediation process that functions as an alternative to the conventionally punitive criminal justice system.
xxxv Through this process, the victims, the offenders, and the broader community come together to define reparations, take accountability, and reconcile harms.
xxxvi
• Transformative Justice: This framework seeks to heal communities by transforming the systems that enabled harms. The approach focuses on rectifying underlying, systemic issues to prevent negative outcomes. xxxvii
Urban Planning Frameworks
• Rationalism/Rational Planning: This refers to a planning framework that uses objective reason to guide decision-making. It tends to value data and practitioner expertise over community input when making planning decisions. Large infrastructure projects like highways were developed during an era when rational planning was pervasive.
xxxviii In Pasadena, rational planning was used to justify the alignment of the I-210 Foothill Freeway through a densely populated community of color, despite the objections of residents. xxxix
18 • Reparative Planning: This refers to a planning framework that addresses past planning harms. Reparative planning goes beyond the process of restorative planning by focusing on community empowerment and the historical and current context of racism and capitalism.xl
• Restorative Planning: This is a planning framework that aims to directly address and resolve past harms through remedy and reform.xli
• Transformative Planning: This refers to a planning framework that builds on the goals of restorative planning to address and repair harm with an understanding that the existing processes and procedures that create harm must be transformed to address the harms.xlii

4.2 – Critiques of Rational Planning Approaches
Traditionally, urban planners have operated under a top-down “rational” approach where planners and government officials make decisions for diverse constituencies with limited community input.
xliii These planning decisions historically created disproportionate burdens on communities of color, even if the intent was not explicitly discriminatory. Challenges in top-down planning approaches include:
• Power and Privilege: Rational Planning assumes that a planner’s professional expertise enables them to determine what is best for a community, privileging “scientific and technical knowledge over” the public’s lived experience.xliv Rational planning also perpetuates systemic inequities based on race, class, gender, and ability. Historically, practicing planners – as well as white-collar government officials and elected leaders – have not been fully representative of the diverse communities they serve. In cases where public input is considered, this creates an advantage for well-resourced communities that are able to navigate a system centered on protecting dominant white, middle-class interests. Under rational planning, this may lead to a narrow conception of what constitutes the public interest in community engagement and decision making. • Fractured Relationships: The power and privilege awarded to some community interests over others in rational planning creates distrust amongst historically harmed communities. The Allegra Group’s oral history research cited a lack of trust in the City’s efforts because of Pasadena’s role in perpetuating the displacement associated with the SR-710 interchange and I-210 freeway construction.xlv
• Biases and an Overreliance on Technical Expertise: A planner’s implicit biases can unconsciously guide decision making. As noted earlier, the planning profession has not historically represented the ethnic, racial, class, and gender identities of the communities they serve. Rational Planning assumes that a planner can and will understand the complexities and realities of a community 19 strictly through research and data.xlvi By centering formal education and technical expertise, Rational Planning relegates decision-making to an elite group that often lacks transparency. For individuals and communities outside of this process, this framework can create confusion and perpetuate distrust in systems and the actors that uphold them.

4.3 – Theories of Restorative Justice in Planning
Figure 1: Restorative Justice Planning Frameworks
Figure 1 illustrates the relationship of planning frameworks to specific and systemic harms. The top row establishes how systemic harms like inequitable wealth generation and decision-making authority enable rational planning to perpetuate certain harms. The bottom row visualizes the evolution of planning frameworks from restorative, to transformative, then reparative and what each framework seeks to address. 20 In the past half century, in response to these critiques, alternative frameworks for planning for racial equity and community healing have created an evolving discourse in planning theory. These practices, focused on equity and repair, are rooted in philosophies of justice to address systemic harms. Below, we summarize these approaches to provide context for Pasadena’s approach.

1. Restorative Planning frameworks promote equitable communities and focus on repairing harm by adapting restorative justice models from the criminal justice system. Where practitioners in the legal field focus on healing interpersonal harms, restorative justice in planning and public policy spaces emphasizes addressing systemic inequities.
xlvii In a 2014 analysis of restorative planning
ethics, Lisa Schweitzer outlines a set of actions that public institutions and Planners must take to restore communities after a harm:xlviii a) Remedy of wrong
b) Healing and public atonement
c) Group-level compensation or restitution
d) Enacted reforms to confront historical institutional values.

2. Transformative Planning builds on restorative planning theories and requires practitioners to examine the systemic inequities that planning perpetuates.xlix Transformative planning rests on the assumption that traditional planning approaches reinforce unfair social, health, and economic systems; and, thus, it is not the solution to repair harms.
l The core tenants of transformative planning
include the following:
a) Focus on the specific needs of diverse groups and the redistribution of resources
b) Define a process to challenge the structural inequities of status quo planning processes
c) Embed the intersections of oppressionsli

3. Reparative Planning incorporates Black radical thought into the framework of transformative planning to develop systems to repair communities.lii Reparative planning expands on restorative planning frameworks by incorporating the following values: liii
a) Recognize the history of racialized expropriation
b) Address the structural inequalities of power
c) Implementing material redistribution, adapting social hierarchies to make decision-making more just, and transforming spaces to acknowledge and center marginalized communities.
21 For each of these frameworks, the core values can inform metrics to evaluate and assess processes and outcomes.

4.4 – Evaluating Restorative Justice in Practice
For Pasadena’s planning effort, the consultant team drew on the theories outlined above to create the 12 elements that inform the Restorative Justice Framework. The elements will serve as an evaluation tool for the City to assess land use alternatives and policies that may be incorporated into the approved mater plan. To provide additional context for the elements, we are including some key questions that informed the consultant team’s selection of the restorative justice elements:liv
a) Are there community and public spaces that are safe, inclusive, easy to access via public transport, and allow for access and use of space without spending money?
b) Is there adequate affordable housing?
c) Is the community served by sufficient amenities such as clean water, reliable electricity, high-speed internet, and regular refuse collection? d) Are there high-performing local schools and accessible leisure spaces? e) Does the current infrastructure support the local environmental sustainability and climate resilience goals?
f) Are there barriers hindering meaningful participation in planning processes? g) How can current urban planning processes change so that decision-making does not perpetuate structural inequalities?
h) What types of infrastructure are prioritized over others? Does this serve the needs of the community?

5. Defining Restorative Justice in Pasadena

5.1 – Pasadena’s Definition of Restorative Justice
Restorative Justice takes action to address past harm caused by construction of the 710 freeway in Pasadena. It seeks to identify, acknowledge, remedy, and respond to these harms through open and responsive engagement with impacted communities. Our goal is to develop meaningful community-identified solutions for City Council’s consideration.

This definition reflects iterative feedback from City staff, the City Council Ad Hoc Committee, the Advisory Group, and the community. The following subsections outline the process stakeholders used to define restorative justice for Pasadena and the 710 stub. 22 5.2 – Guiding Principles
Estolano Advisors reviewed the City of Pasadena’s General Plan land use Guiding Principles and highlighted four elements that are most aligned with the landscape of restorative justice principles:

1. Target growth to enhance quality of life

2. Community participation is welcomed

3. Regional leader

4. Economic vitality through jobs, services, and opportunities The consultant team pulled key themes from its landscape scan with these general plan principles in mind. City staff and the Ad Hoc Committee refined those themes to develop five guiding principles:

1. Acknowledge, respond to, and address past harm
(target growth, regional leader)

2. Engage all parties involved in harm
(community participation)

3. Open dialogue and communication
(community participation)

4. Accountability, honesty, and taking responsibility
(regional leader)

5. Resolution with community-supported interventions
(target growth, regional leader, economic vitality)
These principles will inform and guide how we define and evaluate restorative justice for the purpose of the SR-710 Master Planning process.

5.3 Definitions of Restorative Justice
Estolano Advisors led an iterative process to draft and review the Pasadena-focused definition of Restorative Justice with City staff, the City Council Ad Hoc Committee (Ad Hoc Committee), and the Advisory Group. Through landscape research, EA proposed several potential definitions for restorative justice, including a planning- and process-focused approaches. City staff met with EA several times to adjust the definition’s language before presenting a working draft directly to the Ad Hoc Committee. After a July 31, 2024, meeting with the Ad Hoc Committee, comprised of Mayor Victor Gordo, Vice Mayor Steve Madison, 23 Councilmember Jason Lyon, and Councilmember Tyron Hampton, the City confirmed the current working definition of Restorative Justice. For context, we are providing the processand planning-focused definitions below:

Process-Focused: Restorative Justice is a process that engages impacted communities in a dialogue to address past harm. Participants collectively develop solutions focused on: (1) holding parties accountable for the harm caused and (2) by providing restitution to those harmed.1
Planning-Focused: Restorative Justice builds community by addressing and remedying the impacts of past harm perpetuated by government institutions. It asks decisionmakers to account for historic wrongs by working with affected communities to codevelop solutions.2 Pasadena’s definition merges the process and planning approaches and aligns with Schweitzer’s criteria for restorative planning. This definition of Restorative Justice is the north star of the framework and will inform case study analysis, best practices, and planning decisions for the SR-710 stub. Using Pasadena’s working definition, and based on outcomes from the landscape scan, the consultant team developed the restorative justice framework elements described below.

6.Restorative Justice Elements

6.1 Twelve Restorative Justice Elements
The RJF led us to a working Restorative Justice definition for Pasadena. Based on that definition, restorative justice theories outlined in the RJF, and feedback from the Ad-Hoc committee, EA proceeded to develop a restorative justice case study analysis matrix (matrix) of ten significant project elements. These initial ten elements quickly expanded to thirteen as the team researched specific case studies and received feedback from City Staff and the Ad-Hoc Committee.

Using planning efforts that surfaced during the RJF landscape scan, and in consultation with the Advisory Committee and the UCLA historical consultants, lv EA began researching eight
case studies. As the team began to measure these case studies against the thirteen restorative justice elements, EA expanded its analysis. This included a more explicit focus on highway construction-related projects and other U.S. Department of Transportation Reconnecting Communities Grant projects, which expanded the universe of total case 1 Here for reference only, The Pasadena-Focused definition will be used. 2 Here for reference only, The Pasadena-Focused definition will be used. 24 studies reviewed to eighteen. Given that many examples were chosen because they responded to the socioeconomic, environmental, and policy implications related to highway construction projects, EA eliminated one element: Highway Construction. This rounded out the list of twelve restorative justice elements.

Finally, after initial rounds of feedback from the City of Pasadena’s Executive committee and internal assessments within the Consultant team, Estolano Advisors concluded that the twelve elements should be divided into larger themed categories: (1) Past, (2) Process, (3) Outcomes, and (4) Tools. These four categories represent a more concise representation of how implementers of this framework should think about these restorative justice elements.

Estolano believes that these categories serve to make this conceptual material more digestible, while also presenting the opportunity to the City to better analyze its existing systems, programs, and policies. Those four categories, twelve elements, definitions, and examples are noted below:

RJ Element Definition Case Study Example
PAST
Historical
Acknowledgement
(HA)
The project connects to the historical
legacy of a planning or development
project that harmed an under-resourced or
marginalized community. The history of the
project is acknowledged, documented, and
incorporated in future planning efforts, with
an eye for creating interventions that
respond to historic inequities.

For this element, we ask: Does the project
go beyond acknowledging the historic
significance of this place? How does it
meaningfully incorporate lessons learned to
create more just and inclusive spaces?
St. Paul, MN – Reconnect Rondo
In 2015, the City of St. Paul and
Minnesota Department of
Transportation both issued a formal
and public apology for the
displacement and destruction of the
Rondo community for the
development of the I-94 highway. The
Rondo Commemorative Plaza also
acts as a physical historical landmark.

Stockton, CA - Downtown
Transformation Project
Caltrans is leading this project, not the
City, and revitalizing the area with
hard infrastructure that builds on TCP
grant funding to create greater multimodal options across the downtown area. While mainly a hard
infrastructure place making project,
the agency and City have worked with
local CBOs like Little Manila Rising as
part of the historical acknowledgment
of the displacement of what was once
25 the largest Asian immigrant population
in the U.S.

PROCESS
Open Dialogue (OD)
A formal mechanism whereby impacted
community members are heard. This
allows people to air grievances with the
expectation that decision-makers will take
action to address their issue(s) and
recognize the importance of their lived
experiences.

Here EA asked: Does the case study
reflect responsive community engagement
through direct open dialogue with the
community?
St. Paul, MN – Reconnect Rondo
The state of Minnesota and the City of
St. Paul have opened several
channels for the community to speak
on the project, with ReConnect Rondo
serving as the community-led anchor
organization. ReConnect Rondo has
used community meetings,
partnerships with technical assistance
providers like the Urban Land
Institute, and non-traditional methods
of engagement like hackathons to
support diverse, community-led input.

Clear Feedback
Process (CFP)
The project has a transparent and
accessible mechanism for community
members and local leaders to provide
feedback. Community members have a
clear understanding of how their input will
be considered and incorporated into the
final product.

Here, we ask: Is there evidence that
community feedback was received by
diverse stakeholders and responded to
meaningfully?
Detroit, MI - I-375 Reconnecting
Communities Project
The project is analyzing the
community feedback to develop a
comprehensive Neighborhood
Framework Plan to serve as a
guideline for the vision and outcomes
of the project to benefit City and
community needs. In this way, the City
and State are looping back with
stakeholders by being responsive to
26 needs and directions to guide the
goals for the project.

Co-Creation
Planning (CCP)*
*This is a very high bar
requiring community
members to have decisionmaking authority in the
process.

The planning process is collaborative and
considers the community as a designer and
decision-maker. It acknowledges that
community members are well-equipped to
articulate what they want to see in their
community.

Here, we ask: Does the community have
some direct influence on decision-making?
Portland, OR - Broadway Corridor
Community Benefits Agreement
The planning and engagement
process was guided by the goal of codesigning the site with community members early in the process. Robust
community engagement informed the
approved Master Plan that will guide
future development and priorities for
public benefits via public and private
investment.

OUTCOMES
Support Community
Oversight (SCO)
The project gives community
representatives an official supervisory duty,
formally establishing their role in the
implementation process.

Here EA asks: How are impacted
communities ensuring accountability?
Los Angeles, CA - ULA Citizen
Oversight Committee
The Citizen Oversight Committee was
created to oversee and monitor the
implementation of Measure ULA
(United to House LA). This committee
is comprised of fifteen stakeholders to
manage and audit the funds
administered as part of the ULA
property sale tax for affordable
housing.

Impacted
Communities
Wealth Generation
(ICWG)
The project articulates an inclusive
approach to economic development. It
specifies how wealth is generated, who
stands to gain financially, and specifies the
populations that are typically excluded. It
includes mechanisms for impacted lowincome communities to share in the project’s economic benefits.

Here EA asks: How does the impacted
community directly and financially benefit?
Evanston, IL - Local Reparations
Restorative Housing Program
Evanston, IL’s reparations for Black
residents’ program held community
meetings where residents consistently
lifted affordable housing and
economic development as priorities.

As a result, the first round of
reparations payments in Evanston, IL
was allocated to housing payments,
home improvements, and mortgage
assistance.
27 Legislative Action
(LA)
The project led to or was built upon by
formal legislative response of a
governmental entity, usually a City Council,
in the form of city ordinances or
resolutions. Examples include, updating the
approach to community engagement for all
planning projects, adopting policies that
require community benefits agreements
when certain conditions are met, and/or
formalizing mechanisms that enable
community members to formally prioritize
investment priorities (e.g., participatory
budgeting). The key component of this
element is the government body taking
direct action through their legislative
authority.

For this, we ask: Did this project lead to
lasting policy change beyond the study
area? Did community members and local
leaders institutionalize lessons learned,
best practices, and model policies?
San Jose, CA - Tenants Preference
Program
A citywide policy prioritizes
households facing significant
displacement risks when evaluating
affordable housing applicants. While
unrelated to highway construction, this
is an example of a mitigation policy to
reduce harm to low-income
communities where new real estate
development can exacerbate
residential displacement.

TOOLS
Community
Benefits Agreement
(CBA)
A legally binding agreement between
community representatives and a
developer that defines specific benefits.

These may include construction and
operations labor standards, provision of
community spaces, and/or affordable
housing requirements.

For this element, we ask: Does the project
incorporate a legally binding agreement
that articulates specific benefits, goals, and
accountability mechanisms that community
members can rely upon?
Portland, OR - Broadway Corridor
Community Benefits Agreement
Prosper Portland’s Broadway Corridor
community benefits agreement for the
redevelopment at the former USPS
site with the Portland Housing Bureau.

Community benefits include
construction and operations workforce
goals, wage standards, affordable
housing provisions, requirements to
provide opportunities for
underrepresented businesses and
entrepreneurs, sustainability
requirements, and community
oversight.
28 Affordable Housing
(AH)
***Can be part of CBA
The project includes required affordable
housing units.

Here, we ask: Does the project incorporate
an affordable housing component?
Portland, OR - Broadway Corridor
Community Benefits Agreement
A 10% affordable housing baseline is
set in the Broadway Corridor CBA,
with tenant preferences for Black,
Indigenous, Japanese, and ChineseAmerican Communities.

Evanston, IL - Local Reparations
Restorative Housing Program
Evanston, IL’s reparations for Black
residents’ program held community
meetings where residents consistently
lifted affordable housing and
economic development as priorities.

As a result, the first round of
reparations payments in Evanston, IL
is allocated to housing payments,
home improvements, and mortgage
assistance.)
Procurement
Intervention (PI)
The project requires the inclusion of
Disadvantaged Business Enterprises
(DBE) and Minority/Women-Owned
Business Enterprise (WMBE).

Here, we ask: Does the project include
mechanisms that support equitable
contracting opportunities that prioritize
disadvantaged businesses?
Portland, OR - Broadway Corridor
Community Benefits Agreement
Prosper Portland’s Broadway Corridor
project included specific mechanisms
to expand contracting opportunities for
woman- and minority-owned
businesses during the construction
and operations phases.

Small
Business/Workforce
Investment (SBWI)
The project integrates a workforce training
and/or small business development
program for community members and
entrepreneurs.

Here, we ask: Does the project prioritize
investments and opportunities related to
small business entrepreneurship? Do those
investments target communities that bore
the negative effects of small business
displacement?
Inland Empire - IE Works - The
Inland Empire’s water and wastewater
utilities consortium, IE Works,
partnered with the California High
Road Training Partnership (HRTP),
and the US Department of Education
to develop pathways to water and
wastewater careers in the region. The
IE Works program creates internships,
pre-apprenticeship, and registered
apprenticeship programs that prioritize
women, Black and Latinx
29 communities, transition-age youth,
low-income communities, and those
re-entering the workforce.

Hard Infrastructure
(HI)
The project includes specific multi-modal
transportation improvements, open spaces
and urban greening, sustainability
enhancements, climate resilient
infrastructure, and monuments.

Here, we ask: Do infrastructure
improvements provide multiple benefits? To
whom do those benefits accrue? Who may
be harmed?
Detroit, MI - I-375 Reconnecting
Communities Project
The I-375 Reconnecting Communities
Project will guide a transformational
project that proposes to reconnect the
City of Detroit from the physical and
emotional division created decades
ago in the name of “urban renewal.”
The plan will replace I-375 and the
Gratiot Connector with a surface-level
boulevard and grid that creates a
mobility vision prioritizing pedestrians
in walkable connections.

7. Restorative Justice Case Study Analysis

7.1 – Case Study Analysis Overview
EA analyzed eighteen case studies and measured each against the twelve restorative justice elements. EA employed a matrix to evaluate how well each case study embodied these twelve restorative justice framework elements. Below is an overview of the matrix’s function:
• The matrix uses a cumulative measurement system, with case studies that contain more framework elements receiving higher scores (e.g., least alignment = 0; most alignment = 13)
• If a particular element has “0,” this means the element is not present; if the element has a “1,” this means that it is present.

Based on the analysis, the average case study had roughly seven elements, with a range of three to eleven elements. The bolded and highlighted cases included the most restorative justice elements and aligned closely with the Pasadena-focused restorative justice definition. The most aligned case studies are:

1. Portland, OR - Broadway Corridor Community Benefits Agreement

2. Portland, OR – I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project

3. St. Paul, MN – Reconnect Rondo
30 Case Study
Restorative Justice
Elements Present
Portland, OR- Broadway Corridor Community Benefits
Agreement
11 Portland, OR – I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project 10 St. Paul, MN – Reconnect Rondo 10
Austin, TX – I-35 Cap & Stitch 9
Detroit, MI – I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project 8
Evanston, IL - Restorative Housing Program 8
San Jose, CA- Google Community Investment Project 8
Atlanta, GA – The Stitch Phase 1 7
Los Angeles, CA – Transit Oriented Communities (TOC)
Incentive Program
7 New Orleans, LA – Reconnecting Claiborne 7
Rochester, NY – Inner Loop North Project 7
Philadelphia, PA – Chinatown Stitch 6
Los Angeles, CA – ULA Citizen Oversight Committee 5
Oakland, CA – Encampment Management Policy 5
Los Angeles, CA - Black Owned and Operated Community Land Trust
4 San Jose, CA - Tenants Preference Program 4
Stockton, CA Downtown Transformation Project 4
Inland Empire, CA - IE Works 3

7.2 – Case Study Trends
This section highlights key themes and takeaways from the matrix, revealing some insights for each stakeholders’ consideration.

Case Study Project Type Key Trend/Takeaway
Historical Acknowledgement
Projects: 12
Roughly 61% of the case studies had elements of historical acknowledgment. This means 11 projects included a
component that marked the historical significance of a
community, populace, and/or individual(s) in the project area.

Impacted Communities Wealth
Generation Projects: 10 Nearly 56% of projects supported income and wealth generation for impacted community members. This means
31 that over half the projects were focused on building community wealth for underserved populations.

Reconnecting Communities
Grant Project: 9
Like the Pasadena SR-710 project, exactly half of the case studies are previous or current participants in the USDOT Reconnecting Communities Pilot Planning Grant program.

Support Community Oversight
Projects: 8
Roughly 44% of cases aligned with this element, which
indicates that, among this sample, community-led
accountability mechanisms are not widespread.

California-Based Projects: 8
California-based case studies accounted for less than half (44%) of the case studies. This ensured the opportunity for Pasadena to learn from other municipal and regional
approaches to restorative justice.

Community Benefits
Agreement Projects: 2
The least aligned element (11%) across projects may be
indicative of the relatively difficult task of codifying community benefits through a CBA. While community benefits like
income wealth generation (56%), small business support
(56%), or affordable housing (61%) were present in more case studies, only two had CBAs.

7.3 – Case Study Profiles
Below is a more in-depth analysis of the three most aligned case studies.

Portland, OR – Broadway Corridor Community Benefits
Agreement

BACKGROUND
The project area is a 32-acre site, 14 of which is a former United States Postal Service site and is located within the Central City in northwest Portland. The project area presents the potential to create nearly four million square feet of new economic, business, social, and community development opportunities.

The overall project is a part of the Central City 2035 Plan, with most of the properties within the Broadway Corridor owned by Prosper Portland, an economic and urban development agency for the City of Portland. Prosper Portland is pursuing the planning 32 and redevelopment of the Broadway Corridor with an intentional focus on ensuring that all communities have an opportunity to engage in and benefit from its redevelopment.

Robust community engagement informed the approved Master Plan that will guide future development and priorities for public benefits via public and private investment.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ELEMENTS PRESENT
PAST
Historical
Acknowledgment
The project’s explicit focus on benefiting disadvantaged communities is an acknowledgment that the City has fallen short of this effort in the past.

PROCESS
Open Dialogue
Mechanisms such as the Broadway Corridor Labor-Management Community Oversight Committee (LMCOC) and the Steering Committee allow for all parties involved to communicate throughout planning and implementation.

Clear Feedback
Process
The Steering Committee, town halls, and public engagement events allow for public feedback throughout the planning process.

Co-creation
Planning The planning and engagement process was guided by the goal of codesigning the site with community members early in the process.

OUTCOMES
Support
Community
Oversight
The Broadway Corridor Labor Management Community Oversight Committee (LMCOC) holds developers and employers accountable to the CBA goals.

Impacted
Communities
Wealth
Generation
The USPS Master Plan promotes equitable wealth creation by establishing opportunities for minority-owned small business participation, establishing wage standards for construction and operations, as well as by setting job recruitment and placement targets for historically underrepresented populations.

TOOLS
Community
Benefits
Agreement
A Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) has not been signed by a contracted developer for the project but was approved by Portland’s City Council in September 2020.lvi
33 Affordable
Housing
A 10% affordable housing baseline is set in the CBA, with tenant preferences for Black, Indigenous, Japanese, and Chinese American Communities.

Procurement
Intervention
Business and workforce goals were set in the CBA that incentivizes minorityowned and COBID firms. While a developer has not implemented these requirements, City Agencies, including Prosper Portland have adhered to the CBA’s guidelines in their own procurement processes in the demolition and relocation of the USPS building.

Small Business
Workforce
Investment
$3 million invested toward affordable commercial tenanting.

RACIAL EQUITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Before the project began, Prosper Portland conducted a Racial Equity Impact Assessment to guide the project’s implementation. The document articulates a plan for Prosper Portland to achieve equitable outcomes for the project. “A Racial Equity Impact Analysis (REIA) is an assessment of how institutional racism historically impacts decision-making on a project and an analysis of how the project can be done differently to address historical inequities. According to Race Forward, a REIA is ‘used to reduce, eliminate, and prevent racial discrimination and inequities.’ A REIA process examines who the affected stakeholders are in the project, identifies the racial inequities through data and analysis of past projects, and examines ways to interrupt the status quo through the decisionmaking process to lead to more equitable outcomes.”lvii

EQUITY AUDIT FINDINGS
The audit yielded ten ideas that act as grounding principles for this project:

1. Engage regionally diverse stakeholders

2. Hold a conversation about equity before the project starts

3. Structure deals with equity goals in mind

4. Find development partners who will achieve equity objectives.

5. Leverage equity goals from institutional partners and industry

6. Engage stakeholders in a meaningful and effective way

7. Check our own assumptions; question every process

8. Be more creative in finding ways to support minority owned and community owned assets.
34 9. Make the competitive process more welcoming, and designed in the eyes of those we want to include

10. Have a long-term perspectivelviii

OUTCOMES
While the original developer for the project backed out of the project during the COVID19 pandemic, the City of Portland unanimously approved the project’s CBA and overall language in September 2020.
lix This allowed the City of Portland to ensure that its agencies and bureaus met these standards of the CBA throughout their own project work on the site. As of January 2024, the demolition and movement of the USPS site has yielded the following outcomes:
• $36,000,000 has been spent on minority-owned firms.
• 93% of costs spent on the Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID)
• 24% of total project hours were worked by apprentices, 70% by minority workers, and 20% by women
• Labor-Management Community Oversight Committee (LMOC) independently coordinates data tracking

PROCESS
Two members of the Prosper Equity Council (an internal organizational governing body focused on achieving equity through training, caucusing, meetings, etc.) facilitated five meetings with the Broadway Corridor Redevelopment Team. These meetings involved an equity audit of past projects with similar goals, highlighting lessons learned on project success. Following these meetings, Prosper Portland engaged with the project Steering Committee to:
• Use the equity audit to identify revised project goals and success metrics for the Broadway project.
• Identify a comprehensive list of stakeholders that may be involved in the master planning process as key partners in implementing the project’s desired equity outcomes.
• Key partners are defined as – (1) Community Experts, (2) Partners, (3) Technical Experts, and (4) End Users
Portland, OR – I-5 Mitigation: Rose Quarter Improvement Project

BACKGROUND
In 2024, the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement project was one of two projects addressing the negative impacts of I-5 in Portland, Oregon to receive Reconnecting Communities grant funding. The I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project will construct a cap over a portion of I-5 that displaced members of the Black and Japanese Albina neighborhood in 35 the 60s and 70s.lx These Reconnecting Communities projects support the reconnection of the previously displaced Northeast Albina neighborhood.

The purpose is to improve safety and congestion where three major interstates converge and to reconnect the Albina neighborhood. This project will build a highway cover, new streets over the highway to connect existing streets, a pedestrian bridge, ramp to ramp highway connections, and relocate the I-5 South-bound off ramp to increase mobility, safety and connection in Northeast Albina. Benefits include improving safety and mobility on local streets, creating new space for community development, and developing a diverse and skilled workforce.lxi
Before these communities were cut off from Downtown Portland by this interstate highway, they were redlined. Historians note that “in 1919, the Portland Realty Board mandated that real estate agents do not sell property to Black or Asian populations in ‘white neighborhoods,’ leaving them few other options outside Albina. This mandate wasn't changed until 1956.”lxii Despite these racist policies, Albina turned into a thriving and culturally rich community by mid-century as the historic Vanport Flood and migration for jobs during World War II forced Black families to move to the neighborhood. lxiii By
1960 four out of five Black Portlanders lived in the neighborhood. However, urban renewal policies, the construction of the I-5 highway of the 70s, and the upzoning and gentrification of Albinalxiv displaced hundreds of Black families.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ELEMENTS PRESENT
PAST
Historical
Acknowledgement
This project has a substantial historical element. It uses a documentary-style approach that employs community storytelling through video diaries. It stands as a living testament to the community, its history, and what occurred due to I-5’s construction.

PROCESS
Open Dialogue
The process has included several community-led bodies, including a Community Advisory Committee, the Historic Albina Advisory Board, the Community Oversight Advisory Committee, and the Executive Steering Committee.lxv
Clear Feedback
Process
The project established several clear lines of feedback for the community to engage with the City and the State. Initially, the Executive Steering Committee considered feedback from the Historic Albina Advisory Board (HAAB), the Community Oversight Advisory Committee (COAC), and the Independent Cover Assessment team. As of September 2021, the Historic 36 Albina Advisory Board assumes the advisory role to the Oregon Department of Transportation.lxvi
*Although ODOT’s process was intended to include clear community feedback, ODOT dissolved the Executive Steering Committee and created the HAAB in 2021 for criticism of the project.
lxvii

OUTCOMES
Support
Community
Oversight
The Historic Albina Advisory Board plays a role in ensuring that communityled recommendations are conferred to ODOT, while the Community Oversight Advisory Committee monitors the construction contractor to ensure that DBE and workforce goals are met.lxviii
Impacted
Communities
Wealth Generation
The project includes several mechanisms to enable community wealth generation, including workforce development programs to build “capacity in local underrepresented populations to meet local construction workforce needs” and establishing a DBE/On-the-Job Training Advisory Committee to provide recommendations on project development.lxix
TOOLS
Procurement
Intervention
The construction contractor was required to develop a Diversity plan that articulated the DBE goal of ensuring that 18% to 22% of contracting opportunities go to disadvantaged enterprises. The plan also includes mechanisms to increase DBE participation and retention, including receiving technical assistance, training, and mentorship.lxx
Small Business
Workforce
Investment
The diversity plan also discusses the project's workforce and small business investment goals, as directed by the COAC. This includes working “with workforce providers to increase access for underrepresented local populations” and providing opportunities to “facilitate new relationships between minority subcontractors and prime contractors.”lxxi Hard
Infrastructure
This is a transportation infrastructure project aimed at reducing traffic congestion through infrastructure upgrades. The goal is to increase neighborhood connections through local street improvements to offer greater visibility, protection, and access for people walking, biking, and rolling.

Improvements include:
o Highway Cover
37 o East-West Roadway crossing over I-5
o Multimodal Local Street Improvements
o Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge
o Auxiliary Lanes and Shoulders
o I-5 Southbound Off-Ramp Relocation
Legislative Action
The project, which originally started as a freeway widening project, exemplifies how community and local advocacy can drive government to take legislative action at the state level. The community’s desire to limit freeway expansions, include a freeway cap, and remove sensitive uses (e.g., schools) from the I-5 corridor led to changes in state policy. This includes allocating funding for the re-siting of Harriet Tubman Middle School, allocating funding to support the Albina Vision Trust’s freeway cap idea, and securing Reconnecting Communities grant to support cap construction without widening the freeway.lxxii
PROCESS & TIMELINElxxiii
2017: Oregon House Bill 2017 is passed partially funding the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and ODOT initiated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental review process. 2018: The Central City 2035 Plan and 2035 Transportation Systems Plan are adopted and are included in the project. Metro includes this project in its 2018 Regional Transportation Plan.
2019: Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and FHWA release the NEPA Environmental Assessment followed by a 45-day public comment period 2020: ODOT issues notice of intent to award a Construction Manager/General Contractor. ODOT and FHWA prepare a Revised Environmental Assessment and FHWA signs a “Finding of No Significant Impact” for the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project 2021: ODOT dissolved the Executive Steering Committee and replaced the body with the Historic Albina Advisory Board, causing the organization to lose strong community supporters, including the Albina Vision Trust.
2021: An updated design package is released and reflects community input from the 2019 Environmental Assessment, and Independent Cover Assessment, and an Environmental Peer Review. The Project Advisory Committee recommends adopting the Proposed Hybrid 3 Cover Concept design option as an outcome of the Independent Cover Assessment Process.
38 2021: Governor Karen Brown facilitated negotiations between Albina Vision Trust and ODOT to compromise on the Hybrid 3 Cover Concept Design and regain community stakeholder buy-in.lxxiv
2022: ODOT and FHWA release a Supplemental Environmental Assessment incorporating the new design package update, followed by a 50-day public comment period.
2023: In response to public comments made during the project’s Supplemental Environmental Assessment comment period, ODOT implemented design refinements, including a new flyover southbound I-5 off-ramp and a bicycle/pedestrian-only bridge over I-5 near the Moda Center that will enhance safety by reducing conflicts between cars and trucks and people walking, biking, or rolling in the area. 2024: ODOT receives federal approval to proceed with the project and can continue moving forward with more detailed project design and construction. The project was also a recipient of the USDPT Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhood grant, totaling $450 million.

Figure 3. Portland I-5 Mitigation/Rose Quarter Improvement Project Timeline

OUTCOMES
Restorative Justice is an explicit component of this project. While the process has been fraught as detailed in the timeline above, the potential for this outcome is clear. The existing Albina community has been integral in supporting the project, documenting the history of the community, ensuring acknowledgment of past harms, and exercising oversight of the project.

Creation of the Community Oversight and Advisory Committee (COAC) to monitor the construction contractor, ensuring that disadvantaged business requirements and targeted hiring mandates are met.lxxv Restorative Justice is included in the Project Fact Sheet and Diversity Plan. It includes an emphasis on supporting small businesses and Tim providing workforce development opportunities.
39 St. Paul, MN – Reconnect Rondo

BACKGROUND
Once the largest concentration of African Americans in the City of St. Paul (80%), Rondo was a thriving community for businesses and homeowners. From 1956 to 1968 the construction of the I-94 highway split the community in half.lxxvi As a result of freeway construction:
• 300 businesses were destroyed
• 700 African American-owned homes were destroyed
• $270 million home ownership equity gap in Rondo due to inadequate compensation for the home’s true market value.

This project aims "to create Minnesota’s first African American cultural enterprise district connected by a community land bridge."lxxvii The aim is to repair, restore, and revitalize the Rondo neighborhood and address the racial disparity gaps in Minnesota. The project's benefits will help improve the realities for African Americans in Minnesota while addressing the historical harms inflicted by the construction of the I-94 freeway. The concept for this project is "restorative development," where the project provides new housing, jobs, business, and nonprofit workspace. Ultimately, the goal is to inclusively grow Rondo’s economic base and increase the City's revenues by $3.8 - 4.2 million annually.lxxviii
This project is ongoing, and Reconnect Rondo is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization leading the effort. They received a $2 million USDOT Reconnecting Communities Grant in fiscal year 2022 but did not receive any funding in 2023.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ELEMENTS PRESENT
PAST
Historical
Acknowledgment
The City and State both issued a formal and public apology for the displacement and destruction of the Rondo community. The Rondo Commemorative Plaza also acts as a physical historical landmark.

PROCESS
Open Dialogue
The state of Minnesota and the City of St. Paul have opened several channels for the community to speak on the project, with ReConnect Rondo serving as the community-led anchor organization. ReConnect Rondo has used community meetings, partnerships with technical assistance providers like the Urban Land Institute, and non-traditional methods of engagement like hackathons to support diverse, communityled input. 40 Clear Feedback
Process
There has been a direct process set up for the community to receive feedback and have a back-and-forth conversation with the State, City, and relevant stakeholders on the vision for this project. This includes formal community engagement mechanisms to inform feasibility studies and inform design priorities, as well as community-supported recommendationslxxix embedded in the project’s 4P (people, public, private, and philanthropic) funding model.

Co-Creation
Planning
Intentional on space and making sure community understands the concepts before making the decisions.

OUTCOME
Support
Community
Oversight
Community steering and oversight committees have guided the project's goals and hold the government accountable for delivering on the collective vision form the community. While these entities have existed at different stages of the project, there is now a separate entity that has been formed, the Rondo Roundtablelxxx, that is an independent group of 14 members including local businesses, neighborhood leaders, and elders that have a strong commitment to overseeing this project’s ultimate success and Rondo’s community-led revitalization.

Impacted
Communities
Wealth Generation
Restorative Development is the guiding light for this project, with an emphasis on providing economic benefits for the community. As outlined in the project’s proposed funding document, this may include establishing a community enterprise trust that would manage air and development rights, providing title and land to community members in perpetuity, developing a community-driven master plan, and creating standards for operational governance.lxxxi
TOOLS
Affordable
Housing
The project aims to create 468-576 housing units in Rondo with a stated goal to “Provide mechanisms to minimize barriers, and provide financial incentives, to promote the production and preservation of a diverse, safe, healthy, and affordable housing stock for residents to build wealth.”lxxxii Procurement
Intervention
Rondo’s Anti-Displacement and Community Investment Strategylxxxiii calls for a full economic cycle of benefits that are envisioned for the community.

Key among them is a Community Investment Fund to ensure that the 41 Rondo community directly benefits from the physical development of the land bridge, which would include contracting opportunities for small businesses and employment opportunities for local residents.

Small Business
Workforce
Investment
The project's 4P financing plan calls for the creation of “an enterprise or system of economic business capacity building, workforce development, and wealth building.”lxxxiv
Hard Infrastructure
The entire project is grounded in the creation of a physical land bridge that will cover or “cap” the I-94 freeway and build a restorative development.

The development proposed would include physical housing, office, transportation upgrades, and green space.lxxxv
PROCESS & TIMELINElxxxvi
Figure 1. Reconnect Rondo Process Timeline
2009: First discussion of a possible “cap” over I-94 (i.e., the Rondo Land Bridge) 2015: MnDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle and Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman apologize to Rondo residents for the negative effects of freeway construction 2016: Urban Land Institute (ULI) and MnDOT complete Healthy Communities Initiative 2016: U.S. DOT selects Rondo for Everyplace Counts Design Challenge 2017: ReConnect Rondo, Inc. is formed
2017: ULI supports the Rondo land bridge in developer dialogue 2017: Nobel Peace Prize Forum pushes efforts to rebuild Rondo neighborhood 2018: The National ULI Advisory Service panel recommendation calls for 21 acres of new land over I-94 through the Rondo land bridge
2018: Macalester College completes Place-Based Study of Gentrification and Housing Resiliency for Rondo
42 2018: Public Spaces Proximate to I-94 Analysis completed. Rondo Ave, Inc. and Friendly Street Initiative Form ReConnect Rondo to study the potential of a land bridge
2019: ReConnect Rondo presents to the Saint Paul Planning Commission 2020: ReConnect Rondo receives Ramsey Court revitalization grant 2020: Rondo land bridge feasibility study completed
2020: Nordic City Solutions select Rondo for Net-Zero Energy development exploration
2020: Rondo Roundtable is relaunched in pursuit of African American cultural district planning and coordination
2020: ReConnect Rondo initiates master planning discussion with the City of St.

Paul
2021: ReConnect Rondo prepares for bonding year, pre-planning resources 2022: ReConnect Rondo bond request for pre-planning
2022: Reconnecting Communities grant awarded
Figure 2. Detailed Reconnect Rondo Process Timeline
43 OUTCOMES
MDOT and the St. Paul Mayor officially apologized for their institutional role in perpetuating historical wrongs. Thus far, project stakeholders have conducted a series of historical, planning, economic impact, development, and feasibility studies, including:
o Rondo Past Prosperity Study
o Rondo Land Bridge Feasibility Study
o Rondo Land Bridge Health Impact Assessment
o ULI Advisory Service Panel Report
o Neighborhood Master Planning Study
The planning efforts have yielded significant community engagement outcomes, building substantial local support for the project. The level of community support, advocacy, and organizing around this collective vision to repair the harm from the splitting in half of Rondo has led to several community-led events, projects, and initiatives, including:
o Formation of ReConnect Rondo as an official organization o Creation of Rondo Days, a festival planned and held in celebration of Rondo since 1983
o Rondo Commemorative Plaza completed in 2016
Figure 3. Rondo Commemorative Plaza
lxxxvii
44 7.4 – Case Study Lessons Learned
Portland Broadway Corridor - Community Benefits Agreement Developer Partnership
The negotiations facilitated by Prosper Portland between the Steering Committee and developers created delays in the development of the former USPS site. This case uplifts the necessity to ensure that developers are aware of and committed to the community goals of a CBA or RJF at the front end of project solicitation. It is also important for the government body to support the community and ensure a selected developer follows through and adheres to outlined agreements.

I-5 Rose Quarter – Transparency and Delivery
ODOT’s lack of transparency and accountability to the Executive Steering Committee deepened the existing distrust of government with the Albina Community. Although the process has been fraught, the governor’s facilitation to compromise with community has realigned the development plan with community needs, but the distrust and apprehension because of ODOT’s actions remain. This case uplifts the importance of transparency throughout the process to rebuild community trust. It also emphasizes how overpromising and underdelivering will create further harm and deepen distrust.

Reconnect Rondo – Timing and Intention
Reconnect Rondo as an organization centered on community decision making and community context throughout its planning process. Their timeline showcases the importance of intention and consistency to meet community needs. This case uplifts the value to slow down the process and educate the community to make well-informed decisions.

8. Promising Practices for Pasadena

8.1 – Community Input on Restorative Justice Elements
This section outlines summaries of EA’s engagement with the 710 Advisory Group on October 16, 2024, the Advisory Group subcommittee, and the January 25, 2025 Open House. During this Open House, EA gathered input from community members on their prioritization of the restorative justice elements.
710 Advisory Group Meeting Summary
October 16, 2024: EA presented a project update to Advisory Group members in October. In this meeting, the EA team introduced the working Pasadena focused Restorative Justice definition and 12 case study elements. Along with this broader 45 summation of the Restorative Justice Framework development, EA provided an in-depth view into two case study profiles, Reconnect Rondo and Portland’s Broadway Corridor.

Advisory Group members asked questions about process, expectations, and clarifications to case study elements and the two case study profiles. They generally responded positively to the 12 case study elements developed by EA, and the initial proposal to categorize them into four larger themes.

The City suggested the Advisory Group members organize themselves into subcommittees to dive deeper into topic areas of the master planning project. Members discussed how the process and subcommittees will center Restorative Justice throughout all the planning elements and recommendations. One of the subcommittees created was for Restorative Justice, which will take EA’s presented materials to carry forward the development and further feedback of the master plan’s Restorative Justice Framework.
710 Advisory Group Subcommittee Summary
[placeholder text]
Community Open House Summary
[placeholder text]

8.2 – Restorative Justice Scenarios in the Pasadena
Context
Based on community’s prioritization of restorative justice elements, this section analyzes scenarios based on the restorative justice elements community input prioritized and the current utilization of the restorative justice element in Pasadena. This will incorporate landscape research, additional landscape research on the Pasadena context, and key information from the Reconnecting Pasadena Master Plan process to articulate the applicability of the restorative justice element.

Here are current examples of each restorative justice element and its utilization in the City of Pasadena.

Restorative Justice
Element Definition Current Utilization in Pasadena
Open Dialogue (OD)
A formal mechanism
whereby impacted
community members are
heard. This allows people
to air grievances with the
expectation that decisionmakers will take action to
Our Pasadena- Putting the
Plan in Motion
The City of Pasadena’s
Planning and Community
Development Department
launched the Our Pasadena
46 address their issue(s) and
recognizes the importance
of their lived experiences.

Plan in 2018. The process
has included a series of
community open houses and
rounds of community
workshops to collect input
on the City’s General and
Specific Plans.

Clear Feedback
Process (CFP)
The project has a
transparent and accessible
mechanism for community
members and local leaders
to provide feedback.

Community members have
a clear understanding of
how their input will be
considered and
incorporated into the final
product.

Reconnecting
Communities 710
Advisory Group (RCAG)
The RCAG was formed by
the Pasadena City Council
and members appointed to
provide a mechanism in
Pasadena’s planning
process that creates
opportunity for residents and
local stakeholders to weigh
in, give feedback to the
ongoing process, and advise
council members.

Co-Creation
Planning
(CCP)*
*This is a very high bar
requiring community
members to have decisionmaking authority in the
process.

The planning process is
collaborative and
considers the community
as a designer and
decision-maker. It
acknowledges that
community members are
well-equipped to articulate
what they want to see in
their community.

N/A
Historical
Acknowledgement
(HA)
The project connects to the
historical legacy of a
planning or development
project that harmed an
under-resourced or
marginalized community.

The history of the project is
acknowledged,
documented, and
Historic Report on the SR710 Displacement
Part of the City of
Pasadena’s scope for the
710 Planning process
includes the Historic Project
work led by three
consultants, ARG, Allegra,
and UCLA. ARG will
47 incorporated in future
planning efforts, with an
eye for creating
interventions that respond
to historic inequities.
document the demographics
of the people displaced &
number, types of buildings,
and institutions. Allegra is
tasked with identifying
persons or descendants of
persons displaced or
impacted by the construction
of the 710 freeway. UCLA
will document the impact the
construction of 710 and 210
freeways had on the
Pasadena community by
analyzing census data from
1950 to the present and
other factors like redlining,
racial covenants, and urban
renewal.

Impacted
Communities
Wealth Generation
(ICWG)
The project articulates an
inclusive approach to
economic development. It
specifies how wealth is
generated, who stands to
gain financially, and
specifies the populations
that are typically excluded.

It includes mechanisms for
impacted low-income
communities to share in
the project’s economic
benefits.

Pasadena Local
Preference and Priority
System Guidelines – The
City of Pasadena outlines
preference and prioritization
requirements to allocate
affordable housing units.

Sixth priority is given to
households that have been
“involuntarily displaced” from
the City.
*Although California’s Prop
209 bars public agencies
from giving preference
based on race or gender,
there are other
socioeconomic
characteristics that the City
may consider. One example
would include the State of
California’s designation of
priority populations.
48 Support Community
Oversight
(SCO)
The project gives
community representatives
an official supervisory duty,
formally establishing their
role in the implementation
process.

None
Community
Benefits Agreement
(CBA)
A legally binding
agreement between
community representatives
and a developer that
defines specific benefits.

These may include
construction and
operations labor
standards, provision of
community spaces, and/or
affordable housing
requirements.

Heritage Square Senior
Apartments – Local
Benefits Plan
Housing developers
negotiated a local benefits
plan with the Fair Oaks
Project Area Committee to
codify community benefits
including workforce,
contracting, and housing.

Affordable Housing
(AH)**
**Can be part of CBA
The project includes
required affordable
housing units.

PMC 17.42.040-
Inclusionary Housing
Ordinance
Pasadena’s Zoning Code
requires 20 percent of
residential dwelling units in a
project be sold or rented at
an affordable rate.

Procurement
Intervention
(PI)
The project requires the
inclusion of Disadvantaged
Business Enterprises
(DBE) and
Minority/Women-Owned
Business Enterprise
(WMBE).

Pasadena First Buy Local
Where applicable, the City of
Pasadena offers a 5 percent
bid preference to certified
small businesses and local
businesses in procurement,
contracting, and hiring
efforts. Prop 209 precludes
preferences for minority or
women-owned businesses
in public contracting.
49 Small
Business/Workforce
Investment (SBWI)
The project integrates a
workforce training and/or
small business
development program for
community members and
entrepreneurs.

First Source Hiring
Program
This is a program that
creates voluntary and
mandatory local hire
requirements for
development projects.

Hard Infrastructure
(HI)
The project includes
specific multi-modal
transportation
improvements, open
spaces and urban
greening, sustainability
enhancements, climate
resilient infrastructure, and
monuments.

Reconnecting Pasadena
710 Master Plan Process
This project seeks to
“enhance connectivity,
mobility and quality of life” in
and around the 710 Stub
through “transportation
infrastructure, economic
opportunities, cultural
attractions and green
space.”
Legislative Action
(LA)
The project led to or was
built upon by formal
legislative response of a
governmental entity,
usually a City Council, in
the form of city ordinances
or resolutions. Examples
include, updating the
approach to community
engagement for all
planning projects, adopting
policies that require
community benefits
agreements when certain
conditions are met, and/or
formalizing mechanisms
that enable community
members to formally
prioritize investment
priorities (e.g., participatory
budgeting). The key
component of this element
is the government body
None
50 taking direct action through
their legislative authority.

8.3 – Restorative Justice Promising Practices
Based on the current utilization in Pasadena and community prioritization, here are the elements in which the City has the most opportunity to build promising practices. • Affordable Housing (AH): The current provision of 20% affordable housing in Pasadena’s zoning code presents an opportunity to steward the development of more housing for Pasadena’s most vulnerable residents. The City could increase this provision through the 710 Master Plan.
• Historical Acknowledgement (HA): Akin to the ReConnect Rondo case study, the City of Pasadena could issue a formal apology codified through City Council acknowledging the harm caused by the construction of the freeway interchange that connected SR-710, SR-134, and I-210. The harm cited could include findings from the Historic Project work led by three consultants, ARG, Allegra, and UCLA. • Community Benefits Agreement (CBA): Similar to the Portland Broadway Corridor Community Benefits Agreement, the City could codify through City Council a community benefits plan to ensure all Pasadena residents have the opportunity to benefit from the subsequent development of the Site. Benefits could include but are not limited to provisions to promote workforce construction equity around hiring and wages, targeted procurement requirements for disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE), and affordable housing requirements.

9. Recommendations
EA recommends the following approaches to further integrate a restorative approach to the Reconnecting Pasadena Master Plan Process.
[placeholder for recommendations]
51 10. Appendix
Section 4.3 – Theories of Restorative Justice in Planning The various planning frameworks of justice highlight the necessity for substantive changes in procedure and systems to create equitable results. A 2021 report used the Reparative Planning framework to develop a matrix of recommended practices through an empirical analysis of ACT-LA’s organizing methods.lxxxviii
• Build scalable decision making and coalition building infrastructure • Operate cross-spatially and create counter spaces for organizing outside of institutional forums
• Align visions internally and externally
• Work regionally and multi-disciplinary
• Plan for the current population
• Remain flexible
Section 7.3 – Case Study Profiles
Evanston, IL – Restorative Housing Program

BACKGROUND
This is the first reparations initiative developed by the City of Evanston. The initiative acknowledges the harm caused to Black/African American Evanston residents due to discriminatory housing policies and practices and inaction on the part of the City from 1919 to 1969. The goal of the Program is to:
• Revitalize, preserve, and stabilize Black/African American owner-occupied homes in Evanston
• Increase homeownership and build the wealth of Black/African American residents.
• Build intergenerational equity amongst Black/African American residents • Improve the retention rate of Black/African American homeowners in the City of Evanston
52 RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ELEMENTS PRESENT
PAST
Historical
acknowledgment
The Restorative Housing Reparations Program seeks to address a specific harm to Evanston’s Black residents. The City acknowledges that discriminatory housing policies and practices from 1919 to 1969 deprived Black families the opportunity to pursue economic opportunities and build generational wealth.

PROCESS
Open Dialogue
The city has established several bodies to solicit community input and ensure open dialogue on the policy throughout. This includes the Reparations Committee comprised of a majority of community members, as well as several working groups focused on topics such as Community Unity, Economic Development, and Education Initiatives, among others.

Clear Feedback
Process
The Equity and Empowerment Commission and the Reparations Committee have established formal feedback loops for community-identified recommendations to be considered by council. This includes hosting a series of community meetings and town halls. In addition, the Committee-approved community outreach plan will identify how community members will participate in the process moving forward.lxxxix

OUTCOME
Support
Community
Oversight
Two-thirds of the Reparations Committee -- which oversees and monitors reparations payments --is held by non-aldermanic community members.

Impacted
Communities
Wealth
Generation
The Council developed a 3% sales tax on gross Cannabis sales to produce revenue to fund the reparations payments. By dedicating this revenue to support Black families that missed out on wealth building opportunities through homeownership, the fund supports wealth generation for marginalized populations.

TOOLS
Affordable
Housing
This program focuses on supporting housing and homeownership for the Black community of Evanston.

Legislative
Action
Evanston City Council passed Resolution 58-R-19 in June 2019, affirming the City’s commitment to end structural racism and achieve racial equity. In November 2019, the Council passed Resolution 126-R-19, which established the “Adult Use Cannabis 53 Tax” to fund reparations efforts to create direct benefits to housing and economic development, and in 2020 codified the Reparations Committee.

PROCESS & TIMELINE
This section provides an overview of the project process and timeline.

June 5, 2019: Evanston passed Resolution 58-R-19 affirming the City’s commitment to end structural racism and achieve racial equity.

July 2019: The City Council’s Equity and Empowerment Commission held two community meetings to gather public input on reparations in July 2019. • “The purpose of the Equity & Empowerment Commission is to identify and eradicate inequities in City services, programs, human resource practices, and decision-making processes. The goal is to ensure that all residents receive equal service and treatment regardless of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, age, marital status, familial status, disability, gender identity, and gender expression.”xc
• Participation is citizen-centered, with only one alderman assigned to qualify for the commission, and the remaining eight participants having expertise in areas of human rights, social justice, physical and mental disability, and the Spanish language.

September 2019: Council accepted the Commission’s report November 14, 2019: City Council passed Resolution 126-R-19 “Establishing a City of Evanston Funding Source Devoted to Local Reparations.”xci This resolution approved a September 9, 2019, recommendation from the Equity & Empowerment Commission regarding local reparations for African American residents to the City. It called for the following:
• Creation of a City Council subcommittee to conduct a feasibility study of Commission recommendations on housing assistance and economic development projects.
• Establishes the “Adult Use Cannabis Tax” as a new revenue source as of 2020 and seeks to dedicate this funding source to local reparations programs, effectively establishing the “Local Reparations Fund.”xcii • It committed the first $10,000,000 of the City’s Municipal Cannabis Retailers’ Occupation Tax (3% on gross sales of cannabis) to fund local reparations for housing and economic development programs for Black Evanston residents.xciii November 9, 2020: Council adopted Ordinance 102-O-20 amending portions of the city code to codify the Reparations Committee. The new committee expands membership to include citizens, two Alderman, and four at-large members. The committee is tasked with the following:
54 • Oversight of the Reparations Fund
• Evaluation of applications and providing recommended funding allocations to housing and economic development programs that address historical discrimination by the City
• Monitoring how funding recipients are affected and measuring programmatic impacts in each ward
September 21 – November 5, 2021: The City opened applications for the program May 2, 2022: The City selected the first 16 beneficiaries of the Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program, with recipients receiving financial compensation totaling $400,000. xciv
August 16, 2023: As of this date, Evanston’s Reparations Committee announced it had dispersed $1,092,924 in reparations through the housing and $439,397 was pending disbursement for mortgage assistance and/or construction and remodeling projects.

FUNDING
The program receives its funding from a tax levied on cannabis dispensaries and sales.

Participants in the program, receive a $25,000 direct benefit to support and address discriminatory housing policies of Evanston. Funds support the following initiatives:

1. Home Ownership: The Home Ownership initiative provides down payment/closing cost assistance to purchase real property located within the City.

2. Home Improvement: The Home Improvement initiative provides funds to repair, improve, or modernize real property located within the City.

3. Mortgage Assistance: Mortgage Assistance initiatives provide funds to pay down mortgage principal, interest, and/or late penalties for real property located within the City

PARTICIPANTS
Eligibility for the program is limited to “Black Residents that lived in Evanston during the period of harm, which was 1919 - 1969, or their direct descendants are eligible.”xcvCurrently, City staff anticipates disbursing reparations funds to at least 80 direct descendants in 2024. There might be more disbursement pending the revenues received from the second cannabis dispensary, which opened in February 2024.xcvi 55 Rochester, NY – Inner Loop North Planning Project

BACKGROUND
This project is a continuation of the successful completion of the Inner-Loop East Project that concluded in 2019. The Inner Loop East Project converted a sunken section of the inner-city expressway ("loop"). Originally designed and developed in the 1950s as the City of Rochester was growing, the highway was seen as a way for residents to quickly access the downtown business district.

The City demolished 1,300 homes and businesses to make way for the expressway.

However, the federal government added to the construction of interstate highways to the South, East, and West of Downtown. Rochester's population has since plummeted, and the "loop" was a displacement vessel that never achieved its intended utility. In 2012 through a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grant, the City filled in the eastern portion of the 6-lane sunken expressway, freeing up 5.7 acres of land that was converted into a roadway with several infrastructure enhancements such as mixed-use developments, crosswalks, and cycle tracks. Inner Loop North’s Planning Study was conducted in 2022 and took a community-centered co-design approach to the development. Unlike Inner Loop East, the Inner Loop North project is more centered around elements of Restorative Justice, especially in the co-creation of the development.

Many U.S. cities, like New Orleans and Baltimore, are looking at Rochester’s case study and are interested in replicating it by using federal dollars from USDOT’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ELEMENTS PRESENT
PAST
Historical
Acknowledgment
Historical documentation is built into the project from the start. All community events and engagement sessions begin with a historical recounting and acknowledgment.

PROCESS
Open Dialogue
Community-based groups, like Hinge Neighbors, are actively working with the City to identify priorities and share concerns about how the engagement process should be altered to avoid some of the more top-down planning that characterized the Inner Loop East project.xcvii The City has hosted ten public workshops, six Community Advisory Committee meetings, six Technical Advisory Committee Meetings, three pop-up events, and an online survey.xcviii
Clear Feedback
Process Hinge Neighbors has played a central role in influencing the process, including hosting four community workshops in 2021 and creating a refined community- 56 generated plan. The City has incorporated this feedback and the plan in the preferred concept.xcix
Co-Creation
Planning
Community-identified needs were codified in Hinge Neighbor’s Plan and the community’s Screening Tool for Equity Analysis of Projects. c

OUTCOME
Support
Community
Oversight
Two-thirds of the Reparations Committee --which oversees and monitors reparations payments --is held by non-aldermanic community members.

Impacted
Communities
Wealth
Generation
The Council developed a 3% sales tax on gross Cannabis sales to produce revenue to fund the reparations payments. By dedicating this revenue to support Black families that missed out on wealth building opportunities through homeownership, the fund supports wealth generation for marginalized populations.

TOOLS
Affordable
Housing Element
One strong example of Co-creation planning is the affordable housing element of this project. Unlike the Inner Loop East project, community members want to see lower density affordable housing and a pathway to full home ownership, not mixed-use development and condos as in the Inner Loop East Project.ci Hard
Infrastructure
The project calls for filling in the highway trench and includes new bicycle and pedestrian facilities, new development at varying intensities (including lower-density housing, mixed-use developments, and commercial zoning), as well as open space.cii
PROCESS & TIMELINEciii
1990s: Local Leaders began exploring the removal of the inner loop highway as a form of redevelopment in Downtown Rochester.
2014: The highway’s least-utilized eastern segment was closed to traffic and the City launched a $21 million public works project to fill in the freeway trench. Proposed improvements included:

Bulb-outs, protected bike lanes, apartment buildings with varied brick faces, first-floor retail, and landscaped sidewalks hugging the downtown side of Union Street 2019: The Inner Loop East Project is completed. Neighborhood of Play, a mixed-use development serving downtown, is created. It included a $75 Million, 90,000 sq ft. museum 57 expansion, 238 apartment units, with 100 for people making 60-80% are median income, and a new hotel.
2021: The U.S. House of Representatives approved $4 million in funding to transform Rochester's 1.5-mile-long stretch of Inner Loop North into a street-level boulevard. The project aims to reconnect northern neighborhoods to downtown. The Federal funding will support the study, design, and planning phases of the project, which is estimated to cost up to $50 million to complete.
2022: Governor Kathy Hochul announced that New York was committing $100 million to remove the last 1.5 miles of the Inner Loop’s northern stretch, opening another 22 acres for development and public space.

OUTCOMES
• Inner Loop East Economic Payoff: More than $200 million in new investment has been generated since the expressway was filled in and there is 95% occupancy of new apartment developments. However, vacant and unused lots still exist, with the idea of possible expansion of hotels, parking garages, and a 60-unit affordable housing complex with ground-floor retail.
• Inner Loop Planning Study – The planning project took a community-centered approach to re-design the corridor based on community-identified needs. Historical documentation and analysis of the "inner loop" and the displacement that occurred is a component of this project. Much more community-engaged focused than Inner Loop East in terms of community oversight and guidance of the project. o “The City developed six different concepts for what the area would look like without the Inner Loop. The community settled on one anchored by a traditional grid layout. One of the most symbolic improvements is a full restoration of Franklin Square, a city park dating back to 1826 that had been split apart by the Inner Loop.”
o Community-led planning process revealed that residents do not want to see a replica of a large development like in Inner Loop East, but rather they want lowdensity, affordable housing. 58 i ReConnect Rondo. “The Big Idea - ReConnect Rondo,” July 27, 2021. https://reconnectrondo.com/vision/the-big-idea/.
ii ReConnect Rondo. “ReConnect Rondo Fact Sheet,” n.d. https://reconnectrondo.com/wpcontent/uploads/2021/08/ReConnect-Rondo-Fact-Sheet-1.pdf iii Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California.

This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document.
iv Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California.

This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document.
v Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California.

This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document.
vi Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California.

This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document.
vii Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California. (29) This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document.
viii Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California. (31) This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document.
ix Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California.

This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document.
x Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California.

This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document
59 xi Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California.

This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document
xii “Lasting Redlining in Los Angeles County – by Pallavi Panyam and Pierce Barnes.” 2019. Berkeley.edu.

March 27, 2019. https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~piercebarnes/. xiii Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California.

This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document
xiv Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California.

This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document
xv Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California.

This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document
xvi Ong, P., Pech, Chung, C., & Wasserman, J. (2025). Racial segregation in Pasadena: the role of freeway development and institutional mechanisms. City of Pasadena, California.

This is a Draft Report shared with Estolano Advisors by Perkins Eastman to incorporate the research from UCLA into our Restorative Justice Framework document
xvii
“State Route 710 Northern Stub Relinquishment,” cityofpasadena.net, accessed August 21, 2024, https://www.cityofpasadena.net/transportation/transportation-improvements/710-northern-stub/. xviii Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia, Handy, Susan L., Ong, Paul M., et al.. “The Implications of Freeway Siting in California: Four Case Studies on the Effects of Freeways on Neighborhoods of Color.” UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, 2023. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7mj2b24q. xix Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia, Handy, Susan L., Ong, Paul M., et al.. “The Implications of Freeway Siting in California: Four Case Studies on the Effects of Freeways on Neighborhoods of Color.” xx “710 Revisioning Project,” cityofpasadena.net, accessed August 21, 2024, https://www.cityofpasadena.net/city-manager/710-revisioning-project/#background. xxi Brian Biery, “Brian Biery- Eminent Domain 710 Freeway Talk,” YouTube, February 18, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us0XKfWgTDQ.
xxii Brian Biery, “Brian Biery- Eminent Domain 710 Freeway Talk.” 60 xxiii Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia, Handy, Susan L., Ong, Paul M., et al.. “The Implications of Freeway Siting in California: Four Case Studies on the Effects of Freeways on Neighborhoods of Color.” xxiv “710 Revisioning Project.”
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Cityofpasadena.net. City of Pasadena. 2022.
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Transportation.gov. 2024. https://www.transportation.gov/reconnecting. xxix “Bulldozed and Bisected: Highway Construction Built a Legacy of Inequality.” 2021. Nbcnews.com.

NBC News. June 18, 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/america-highways-inequality/. xxx “Pasadena Confronts Murky History of 710 Freeway Displacements – Pasadena Now.” 2024.

Pasadenanow.com. November 3, 2024. https://pasadenanow.com/main/pasadena-confronts-murkyhistory-of-710-freeway-displacements. xxxi Hale, Jantzen, Isaac Bushnell, Elizabeth Flores, Itzel Vasquez-Rodriguez, and Makenna Cavanaugh. n.d. “Addressing the Discriminatory Impacts of Redlining and Highway Development in California Informing Effective and Equitable Environmental Policy.” https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2024/06/Addressing-the-Discriminatory-Impacts-of-Redlining-and-HighwayDevelopment-in-California.pdf. 11-12. xxxii “UofL Libraries: Uncovering Racial Logics: Louisville’s History of Racial Oppression and Activism:

Urban Renewal.” 2024. Louisville.edu. 2024. https://library.louisville.edu/archives/racial-logics/urbanrenewal. xxxiii Schweitzer, Lisa. "Restorative planning ethics: The therapeutic imagination and planning in public institutions." Planning Theory 15, no. 2 (2016): 3.
xxxiv “Pillars of Reparative Justice.” n.d. New England Board of Higher Education. https://nebhe.org/reparative-justice/pillars-of-reparative-justice/. xxxv Hinderaker, Mollie. "Integrating restorative and reparative planning concepts into highway revisioning projects: reimagining I-35 in Austin, Texas." PhD diss., 2023. 17. xxxvi Wachtel, Ted. “Defining Restorative.” International Institute for Restorative Practices, November 2016. xxxvii Mingus, Mia. “Transformative Justice: A Brief Description.” TransformHarm.org, January 11, 2019. https://transformharm.org/tj_resource/transformative-justice-a-brief-description/. 61 xxxviii Hinderaker, Mollie. "Integrating restorative and reparative planning concepts into highway revisioning projects: reimagining I-35 in Austin, Texas." 13-14.
xxxix “Freeways, Redlining & Racism.” 2023.
xl Hinderaker, Mollie. "Integrating restorative and reparative planning concepts into highway revisioning projects: reimagining I-35 in Austin, Texas." 18.
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xlii Albrechts, Louis, Angela Barbanente, and Valeria Monno. 2020. “Practicing Transformative Planning:

The Territory-Landscape Plan as a Catalyst for Change.” City Territory and Architecture 7 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40410-019-0111-2. 2.
xliii Hinderaker, Mollie. "Integrating restorative and reparative planning concepts into highway revisioning projects: reimagining I-35 in Austin, Texas." 13.
xliv Hinderaker, Mollie. "Integrating restorative and reparative planning concepts into highway revisioning projects: reimagining I-35 in Austin, Texas." 13-14.
xlv “RCAG Meeting: September 18, 2024.” Reconnecting communities 710 advisory group meeting:

September 18, 2024, September 18, 2024.
https://pasadena.granicus.com/player/clip/7520?view_id=35&redirect=true. 20:13. xlvi Admin. 2020. “Rational Planning Model | Planning Theory.” Planning Tank. August 25, 2020. https://planningtank.com/planning-theory/rational-planning-model. xlvii Hinderaker, Mollie. "Integrating restorative and reparative planning concepts into highway revisioning projects: reimagining I-35 in Austin, Texas." 17.
xlviii Schweitzer, Lisa. "Restorative planning ethics: The therapeutic imagination and planning in public institutions." 10.
xlix Forde, Susan. "Spatial intersectionality and transformative justice as frameworks for equitable urban planning in divided and post-conflict cities." Cities 147 (2024): 2. l Albrechts, Louis, Angela Barbanente, and Valeria Monno. "Practicing transformative planning: the territory-landscape plan as a catalyst for change." City, Territory and Architecture 7 (2020):2. li Forde, Susan. "Spatial intersectionality and transformative justice as frameworks for equitable urban planning in divided and post-conflict cities." 2.
lii Williams, Rashad, and Justin Steil. "“The Past We Step Into and How We Repair It” A Normative Framework for Reparative Planning." Journal of the American Planning Association 89, no. 4 (2023): 580. liii Williams, Rashad, and Justin Steil. "“The Past We Step Into and How We Repair It” A Normative Framework for Reparative Planning." 580.
62 liv Forde, Susan. "Spatial intersectionality and transformative justice as frameworks for equitable urban planning in divided and post-conflict cities." 2.
lvCity of Pasadena, Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group, Regular Meeting, July 17, 2024, Agenda Ite 3, Ong, Paul M. and UCLA Team. “IMPACTS OF FREEWAYS AND OTHER MECHANISMS ON SEGREGATION IN PASADENA,” 2024. https://www.cityofpasadena.net/city-manager/wpcontent/uploads/sites/2/2024-07-17-RC710AG-Regular-Meeting-Agenda.pdf?v=1730748070773. lvi “Portland City Council Unanimously Approves Broadway Corridor Project,” September 23, 2020. https://www.portland.gov/wheeler/news/2020/9/23/portland-city-council-unanimously-approves-broadwaycorridor-project. lvii Prosper Portland, Race Forward, and Prosper Portland Equity Council. “Broadway Corridor Racial Impact Equity Analysis,” n.d.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59f115ffd0e628db46113b11/t/5a28556853450aeceb51fd5e/151259 2745013/Racial+Equity+Impact+Assessment_Broadway+Corridor.pdf. lviii Prosper Portland, Race Forward, and Prosper Portland Equity Council. “Broadway Corridor Racial Impact Equity Analysis.”
lix “Portland City Council Unanimously Approves Broadway Corridor Project.” lx “History of Albina | I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project,” n.d. https://www.i5rosequarter.org/history-ofalbina/. lxi “Project Overview | I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project,” n.d. https://www.i5rosequarter.org/about. lxii “History of Albina | I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.” lxiii “History of Albina | I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.” lxiv Hughes, Jena, and Planning Assistant. 2019. “Historical Context of Racist Planning: A History of How Planning Segregated Portland.” https://www.portland.gov/sites/default/files/2019- 12/portlandracistplanninghistoryreport.pdf. 13.
lxv “Committees | I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project,” n.d. https://www.i5rosequarter.org/committees/. lxvi “Committees | I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.” lxvii “Willamette Week Exposes PR Expenses behind I-5 Rose Quarter Project.” 2024. BikePortland.

September 5, 2024. https://bikeportland.org/2024/09/05/willamette-week-exposes-pr-expenses-behind-i5-rose-quarter-project-389337. lxviii “Committees | I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.” 63 lxix Hamilton Sundt. “Diversity and Subcontracting Plan,” January 13, 2022. https://www.i5rosequarter.org/media/izoepgnp/ch_2_reconciled_diversity_subcontracting_plan.pdf lxx Hamilton Sundt. “Diversity and Subcontracting Plan.” lxxi Hamilton Sundt. “Diversity and Subcontracting Plan.” 3. lxxii Jaquiss, Nigel. “ODOT Bets on a Man of Faith to Sell a Controversial Transportation Project,” September 4, 2024. https://www.wweek.com/news/2024/09/04/odot-bets-on-a-man-of-faith-to-sell-acontroversial-transportation-project/. lxxiii “Welcome | I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project,” n.d. https://www.i5rosequarter.org/. lxxiv “Governor Steps in to Break Logjam on I-5 Rose Quarter Project, Earns Albina Vision Trust Support.” 2021. BikePortland. August 4, 2021. https://bikeportland.org/2021/08/04/governor-steps-in-to-breaklogjam-on-i-5-rose-quarter-project-earns-albina-vision-trust-support336093#:~:text=The%20shift%20comes%20after%20Oregon,buildings%20on%20future%20freeway%20 caps..
lxxv “Committees | I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.” lxxvi ReConnect Rondo. “History - ReConnect Rondo,” July 27, 2021. https://reconnectrondo.com/vision/history/.
lxxvii ReConnect Rondo. “The Big Idea - ReConnect Rondo,” July 27, 2021. https://reconnectrondo.com/vision/the-big-idea/.
lxxviii ReConnect Rondo. “ReConnect Rondo Fact Sheet,” n.d. https://reconnectrondo.com/wpcontent/uploads/2021/08/ReConnect-Rondo-Fact-Sheet-1.pdf lxxix Urban Land Institute. “Rondo 4P Funding Model: A pathway leading to restoring a community lost through Federal highway investments,” 2022. https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:faa6d5ac8434-480f-876a-51556e734f2d lxxx Rondo Roundtable. 2024. “About - Rondo Roundtable.” May 20, 2024. https://rondoroundtable.org/about/.
lxxxi Urban Land Institute. “Rondo 4P Funding Model: A pathway leading to restoring a community lost through Federal highway investments.”
lxxxii ReConnectRondo, Inc. “Rondo Avenue Land Bridge Feasibility Study Final Report,” July 2020. https://reconnectrondo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Rondo-Avenue-Land-Bridge-Feasibility-StudyFinal-Report.pdf. lxxxiii Alexandra Miller Consulting, The Housing Workshop, RECONNECT RONDO, and Marvin R.

Anderson. “Rondo Anti-Displacement & Community Investment Strategy.” Report, 2024. 64 lxxxiv Urban Land Institute. “Rondo 4P Funding Model: A pathway leading to restoring a community lost through Federal highway investments.” 22.
lxxxv ReConnect Rondo. 2021. “The Land Bridge - ReConnect Rondo.” July 27, 2021. https://reconnectrondo.com/landbridge/.
lxxxvi ReConnect Rondo. “The Timeline - ReConnect Rondo,” December 16, 2020. https://reconnectrondo.com/landbridge/project/.
lxxxvii Demetria Murphy, Rondo Commemorative Plaza, September 11, 2024, Photograph. lxxxviii Mizrahi, Elifmina. "Reparative Planning in Theory and Practice: The Case of The Alliance for Community Transit-Los Angeles." Master's thesis, Harvard University, 2021. 101. lxxxix “Evanston Local Reparations FAQs | City of Evanston,” n.d. https://www.cityofevanston.org/government/city-council/reparations xc “Equity and Empowerment Commission,” n.d. https://www.cityofevanston.org/government/equityempowerment/equity-and-empowerment-commission. xci “Resolution 126-R-19: Establishing a City of Evanston Funding Source Devoted to Local Reparations,” November 14, 2019.
https://www.cityofevanston.org/home/showpublisheddocument/90573/638249272128130000. xcii “Resolution 126-R-19: Establishing a City of Evanston Funding Source Devoted to Local Reparations.” xciii “Evanston Local Reparations | City of Evanston,” n.d. https://www.cityofevanston.org/government/citycouncil/reparations. xciv “News List | City of Evanston,” n.d.
https://www.cityofevanston.org/Home/Components/News/News/5630/17. xcv Broaddus, Adrienne. “Evanston City Council Votes in Favor of Expanding Its Reparations Program to Repair Housing Discrimination.” CNN, March 28, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/27/us/evanstonillinois-reparations-housing-discrimination-expand/index.html. xcvi “Evanston Local Reparations | City of Evanston.”
xcvii Byrnes, Mark. “Rochester’s Inner Loop Project Shows What Happens After a Highway Dies.” Bloomberg.Com, April 13, 2024. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-04-13/rochester-sinner-loop-project-shows-what-happens-after-a-highway-dies. xcviii City of Rochester. “About,” n.d. https://www.innerloopnorth.com/about. xcix City of Rochester. “Hinge Neighbors,” December 8, 2021. https://www.innerloopnorth.com/post/hingeneighbors. c Hinge Neighbors. “Inner Loop,” n.d. https://hingeneighbors.com/inner-loop 65 ci Byrnes, Mark. “Rochester’s Inner Loop Project Shows What Happens After a Highway Dies.” cii City of Rochester. “Preferred Inner Loop North Transformation Concept,” n.d. https://www.innerloopnorth.com/_files/ugd/86b242_cda457306e6545a5a39984fe0c81945e.pdf. ciii Byrnes, Mark. “Rochester’s Inner Loop Project Shows What Happens After a Highway Dies.” SR
-710 Master Plan

COMMUNITY
INPUT ON SR-710

RESTORATIVE

JUSTICE

FRAMEWORK
Reconnecting Communities
Restorative Justice Standing
Committee Meeting Presentation
June 4, 2025
01 Summarize community
input on the Restorative
Justice Framework
02 2 mins

MEETING OBJECTIVES
Gather input on which
case study elements
resonate for a Pasadenafocused approach
Recap of Consultant Work & Feedback Process on Restorative Justice (RJ) Framework | 5 minutes
Defining Pasadena- Focused Restorative Justice | 2 minutes April 12th Community Open House: Survey Results Summary | 10 minutes
Live Poll on Restorative Justice Elements| 5 minutes
03 MEETING AGENDA
2 mins
Recap of Consultant Work on
Restorative Justice
(RJ) Framework
5 mins
04 05
5 mins
analysis and scope
refinement (Mar-Oct 2024)
landscape scan
Restorative Justice
Framework (RJF)
Guide for technical team’s
work
options
and alternatives
(Sept 2024 – August 2025)
case studies + best practices document
plan
Integration
(August – Fall 2025)
restorative justice framework

EA SCOPE OVERVIEW
06 5 mins
710 Advisory Group
• October 16, 2024
Presentation
• RJF Review (Spring
2025)
Restorative Justice
Framework (RJF)
Guide for technical team’s
work
April 12th Community Open House
• Survey
• Live Polling
RJ Standing Committee
• June 4, 2025 Presentation

FEEDBACK PROCESS
DEFINING RESTORATIVE JUSTICE:

Pasadena-Focused
2 mins
07 Pasadena-Focused: Restorative Justice
addresses past harms caused by 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 communityidentified solutions for City Council’s consideration. 08 WORKING DEFINITION
what does the city hope to accomplish through the restorative justice framework? 2 mins
APRIL 12, 2025 COMMUNITY OPEN
HOUSE: SURVEY RESULTS SUMMARY
10 mins
09 10
10 mins
Community Engagement Workshop Participation
• Approximately 140 community
members attended
• 24% (28 responses) of attendees
represented the 91105 zip code
• 51% (39 responses) of attendees
participated with the project
before
• 31% (19 responses) of attendees
heard about the workshop via
email
11 10 mins
Q1: Referencing the "Definitions and Resources" of
Restorative Justice above, how helpful are the workshop and online materials posted on the project page in learning more about restorative justice?
Answered: 75 Skipped: 13
12 10 mins
Q2: After reviewing materials in RJF "Project Elements and Case Studies“ above, which guiding elements of Restorative Justice Framework are most important to you? (Pick 3)
Answered: 78 Skipped: 10
Top 3 Restorative Justice Elements

1. Affordable Housing (beyond
required) – 51% (40 responses)

2. Historical Acknowledgement –
42% (33 responses)

3. Community Oversight of
Redevelopment – 35% (27
responses)
13 10 mins
Q3: Of these options, which one is your top priority to further explore in the Options Phase? Explain why.

Answered: 64 Skipped: 24
Top Priority Restorative Justice
Elements to Explore:

1. Affordable Housing (beyond
required) – 27% (17 responses)

2. Impacted Communities Wealth
Generation – 19% (12 responses)

3. Historical Acknowledgement –
16% (10 responses)
14 10 mins
Q3: Of these options, which one is your top priority to further explore in the Options Phase? Explain why.

Answered: 64 Skipped: 24
Affordable Housing
(beyond required)
27% (17 responses)
Impacted
Communities Wealth
Generation
19% (12 responses)
Historical
Acknowledgement
16% (10 responses)
“Affordable housing, although
everything is important. I wonder
if some [affordable] units could
be set aside for descendants of
those who live in the area so
they could have right of first
refusal”
“There was an incredible loss
of history and potential for
community.”
“It is important to expose &
acknowledge past injustices
inflicted on communities of
color. The impacts of the 710
needed to be recorded so the
price of eminent domain will be
in the historical record”
“Affordable housing because
housing is a basic human right
and people should be able to be
hated and still enjoy life -not
have to work 3 jobs”
“Wealth Generation - if we are
truly aiming for restorative
justice then we need to ask
‘who is being restored?’”
“Impacted communities wealth
generation - those affected
should receive compensation
or other benefits to make them
whole”
15 10 mins
Q4: What is Restorative Justice to you?
Answered: 58 Skipped: 30
Acknowledgement of Past Harms
• “Restorative Justice is acknowledgment of past wrongs and restoring the dignity of POC (people of color) in moving forward.”
• “Those of us who suffered no loss need to be cognizant of those who did and be willing to perhaps give up a little to partially rectify those injustices.” • “making people that were displaced whole again”
• “Healing wounds inflicted by Caltrans & Pasadena City government” • “Restorative justice is acknowledging past wrongs and hearing from all those impacted, then making present-day and future changes to provide for needs that were not met and remediate harms caused”
• “Acknowledgment & memorializing & real action to help those whose lines and legacies have been harmed”
• “Using historical knowledge of harm via built environment and then applying intentional strategies to restore opportunity & dignity to those harmed -- and their descendants”
16 10 mins
Q4: What is Restorative Justice to you?
Answered: 58 Skipped: 30
Action-Oriented Restoration
• “land back to local native peoples or space for them” • “Perhaps connect 20% of the property to a land trust for long term affordable housing, either ownership or senior housing”
• “I support this concept. We have to make the implementation of this simple. How about offering a discounted price on the replacement housing to families who can document that they were impacted.”
• “To restore what was lost to eminent domain measures. Bringing back cultural hubs” • “I believe appropriate restorative justice should include acknowledgment of the displacement, seeking of meaningful input in the design going forward, and opportunities for contracts and jobs related to the redevelopment. I do not believe that direct reparations are appropriate.”
• “Build 50,000 units of high rise housing in the 710 ditch. Reduce exurban traffic and encourage the use of the Metro”
• “Restoring to the community a good percentage of the value for property taken from the community.”
17 10 mins
Q4: What is Restorative Justice to you?
Answered: 58 Skipped: 30
Inclusion and Community Voice
• “Design wherein those affected by change have a say in what comes next.” • “Acknowledge, identify compensate. Somehow families who lost so much s/b included in this process.”
Equity and Prevention of Future Harm
• “In today's time, the emphasis should be on helping minority neighborhoods in Altadena & Pasadena”
• “Acknowledging actual history but not wallowing in it [and] make changes to prevent unfair practices in future”
• “Repairing past harms through acknowledgement and actionable steps that benefit those harmed while paving the way for a more equitable and fair future” 18 10 mins
Q4: What is Restorative Justice to you?
Answered: 58 Skipped: 30
Critique and Skepticism
• “How can we talk restorative Justice when we haven't even stopped the harm? We have 200+ houses that need to be sold, returned to owners, sold to [nonprofit organizations].

We keep wasting time.”
• “Let's move forward. Everyone has past grievances.”
• “Restorative Justice is important, but the emphasis should be on the future and what to do with the ditch. Too much time & effort has been spent on this subject.” • “To be honest I still struggle to understand the term after all this work. The examples do not help either. There are so many CalTrans homes that have been abandoned for years - thousands of neighbors were recently displaced by fire - why hasn’t the city started selling these homes??? People need homes now. Sure, give priority to people who lost theirs to the 710 project but haven’t most of them passed away? Seems too little too late.”
• “It’s meaningless because those who were displaced all over the country by freeways and infrastructure received some sort of compensation when these things occurred.

This is just an attempt to be 'woke.'"
COMMUNITY INPUT: LIVE POLLING
5 mins
19 LIVE POLLING 5 mins
20 LIVE POLLING 5 mins
21 LIVE POLLING 5 mins
22 LIVE POLLING 5 mins
23 THANK YOU!
Iteris, Inc.| 1
APPENDIX C – DRAFT TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM
To: City of Pasadena From: Iteris, Inc.
100 N. Garfield Avenue 801 South Grand Avenue, Suite 750 Pasadena, CA 91101 Los Angeles, CA 90017
Date: March 16, 2026
RE: 710 Reconnecting Pasadena – DRAFT Traffic Forecasting and Analysis Report 1 INTRODUCTION
This memorandum documents the methodology used and results of a high-level traffic forecasting analysis developed for various land use and roadway network alternatives for the 710 Reconnecting Pasadena project.

Alternatives were developed through an iterative process. As the project land use and network alternatives were being tested/refined, ongoing traffic analysis helped shape the proposed highway networks and reduced the number of sub-options being tested. This refinement process ultimately led to two With Project alternatives:
known as “Gardens and Terraces” and “Boulevards and Paseos”. A comparative analysis of these two project alternatives with other scenarios was performed to assess the broad transportation effects of developing the stub area. The comparison was made to Existing conditions, a Future No Build Scenario and Future “Disconnect” scenarios where the ramp and direct access between the stub area and the adjacent freeways was eliminated without adding any replacement roadway capacity. A TDM scenario was also considered. Three types of analysis were performed:

1. Screenline analysis – This analysis was used to assess the volumes of traffic traveling on north-south streets and east-west streets in the vicinity of the stub area.

2. Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) by Level of Service (LOS) analysis – This analysis was used to assess the total amount of vehicular traffic within an area and how much of that traffic experiences delay.

3. Hots Spots analysis – This analysis was used to assess the peak hour arterial street volume to capacity ratios at two known busy locations on Orange Grove Boulevard and Fair Oaks Avenue.

Lastly, an overall summary of conclusions is provided as well as a list of likely future traffic analysis needs for the next steps of the project.

1.1 Background Conditions
In order to prepare the high-level analysis, an understanding of background transportation conditions was necessary. Data from multiple sources was obtained to understand both the magnitude and pattern of traffic volumes in the area during typical weekday conditions. Figure 1 presents a comparison of the current traffic volume flow in the vicinity of the 710 stub area. The values shown (27,000 vehicles for north-south, 12,000 vehicles for east-west) represent the total of the AM peak hour and PM peak hour, for both directions of traffic flow. As shown, the north-south flow of traffic during these periods is more than double the east-west flow, even though the east-west flow calculation includes more streets. The traffic count data was obtained from the SR710 Northern Stub Repurposing Feasibility Study.

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Figure 1 – Current Traffic Volume Comparison
Figure 2 presents an estimate of the amount of “pass-through” traffic along the 710 freeway stub as compared to traffic with a destination in the area. The data was calculated using StreetLight Data, a software platform that aggregates cellular phone data to perform origin-destination traffic analyses along roadways or other geographic areas. In this case, southbound freeway ramp traffic, from I-210 Eastbound, I-210 Westbound, and SR-134 Eastbound, destined for the 710 freeway was compiled and assessed. As shown, approximately 45 to 50% of the current traffic along the freeway stub is passing through (i.e., has a destination outside the immediate area).

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Figure 2 – Regional Pass-through versus Local Traffic Distribution 2 METHODOLOGY
The approach to testing the various project alternatives utilized traffic forecasts from the City of Pasadena Traffic Model. This model is a “windowed” traffic model extending a few miles beyond the City boundary. The model consists of existing and future General Plan Buildout land uses and roadway networks. The extent of the highway network is shown in Figure 3.

The buildout highway network included the I-710 extension to the south, which is no longer a viable project.

Thus, this freeway extension was removed for the purposes of all model runs. Detail was added to the model by aggregating and disaggregating Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZs) in the 710 stub area (Table 1) to more closely match the proposed land use parcels and support more detailed loading of traffic onto the highway network. The revised TAZ centroid connector loading points are shown in Figure 4 and the TAZs to parcel correspondence is shown in Table 1.

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Figure 3 – City of Pasadena Traffic Model Highway Network The analysis of each scenario involved coding land use and highway network assumptions into the City of Pasadena’s travel Demand Model (model) and analyzing the model outputs to make generalized conclusions regarding the effects on the surrounding roadway system for each scenario compared to others. The City of Pasadena traffic model is based on a single-mode (automobiles), highway network-only and the resulting vehicular traffic assignment. While there are built-in mode choice assumptions (using an imported regional mode-choice matrix) for transit, walk and bicycle modes for each area of the City, the transit and non-motorized component of the model is not dynamic and will require further separate and detailed analysis once the project’s land use and network assumptions have been further refined.

While not explicitly included in the traffic model, multimodal design elements to encourage walking, biking and transit use across the scenarios would play a role to reduce dependance on the single use/auto traffic. On top of this, Transportation Demand Management (TDM) measures then build upon land use and other multimodal incentives, on top of the transportation network design features incorporated into the build scenarios, to further reduce automobile demand.

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Figure 4 – Disaggregation of TAZs in the Stub Area
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Table 1 – Correspondence between TAZ and Parcel Numbers Parcel New TAZ Aggregated TAZs Remainder TAZ
A 212 212/609 609
B 119 119/83 83
C 52 52/24 24
D 153 153/62 62
E 47 47/91 91
F 15 15/29 29
G 22 22/36 36
H 17 17/60 60
J 45 45/93 93
K1 84 84/72 72
1 = This existing parcel’s land use is not proposed to change with the project. 3 LAND USE ASSUMPTIONS
Future buildout land use assumptions for the project were provided by Perkins Eastman. The following summarizes the assumptions:
• The original land uses considered 8 million square feet of development with a 5.5 Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The land use forecasts were then scaled back to 3.2 to 3.4 million square feet based on revised market analysis performed by land use consultant AECOM. • The stub-area project is divided into nine parcels labelled A through J as shown in Figure 5. The northern parcel A is a Caltrans-owned parcel and not part of the 710 stub project. However, since it is likely that development will occur in parcel A, future land uses were assumed for this parcel and the traffic generated by this parcel was added to the roadway network. Parcel K is assumed to not change land use from its current designation.
• Two circulation options were identified, Option A and Option B. Option A (Gardens and Terraces – No Central Boulevard) and Option B (Boulevards and Paseos - With Central Boulevard) have slightly different land use assumptions as follows and summarized in Table 2:
o Gardens and Terraces consists of approximately 1.9 million square feet of residential and 1.4 million square feet of non-residential land use.
o Boulevards and Paseos consists of approximately 1.8 million square feet of residential and 1.3 million square feet of non-residential land use.
• For the residential land use, an average unit size of 1,100 square feet (i.e., multi-family) was assumed, resulting in:
o Gardens and Terraces: 1,906 residential units
o Boulevards and Paseos: 1,757 residential units
• The non-residential land use categories assumed were: Retail, Restaurant, Office and Medical Office • Medical office is a very high trip generator and based on discussions with City staff it was determined that a more appropriate target land-use for potential tenants might be biotech companies or a medical research campus which both generate fewer trips than Medical office. Therefore, an additional method with the medical office square footage converted to standard/general office square footage was tested. Based on the results, the traffic forecasting analysis moved forward assuming the standard/general office land use.

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Figure 5 – Project Parcel Boundaries
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Table 2 – Project Land Use Assumptions
Option Residential Units
Non-Residential TSF
Retail Restaurant Office Medical
Office
Gardens & Terraces 1,906 150 140 987 717
Boulevards & Paseos 1,757 78 78 705 1,135
4 ALTERNATIVES REFINEMENT
The development of alternatives for evaluation of circulation network options was an iterative process starting with the options considered in the Caltrans Relinquishment Feasibility Study. The subsequent process included discussion of a number of potential roadway configurations and regional connectivity, then progressed through the application of best practices and professional judgment in transportation planning and engineering along with knowledge of local and regional conditions, historical trends, and known circulation issues in the area.

As the alternatives were developed and refined, some were eliminated at the initial stages for various reasons such as feasibility or traffic circulation and safety concerns. However, it should be emphasized that even with the iterative and progressive refinements, the 710 Reconnect Communities project’s land use options and circulation network definitions are still, at this stage, not detailed enough to develop traffic forecasts to support a CEQAlevel Environmental process analysis. Figure 6 shows examples of the development of alternatives.

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Figure 6 – Examples of Alternative Refinement Process
5 TRANSPORTATION EVALUATION FINDINGS
The transportation evaluation performed was a high-level “alternatives” analysis, based on potential demand.

This is most appropriate for comparing various high-level metrics such as corridor volumes, vehicle-miles of travel (VMT) among various scenarios including Existing and Future Baseline conditions and the several short-listed With-Project (Build) scenarios. More detailed analysis such as intersection delay and queuing is not appropriate at this study level of detail since intersection lane configurations have not been designed and traffic signal timing optimization has not been performed. In addition, the project land uses are still being refined. A more detailed analysis shall be performed in a future phase of the project once alternatives and land uses have been further refined.

The modeled network scenarios analyzed and compared in this stage of the evaluation are described in the following bullet points. The future forecast year of 2035 was chosen since this is the future analysis year used in the City of Pasadena’s traffic model. This forecast year is suitable for comparing conceptual analysis results since it includes all of the anticipated future growth within the City. Demographic forecasts from both the SCAG Regional Population Forecasts and the California Department of Finance both indicate very low growth is anticipated after 2035, with the population of Los Angeles County expected to level out and eventually decline after 2045.

1. Existing Conditions is a reflection of the current baseline traffic conditions in the City’s model.

2. 2035 No Build represents the existing highway network (with no 710 southern extension) and buildout of land uses according to the City’s currently adopted General Plan (No proposed land uses in the Project Area).

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3. 2035 Disconnect (Ramps removed) No Project is a future current General Plan Buildout land use scenario (No proposed land uses in the Project Area) but assumes all ramp connections between the “stub” and other three legs of the interchange including SR-134 (west) and I-210 (east and north) eliminated from the highway network.

4. 2035 Disconnect (Ramps removed) With Project is the same “disconnected” network scenario as in Scenario 3, above, except it includes the full development of all land uses assumed in the Reconnect Pasadena Project area.

5. 2035 Gardens and Terraces. This is described in detail in section 4.4.1 of the Draft Vision Plan. An initial roundabout configuration was eliminated during the scenario refinement process due to locational physical constraint issues and also during traffic modeling it became clear that certain movements would not be viable Therefore, a roundabout was not an efficient solution and was replaced by a traffic signal. Various one-way and two-way connections between I-210 and St John Avenue and Pasadena Avenue were considered and tested. This option also does not have direct new connections to/from SR-134 and I-210 to the east. The final configuration tested was Option 2.V3 which includes a two-way connection to I-210 north to and from St John Avenue and Pasadena Avenue. This scenario is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7 – Gardens and Terraces example sub options

6. 2035 Boulevards and Paseos. This alternative is described in section 4.4.2 of the Draft Vision Plan and incorporates a new roundabout north of SR-134 and direct ramp connections to/from all three remaining legs of the interchange. Other sub-options were reviewed and analyzed including leaving St John Avenue and Pasadena Avenue as one-way streets and converting them to two-way streets. An option with a connection from the roundabout to the eastbound I-210 instead of a connector from Pasadena Avenue was also tested. The final option selected for the alternatives analysis was Option 4.v2, the middle of the three options shown below in Figure 8.

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Figure 8 – Boulevards and Paseos (Greenway/Central Boulevard) sub-options

7. 2035 Boulevards and Paseos with 25% TDM. This alternative uses the same highway network as alternative 6 but with reduced demand due to the application of Transportation Demand Management (TDM) measures to the proposed new land use development. The purpose of this scenario is to examine the effects of potential trip reductions on the City and regional circulation system. A package of TDM measures is assumed to reduce trip generation by compared to standard trip generation assumptions. As noted in the Draft Vision Plan, it is estimated that TDM measures could potentially provide up to a 30%-35% reduction in trips depending on transit and other alternatives provided. For modeling purposes, a 25% reduction in automobile trips was explicitly assumed. This 25% can be accomplished through of a variety of different potential TDM packages. An example of a potential TDM package is shown in Table 3. Where the TDM measures and associated potential trip reduction percentages are taken from the California Air Pollution Control Officers (CAPCAO) handbook. The additional 5%-10% trip reduction needed to achieve a total 30%-35% reduction is assumed to be inherent in the mix of land uses that will result in more internal and fewer external trips for example by combining residential, office and commercial uses in the same parcel.

Table 3 – Example TDM Measures from CAPCOA Handbook
Employees Residents
T-3 Transit-oriented Development 5% T-3 Transit-oriented Development 5% T-10 End-of-Trip Bicycle Facilities 1% T-15 Limit Residential Parking Supply 6% T-12/13 Price Workplace Parking/Cash-out 15% T-16 Unbundled Residential Parking 8% T-18 Pedestrian Network Improvement 2% T-18 Pedestrian Network Improvement 2% T-25 Transit Network Coverage 2% T-23 Community Based Travel Planning 2% T-25 Transit Network Coverage 2%
Total 25% Total 25%
Table 4 shows the lane configurations assumed in each With Project alternative. In the “Gardens and Terraces” both St John Avenue and Pasadena Avenue are assumed to be four lane streets (2-lanes in each direction) throughout the study area. In the “Boulevards-Paseos” alternative St John Avenue was assumed to be a two-lane Iteris, Inc.| 12
street north of Del Mar Boulevard and a four-lane street south of Del Mar Boulevard. The new Central Boulevard is assumed as a four-lane street north of Colorado Boulevard and reducing to a two-lane street through the project area and terminating at Del Mar Boulevard. Both alternatives therefore assume four northbound lanes and four southbound through the project area south of Holly Street to provide roughly the same overall roadway capacity though the stub area for each alternative for comparison purposes.

Table 4 – Number Lanes by Roadway Segment
(North of Colorado Blvd / Colorado Blvd to Del Mar Blvd / South of Del Mar Blvd) Attribute Street Existing Gardens- Terraces Boulevards-Paseos Number of
Lanes
St John Avenue 2 / 2 / - 4 / 4 / 4 2 / 2 / 4
Central Boulevard - - 4 / 2 / NA
710 Freeway Stub 5 / 5 / 4 - -
Pasadena Avenue 2 / 2 / 2 4 / 4 / 4 4 / 4 / 4
It should be noted that while some apparent generalized congestion areas are noticeable in Existing conditions (e.g. on Orange Grove Boulevard in the vicinity of Colorado Boulevard), as mentioned earlier, the intention of this alternatives analysis is to provide a high-level generalized comparative performance evaluation of the various circulation networks against each other which is consistent with the conceptual nature of the project at this langrange master planning stage. Therefore, these evaluations are based on total corridor and areawide traffic flows in the general vicinity of the study area rather than focusing on traffic operations or projected congestion on individual streets, segments, or intersections. However, a generalized potential hotspot analysis was also provided at two known locations of congestion. The following analyses were performed:
• Screenline Analysis – A screenline analysis focuses on overall traffic flows within a broad travel corridor aggregated over a series of generally parallel streets. The screenline analysis is a useful method to compare the total flows in a travel corridor as opposed to focusing on individual roadways within the corridor. It can also be used for generalized corridor capacity evaluations, although it was not done in this case.
• VMT by LOS Analysis – Vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) is also a generalized transportation metric that provides an insight into not only the volume of traffic generated by a project, or over an area, but also the length of the trips over an area’s travel network. A VMT analysis is also useful for comparing overall effects of alternative transportation actions and projects. VMT analysis can provide total VMT as well as VMT under various traffic operating levels of service, for example congested vs. uncongested conditions to evaluate relative effects of alternatives.
• Hotspot V/C Analysis – In contrast to the previous two measures, this evaluation metric focuses on the operating conditions of specific roadway segments in terms of volume to capacity ratios and levels of service; however, it is only employed in this analysis with the caveat that the observations are using raw volume outputs from the travel demand model and are provided only to compare network alternatives in general as they related to selected key roadway locations of interest in the project area.

5.1 Screenline Analysis
Screenlines represent a theoretical (imaginary) cut-line drawn though generally parallel streets which represent alternative paths that traffic can follow within a general travel corridor between origins and destinations. Traffic volumes extracted from the model for street segments along screenlines provide a generalized representation of level of traffic volumes through an area; for example, all east-west movements or north-south movements by Iteris, Inc.| 13
direction within a broad corridor. Given that this analysis uses model volumes only, the results should not be used to compare against the existing traffic counts and patterns provided in from Section 1.1. Figure 9 shows three screenlines selected in the vicinity of the study area and Table 5 lists the individual streets/roadways which are included in each of the three screenlines.

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Figure 9 – Study Area Screenline Locations
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Table 5 – Screenline Streets
Screenlines
Direction of Traffic
Flow
Location of Screenline and
Color on Map Intersecting Roadways included in Corridor East-West
Traffic Flow
#1
West of Pasadena Avenue
(Blue)
Walnut Street
Holly Street
Union Street
Colorado Boulevard
Green Street
Orange Place
Del Mar Boulevard
Bellevue Drive
California Boulevard
Bellefontaine Street
#2
East of Raymond Avenue
(Red)
Walnut Street
Holly Street
Union Street
Colorado Boulevard
Green Street
Del Mar Boulevard
California Boulevard
Fillmore Street
North-South
Traffic Flow
#3
North of Del Mar Boulevard
(Green)
Grand Avenue
Orange Grove Boulevard
St John Avenue (West)
Central Boulevard
SR-710 Southbound Off-Ramp
SR-710 Southbound Mainline
SR-710 Northbound Mainline
SR-710 Northbound On-Ramp
Pasadena Avenue
De Lacey Avenue
Fair Oaks Avenue
Raymond Avenue
Arroyo Parkway Southbound
Arroyo Parkway Northbound

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Figure 10 shows the east-west traffic (crossing the north-south screenline, #1) west of Pasadena Avenue and provides the total forecast two-way AM and PM peak hour traffic volumes in the east-west direction immediately adjacent to the study area. While Average Daily Traffic (ADT) is often used as a time period for traffic volumes using the peak hours better represents the volume of traffic in the most congested travel conditions.

The Boulevards and Paseos alternative shows the highest screenline volumes largely due to the addition of two new east-west streets, the Holly Steet and Bellevue Drive extensions, in the middle of the project area. The Boulevards and Paseos alternative also has direct east-west ramps connecting to SR-134 and I-210 East, therefore it provides more robust regional to local connections facilitating higher east-west volumes.

The Disconnect No Project alternative results in the lowest screenline volumes since access to the area to and from the SR-134 and I-210 freeways is significantly reduced compared to the other alternatives due to disconnection of the regional interchange ramps meaning that traffic is forced to reroute to less direct travel paths.

The TDM alternative results in only a marginal decrease in east-west volumes since the majority of the east-west traffic is not project related.

Figure 10 – Screenline #1 - Peak Hour East-West Traffic Volumes (West of Pasadena Avenue) Figure 11 shows the east-west traffic (crossing the north-south screenline, #2) located just east of Raymond Avenue, approximately 1/3 of a mile east of the study area. At this location, the Gardens and Terraces alternative shows the highest east-west traffic volumes. It is possible that this reflects the diversion of project and regional east-west traffic further east due to the lack of a complete interchange with SR-134 and I-210 near the project.

Traffic volumes in the Boulevard and Paseos alternatives are lower than Gardens and Terraces and only marginally higher than the 2035 No Build alternative despite the addition of traffic from the project. The TDM alternative results in a marginal slight decrease in east-west volumes since again the majority of the traffic is not project related.
14,300
17,300
12,100
13,300 14,300
19,800 19,500
0 5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
Existing 2035 No Build 2035
Disconnect No
Project
2035
Disconnect
With Project
Gardens and
Terraces
Blvds and
Paseos
Blvds and
Paseos TDM
25%
Total Volume (AM+PM)
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Figure 11– Screenline #2 - Peak Hour East-West Traffic Volumes (East of Raymond Avenue) Figure 12 shows a comparison of the AM and PM peak hour two-way north-south traffic volumes (crossing the east-west screenline, #3). In general, traffic volumes for all three With Project alternatives are comparable to Existing conditions and significantly below the 2035 No Build scenario. They are also not significantly higher than the Disconnect No Project alternative, despite providing more robust regional interchange connections with the remaining three freeway legs. The Boulevards and Paseos alternative results in an overall reduction in northsouth traffic compared to the Gardens and Terraces alternative.

Even with the addition of a full interchange (via a roundabout) and a new north-south facility (Central Boulevard) in the Boulevards and Paseos alternative, the results suggest that the potential traffic calming on St John Avenue may help to mitigate any potential increase in traffic volumes. The fact that even with the project, the northsouth traffic volumes are forecast to be lower than the 2035 No Build scenario and even lower than existing conditions indicates that the amount of through north-south through traffic is significantly reduced. The TDM alternative results in a further marginal decrease in north-south volumes along the screenline.

Figure 12 – Screenline #3 - Peak Hour North-South Traffic Volumes (North of Del Mar Boulevard) 17,500
21,500
18,400 19,500
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0 5,000
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2035
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Gardens and
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Blvds and
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Blvds and
Paseos TDM
25%
Total Volumes (AM+PM Peak Hours)
25,600
29,200
22,600 24,000 25,500 24,600 24,200
0 5,000
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Existing 2035 No Build 2035
Disconnect No
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2035
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With Project
Gardens and
Terraces
Blvds and
Paseos
Blvds and
Paseos TDM
25%
Total Volume (AM+PM)
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In summary, the screenline analysis suggests the following outcomes:
• While the “Disconnect” scenarios are anticipated to generate the lowest levels of traffic in study area, that is due to the significant reduced accessibility to the study area which means that traffic is forced to divert on longer alternative travel paths and increasing VMT (see VMT section below). • The “With Project” alternatives are anticipated to generate slightly more east-west traffic serving local neighborhoods within the City Pasadena and substantially less north-south traffic compared to 2035 No Build scenario and comparable to existing conditions.
• There will likely be less north-south through traffic travelled to the City of South Pasadena (and beyond) in the With Project alternatives, as compared to the 2035 No Build. • When considering traffic volumes at the screenline level, the combination of the proposed network alternatives plus the project land uses are anticipated to generate traffic forecasts that do not substantially increase traffic in the vicinity of the project.

5.2Vehicle Miles Travelled by Level of Service Analysis The second analysis utilizes a composite metric, VMT by level of service (LOS). This metric identifies roadway segments operating by LOS grade and calculates the VMT (traffic volume multiplied by the distance of each segment) for each segment, then sums up all of the VMT for all segments operating at each LOS. The metric provides a measure of how much overall delay vehicles experience within an area and provides a metric that can be used to compare overall congestion within a geographic area between alternatives. SB 743, which took effect in July 2020, mandated replacing traffic congesƟon (LOS) with Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) (which measures the overall amount that people drive) for assessing transportaƟon impacts under CEQA for new projects, requiring reports to analyze project-generated VMT focusing on reduced driving and promoƟng sustainable travel. VMT is becoming an increasingly important metric for measuring overall traffic volumes within a set geographic area.

VMT will be a key metric for the stub area projects’ CEQA approval process. Caltrans metrics for analyzing the traffic effects of new development and transportation projects are increasingly focusing more on VMT and less on LOS alone. It should be noted that although no CEQA environmental analysis is being performed at this stage of the project, the VMT metric was employed to assist in comparing the project alternatives as it provides a good areawide performance measure. A VMT analysis will be necessary in subsequent phases of this project.

While VMT is an indicator of the total amount of traffic within an area, LOS shows degrees of congestion (at specific streets or intersections) ranked from A to F. LOS A represents free flow conditions while LOS F represents highly congested conditions. At the link segment level, LOS D, E and F are typically considered to represent congested conditions. LOS definitions are:
• A: Free flow
• B: Reasonably free flow
• C: Stable flow
• D: Approaching capacity
• E: At capacity
• F: Over capacity
Figure 13 shows total VMT and congested VMT (VMT for surface street roadway segments operating at LOS D, E and F) within a one and a half-mile radius of the project for all of the roadways coded into the City’ traffic model.

This includes principal and secondary arterials as well as some collectors. Note that no freeway segments are included in the analysis. In addition, the percentage/share of congested VMT compared to the total VMT is shown.

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Figure 13 - Total and Congested VMT (within one and a half mile radius of the project) Overall, VMT is anticipated to increase with the addition of the project. The Boulevards and Paseos alternative forecast generates slightly less total VMT and less congested VMT compared to the Gardens and Terraces alternative. The “Disconnect” alternative forecasts higher total VMT and congested VMT compared to 2035 No Build since the removal of existing roadways means traffic reroutes to longer, less direct paths due to accessibility to the stub area being reduced.

5.3Hotspot – V/C ratios
Figure 14 shows the AM and PM peak hour peak direction V/C ratios derived from the traffic model for two known existing congestion hotspots on Orange Grove Boulevard and Fair Oaks Avenue. The AM peak is forecast to be more congested than the PM peak hour.

The peak hour V/C ratio represents vehicle demand. In practice, a 1.2 V/C ratio or higher is not physically possible but it illustrates that in the peak hour, 20% more traffic wants to use a particular roadway segment than its available capacity. In reality, the outcome is that the peak hour spreads out to the peak shoulders. The V/C should therefore be considered as a means of comparing relative vehicle demand between scenarios.

At both locations, in both the AM and PM peak, the most congested traffic conditions at these two locations were forecast to be in the two Disconnect alternatives since traffic is no longer able to use St John Avenue or Pasadena Avenue directly from the freeway and therefore diverts to parallel streets. In the two project Iteris, Inc.| 20
alternatives which both include disconnecting the freeway ramps the V/C rations decrease compared to the disconnect only scenarios.

The congestion in the Boulevards and Paseos alternative shows slightly lower V/C ratios compared to the Gardens and Terraces alternative (in both AM and PM peak hours). However, both of the With Project alternatives perform worse than the 2035 No Build scenarios indicating that potential capacity enhancements at these locations will need to be studied in subsequent study phases. As mentioned, these results are based on raw volume outputs from the travel demand model and are provided only to compare network alternatives.

Figure 14 - AM and PM Peak hour V/C ratios at Two Existing Congested Locations

0.77 0.70

0.85 0.82

1.27 1.21

1.34 1.25 1.26

1.13 1.10 1.13 1.08 1.12

0.00 0.20

0.40 0.60

0.80 1.00

1.20 1.40

1.60 AM PM
Orange Grove - AM and PM Peak Hour Maximum Directional V/C Existing 2035 No Build 2035 DisConnect-NP 2035 DisConnect-WP 2035 Gardens Terraces 2035 Blvds-Paseos 2035 Blvds-Paseos-TDM

1.03 0.77

1.19 0.93

1.43 1.19

1.50 1.26 1.26

1.09 1.22

1.08 1.21

1.07 0.00

0.20 0.40

0.60 0.80

1.00 1.20

1.40 1.60
AM PM
Fair Oaks - AM and PM Peak Hour Maximum Directional V/C Existing 2035 No Build 2035 DisConnect-NP 2035 DisConnect-WP 2035 Gardens Terraces 2035 Blvds-Paseos 2035 Blvds-Paseos-TDM Iteris, Inc.| 21
6 SUMMARY
Iteris evaluated multiple project scenarios, using the City’s Traffic Model. The scenarios were developed through coordination with the Perkins Eastman team and the City of Pasadena. While not explicitly included in the traffic model, multimodal design elements to encourage walking, biking and transit use across the scenarios would play a role to reduce dependance on the single use/auto traffic. On top of this, TDM measures then build upon land use and other multimodal incentives on top of the transportation network design features, incorporated into the build scenarios, to further reduce automobile demand. A summary of the evaluation results is as follows:
• At the screenline level, the traffic modeling results show a modest increase in east-west traffic volumes but lower north-south traffic and through traffic to South Pasadena in the With Project scenarios compared to 2035 No Build.
• A modest increase in total and congested VMT in the With Project scenario compared to No Build scenario is anƟcipated.
• Two exisƟng congesƟon hotspots are forecast to be most congested in the Disconnect scenario due to traffic diversion from the demolished ramps. Both locaƟons, in both the Gardens-Terraces and Boulevards-Paseos alternaƟves, are forecast to operate at higher V/C raƟos compared to ExisƟng and 2035 No Build scenarios. Localized capacity enhancements will need to be studied at these and other locaƟons in subsequent study phases.
• The Boulevards and Paseos alternaƟve shows generally beƩer and more balanced overall performance than the Gardens and Terraces alternaƟve. For example, north-south peak hour volumes for “Boulevards” OpƟon with a roundabout local interchange and Central Boulevard are lower than both ExisƟng and “Gardens” opƟon by 4% and reduces impacts on other key city streets (Orange Grove, Colorado, Fair Oaks, Marengo) and could potenƟally regulate the impacts of the pass-through traffic in the project area.

In addiƟon, east-west volumes on the “Boulevards” OpƟon with a roundabout local interchange are 5% lower than the “Gardens” opƟon further east from the project and could potenƟally reduce impacts on other key City streets.
• In the Gardens and Terraces alternaƟve, the north-south traffic volumes are fairly evenly balanced.

Between Pasadena Avenue and St John Avenue, however, in the Boulevards and Paseos alternaƟve, due to assuming that St John and the Central Boulevard are two lane streets, Pasadena Avenue is projected to carry higher volumes than St John Avenue or the Central Boulevard. • No criƟcal systemwide network capacity issues were idenƟfied at this level of analysis in that the future demand due to the project would not overwhelm the assumed roadway capacity. However, it is sƟll expected that certain individual roadways such as Orange Grove Boulevard may experience capacity shorƞalls which will be addressed by idenƟfying appropriate capacity enhancements in more detailed analyses in future phases of the project.
• TDM measures can reduce overall traffic within the area of the project by approximately 1-2%. While TDM can provide valuable trip reducƟons around the project, there is significant amount of background traffic in the stub area and any addiƟonal roadway capacity provided will be extensively uƟlized by nonproject traffic. Thus, the overall effect of TDM is limited.

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7 NEXT STEPS
The analysis documented in this memorandum is a largely high-level comparaƟve analysis that was used to help refine the project alternaƟves (which included variaƟons of land use and circulaƟon network assumpƟons). As the project proceeds and the alternaƟves become more refined, more detailed analysis will be needed, including CEQA and more detailed operaƟonal analysis. The next steps of traffic analysis will likely include:
• Further refinement to land use assumpƟons
• IdenƟficaƟon of project driveways
• Project trip generaƟon refinement
• More detailed transit assumpƟons
• More detailed TDM measures
• Refinement of project and surrounding roadway lane and capacity assumpƟons • Possible microsimulaƟon analysis
• Possible use of SCAG Regional TransportaƟon Model to idenƟfy regional diversion • IntersecƟon level of service analysis
• IdenƟficaƟon of deficient locaƟons
• IdenƟficaƟon of miƟgaƟon measures for congested locaƟons. • VMT analysis for CEQA

MEMORANDUM
To: Wendy Macias, Senior Project Manager
City of Pasadena-City Manager’s Office

From: David Martin, P.E.

Date: October 15, 2025
Subject: Pasadena 710 Master Plan-Conceptual Caltrans Stormwater Basin Sizing Psomas was sub-contracted by Perkins Eastman to provide conceptual/planning level analyses related to the existing retention basin located between Del Mar Boulevard and California Boulevard at the southern 710 freeway terminus. The project area is located with the City of Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California. The scope of work included review of existing asbuilt plans, review of proposed improvements to the interchange and planned land use within the basin area, and feasibility analyses for splitting the basin into multiple basins with the possibility of providing outflow to the existing City outfall Stormdrain system consistent with existing conditions. The analyses required an understanding of existing outfall elevations, planned roadway geometry, current pump station characteristics, and preliminary hydrologic and hydraulic analyses. The purpose of this memorandum is to summarize the preliminary hydrologic and hydraulic analyses performed, assumptions used to simplify the study, and results of the study. The results presented are intended to provide a general idea of the infrastructure necessary for stormwater storage to meet various design storm requirements as part of an ongoing conversation between the City of Pasadena and Caltrans.

Existing Drainage Conditions
Under existing conditions, stormwater reaches the existing basin from all sides of the interchange, primarily through existing culvert and stormdrain infrastructure owned and operated by both the City of Pasadena and Caltrans. Similarly, stormwater runoff is generated within both jurisdictional areas. Historically, Caltrans owned and operated the stormwater basin but has turned over the land to the City for its future development. The existing basin has a bottom area of approximately 1.5 acres at an elevation of 180, and top of approximately 5 acres at an elevation of 196, yielding roughly 50 acre-feet of existing storage capacity at a 16-foot depth. Its only outflow is through infiltration and an existing sump pump to an existing City stormdrain system located on the east side of the Basin within S. Pasadena Avenue. The outfall pipe is a 48” pipe which also collects runoff from other areas within the City.

Psomas reviewed the as-built plans from Caltrans and obtained a pump spec sheet for the existing pump from the manufacturer. From this information it was determined that the existing shared use basin pump had a max discharge of 14cfs. For the purpose of this study, the 14cfs Pasadena 710 Masterplan