Carlsbad Village Redevelopment Concept Summary of Features Calthorpe Associates November 5, 2003 The Redevelopment Concept illustrates a vision for the future of Carlsbad Village. The overall vision of the Redevelopment Concept is to increase the level of activity in the core of the Village through streetscape and infrastructure improvements and the continued incremental redevelopment of underutilized properties with housing, retail, entertainment and civic uses. The Concept is based on input from a stakeholder workshop sponsored by the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce in July 2003, input from the City of Carlsbad s Housing and Redevelopment and Planning Departments, and comments on a draft concept reviewed by the Chamber s downtown subcommittee. The individual redevelopment projects illustrated in the Concept reflect the standards and guidelines in the City s Carlsbad Village Redevelopment Master Plan. The specific sites where redevelopment is illustrated reflect City and stakeholder input, as well as our professional judgment regarding which sites would be good candidates for redevelopment based on their location, size and current use. However, the specific project locations and configurations illustrated in the Concept are not intended to imply anything about the intentions of either the owners or the City with respect to redevelopment of those properties. Instead, the Concept illustrates an overall vision of a more vibrant, pedestrian-oriented Village brought about by continued reinvestment by both private landowners and the City. Streetscape and Infrastructure Improvements The two major automobile routes, Carlsbad Village Drive and Carlsbad Boulevard (U.S. 101), would receive streetscape improvements aimed at emphasizing the special character of the Village. These could include uniform street trees, median plantings, special street lighting, banners with historical themes, special street signs, and monuments designed to heighten visitor s awareness that they are entering a unique historic district. At the entrance to Carlsbad Village Drive from Interstate 5, a major gateway with signage and special planting would announce the entrance to the Village to visitors. If traffic volumes allowed, removing two of the four travel lanes and replacing the on-street parking on Carlsbad Village Drive would help to calm traffic and make the street more attractive to pedestrians. Two other important Village gateways, the intersections of Carlsbad Village Drive and Carlsbad Boulevard and North State Street and Laguna Drive, would be redesigned as modern roundabouts, which can safely accommodate high volumes of traffic as well as pedestrians while also reducing intersection delays. Roundabouts also provide focal points for monuments or special plantings to enhance the sense of entry. Within the Village core, streetscape improvements would be focused on enhancing the pedestrian experience along the primary pedestrian routes, beginning with North State Street, Grand Avenue, and Roosevelt Street, which acts as an important pedestrian connection between the Village and the Barrio neighborhood to the southeast. These 1
improvements could include such elements as pedestrian-scaled streetlights with banners, benches, waste receptacles, newspaper vending machines or kiosks, and curb extensions at intersections to reduce pedestrian crossing distances. While there are already many attractive street trees, planters, benches and special crosswalks in the Village core, additional street trees or planters may be needed in some areas. Café seating and street vendors may also be appropriate if there is sufficient space. Traffic signal timing at key intersections such as Grand and State could also be evaluated for ease of pedestrian crossing, and median refuges for pedestrians could be added to help the elderly and others who need a little longer to cross the street. The block of State between Grand and Carlsbad Village Drive presents a special opportunity to create a paseo, or pedestrian passageway, connecting the west side of State Street to the Carlsbad Convention and Visitors Bureau office, helping to make it more visible and accessible to visitors. Restaurants or cafés in the adjacent buildings could have outdoor seating in the paseo. The Rail Station The Coaster station provides a natural focal point for redevelopment in the Village, but the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad tracks currently form a barrier that impedes access between the Village Core and the beach and hotels to the west. The Redevelopment Concept shows two new grade-separated rail crossings, one at Beech Avenue (which would also be extended one block east to Madison) and another at Chestnut Avenue. With the current track configuration, these overpasses would need to be quite long (on the order of 700 feet) in order to meet accepted standards for vertical grades and overhead clearance at the tracks. However, if the proposal for high-speed rail becomes a reality, the AT&SF tracks would likely be sunk in order to provide grade separation at all crossings. This could allow removal of the crossing gates at Grand and Carlsbad Village Drive, as well as an additional street connection across the tracks at Oak Avenue. These additional connections would make it much easier for residents of the surrounding neighborhoods or visitors staying in the beach hotels to walk or bike to the Village core. Two City-owned properties adjacent to the Coaster station present opportunities for redevelopment. The former lumberyard building adjacent to the station, if supported by a nearby parking structure, could be converted to an active retail use such as a fitness center, or to a day care center. At the northwest corner of State and Grand, the Village s 100% corner, an L-shaped office building encloses a public plaza, with a pedestrian pass-through to the station and ground-floor shops catering to travelers, such as a dry cleaner, bookstore and café. The station access from State Street could be transformed into a green area with a narrow, one-way drop-off loop for vehicles around the edge. Special paving could make this access drive appear to be an extension of the sidewalk and help to calm traffic. Major Anchors Two major new uses, each with an adjacent parking structure, form anchors at the north and south ends of State Street in the Village core. At the north end of State Street, vacant property owned by the North County Transit District could accommodate a major entertainment retail use, shown in the Concept as a multiplex cinema with retail shops 2
and restaurants surrounding a drop-off plaza on State Street. Parking for this major new use would be in a new parking structure on NCTD property immediately to the south, which would be accessed from the Beech Avenue rail overpass. This structure, which as shown could accommodate about 1,100 cars in a 5 level structure, would serve the rail station, the cinema, an adjacent office development of about 150,000 square feet with ground floor retail along State, and existing and new uses to the south. Uses with peak parking demand in the evenings and on weekends, such as the cinema and Village restaurants, would help to balance the daytime and weekday peaks generated by the rail station and office development, assuring efficient use of the structure throughout the day and evening. At State and Oak, at the south end of the State Street axis, a large parcel currently occupied by the City s corporation yard would be an ideal site for a civic or cultural use, such as a historical museum with exhibition spaces and community meeting rooms. This site could also accommodate another, smaller parking structure, accessed from Tyler Street. If they chose not to look for on-street parking, visitors driving to the Village could park in one of the two new structures and walk only a few blocks to the restaurants, shops and other attractions of the Village Core. This would free up the city-owned parking lots on Roosevelt for development, increasing the critical mass of activity in the Village and helping to close gaps in the streetscape. At the center of the Village, a performing arts center could be located across from the train station, with restaurants and other shops along the Roosevelt Avenue frontage. The old State Theater could potentially be rehabilitated and incorporated into this performing arts center, perhaps as a smaller black box theater, while also providing access from north State Street. Hospitality and Beach Access At the gateway intersection of Carlsbad Village Drive and Carlsbad Boulevard, additional beach-oriented hotels could be developed at the northwest and southeast corners. Due to its relatively small site, the hotel at the southeast corner would probably require a level or two of parking at the base of the structure, which would tend to require at least a mid-rise structure in order to be economically feasible. A courtyard format, open to the west, would allow views of the Pacific from rooms on the higher floors. This site could also be developed as high-end condominiums with ocean views. Access to the beach at Carlsbad State Park could be enhanced with signage and markers at the western ends of Grand Avenue and Carlsbad Village Drive. This would help orient visitors and increase their awareness that the ocean is only a short walk from the Village core. Residential and Office Infill There is a large underutilized area near the intersection of Beech and Roosevelt, just north of the post office, that would be an ideal site for an infill housing project. Townhouses could face Madison Street and an extension of Beech Avenue, and a larger courtyard building could face Roosevelt Street at the center of the site. The plan shows 3
approximately 200 new housing units in standalone residential projects. Similarly, if the structures added to the general pool of Village parking, the intersection of Madison and Grand, which currently has surface parking lots on two of the four corners, could potentially accommodate new office buildings at the northeast and northwest corners. An additional infill office building could face Roosevelt Street, helping to close the gaps in the streetscape and make the environment more comfortable for pedestrians. Three-story infill office buildings on these sites could add about 100,000 square feet of office development to the Village s employment base. Mixed-Use Housing Similar to current redevelopment projects such as Village by the Sea and Laguna Point, future projects in the Village will likely include a mix of market-rate and affordable forsale housing, with retail shops along the ground floor facing primary streets. North State Street in particular, with its many underutilized light industrial parcels, is a natural location for further mixed-use development with housing over retail. Depending on land costs, these mixed-use buildings can be economically viable in three- and four-story wood-frame structures, as well as in taller steel-frame structures. Housing over retail can have a Main Street architectural treatment very much in keeping with the historic Village character. On smaller sites, parking could be tucked under the building at grade and accessed from a rear drive or alley. On larger sites, a continuous parking podium at ground level could be accessed by a single curb cut, with retail shops screening the parking from view along the sidewalk. The two largest potential sites for housing over retail are the block bounded by Grand, Carlsbad Boulevard, Christiansen Way and the railroad tracks, and the Village Faire shopping center, which has had difficulty attracting tenants to its inward-facing retail spaces due to their lack of visibility. If redeveloped with housing, these larger sites should have mid-block pedestrian access ways, connecting the interior courtyards atop the podium to the street. Ground floor retail uses could face Grand Avenue and potentially Washington Street, helping to draw pedestrians toward the hard-to-find Rotary Park. As part of this redevelopment, the block of Grand Avenue between Carlsbad Boulevard and Washington Street would be an ideal location for a small specialty grocery on the ground floor of a mixed-use structure, with its parking within the podium structure. A specialty market would complement the existing Albertson s grocery and increase the attractiveness of the Village as a location for housing, by allowing residents to shop for groceries and prepared foods without having to get into their cars. This location has good access from all parts of the Village and is close enough to the rail station to attract commuters on their way to or from the station. Signage and a parking entrance on Carlsbad Boulevard would help shoppers from the surrounding area find their way to the grocery. Other, smaller sites scattered around the Village could also be redeveloped with housing over retail. These include the city-owned parking lots on Roosevelt and several other properties to the south. The plan shows approximately 700 new housing units in mixed- 4
use projects, along with 100,000 to 200,000 square feet of new ground-floor retail space (which would partially offset the redevelopment of the existing retail in Village Faire). Ground-floor storefront spaces in these smaller mixed-use projects can be very shallow, as little as 25 feet, in order to limit the amount of retail square footage that must be leased while optimizing the Village experience for pedestrians. Comments? The Chamber and downtown stakeholders welcome comments on the vision expressed in this Concept illustration. Comments may be send to chamberinfo@carlsbad.org or Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, 5934 Priestly Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008. 5