The Arcadia City Council unanimously approved a General Plan update that aims to make the future Metro Gold Line station the heart of a revitalized downtown and the plan includes a revitalization of Live Oak Avenue.
Arcadia launches the new Arcadia Downtown Business Association, with plans to revitalize the downtown district. Matt McSweeney is the association's chairperson and owner of Matt Denny's Ale House Restaurant on East Huntington Drive. City officials will spend about $90,000 on a parking study and about $18,000 in redevelopment funds to get Arcadia Downtown Business Association off the ground. The revitalization plans should work nicely with the slated opening of the Gold Line station at the northwest corner of North First Avenue and East Santa Clara Street by 2014.
Arcadia city officials will consider changes to its General Plan, a 25-year blueprint for land-use decisions. The new plan aims to revitalize the city's downtown (First Avenue and Huntington Drive) as well as the Live Oak Corridor in the city's southern end. "We're making it easier to develop the downtown and the area around the (future) Gold Line station," said Council Bob Harbicht. If approved, it would allow for mixed-use commercial and residential complexes, commercial square footages could double and the height limit would increase from 40 to 45 feet.
Living without power. Wind troubles linger. Residents frustrated; damage costs elusive. Southern California Edison's (SCE) hardest hit areas include Arcadia, Monrovia and Templa City, where more than 2,800, 1,600, and 1,700 residents, respectively, are still without power. Arcadia's City manager Don Penman said he wouldn't be surprised if the public costs for recovery efforts exceeded $2 million.
Santa Anita Park race track attendance is on the upswing. It drew 40,810 on Friday, its biggest opening day turnout since 2011. On-track attendance was up 33% over last year, partly because of the free infield admission program, which drew more than 10,000 people. Total wagering, including bets placed from all over the country, rose nearly 30% to more than $17 million. On-site betting was more than $3.4 million. The City of Arcadia gets 1/3 of 1% of all on-site wagering.
Arcadia officials urge residents to report wind damage from the overnight windstorm that hit on November 30 and December 1, to help with efforts to receive state and federal emergency assistance. Damages in the city may reach the millions of dollars. Residents are asked to report their storm-related costs to the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management, 211a.org or by calling 211.
Arcadia city is widening and improving three major downtown intersections, a $1 million project that has caused significant congestion in recent weeks. The work is taking place on Huntington Drive at intersections of Santa Anita Avenue, Santa Clara Avenue and Colorado Place. Sixty percent of the funding is by the City and forty percent by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The city is also replacing an older sewer with a new larger one on Baldwin Avenue, northbound between Huntington Drive and Duarte Road, and will repave the road. Cost about $413,000.
San Gabriel Valley cities struggle to get up and running in the wake of a powerful Santa Ana-fueled windstorm that downed trees and caused power outages. In Arcadia, damage to trees in the Los Angeles County Arboretum was extensive. Arcadia Mayor Gary Kovacic said the storm downed more than 500 trees and seven buildings had been red-tagged. Damage estimates were pegged at more than $1 million. Santa Anita Park reopened for simulcast wagering yesterday. Photos.
City of Arcadia officials will be traveling to China and Taiwan two two weeks to foster a sister-city relationship by meeting with local government officials there to learn more about government services, residential development and the culture in an effort to better serve Arcadia. More than 50% of Arcadia residents are of Chinese and Taiwanese heritage. The trip tentatively set for March 9-April 1 will cost an estimated $65,000 with $20,000 of it donated by Chinese companies. See VF Sister City.
Arcadia City Council approves $70,000 to help the Downtown Business Association set up a business-improvement district. The district would tax commercial property owners to revitalize the area.
Last month's California Supreme Court decision that eliminates redevelopment agencies may jeopardize the Rusnak Mercedes-Benz dealership's expansion plans. Last year, Arcadia's redevelopment agency acquired the final piece of a two-acre site to sell to owner Paul Rusnak to expand his business to 6 acres. Rusnak is one of the city's top sales tax generators and wants to open a 40,000 square foot showroom on Santa Anita Avenue, just one block from the future Gold Line station downtown.
Arcadia seeks residents to serve on newly formed Citizen's Financial Advisory Committee to help review City's long-term financial forecast, provide recommendations to City Council for revenue enhancements and cost containment.
The Los Angeles County Arboretum and parts of the Huntington Library remain closed to the public more than two weeks after a ferocious windstorm hit the region overnight on November 30 and December 1. At the historic Arboretum, more than 325 trees were toppled and more than 700 others were damaged. The Arboretum officials want to reopen by December 31. At the Huntington Library in San Marino, more than 50 major trees went down but officials estimate that between 150 and 200 trees will be lost altogether from the damage.
New Arcadia City Council member April Verlato brings a new voice. She is a lawyer born and raised in Arcadia. She has been an activist against mansions. She is president of Downtown Arcadia Improvement Association (AIA). Her goals for her time in office are 1) to address the uptick in residential burglaries and 2) to improve Arcadia's business districts.
The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority opened bidding yesterday on Phase 2A of the light rail's extension toward Azusa, which would make a stop in Arcadia. The project is estimated to cost more than $450 million with a completion date in 2017. Measure R guarantees full funding for the Gold Line Extension minus a gap of $500,000. With possible help from a private investment, the completion could be moved up to 2013.
Arcadia Seabiscuit Pacifica Project-Phase 2 calls for revised mixed-use project. Arcadia City Council decided on July 3 they want to see more artists' renderings of what Phase 2 will ultimately look like, before going ahead with the $300 million hotel project on the former Santa Anita inn site. The applicant Chateau Group is also requesting to merge the two abutting properties a 100 and 180 West Huntington Drive into the Specific Plan area and change the General Plan Land use Designation from "Commercial with Downtown Overlay" to "Downtown Mixed Use," to revise the General Plan Land Use Map to reflect the changes, rezone the properties from "General Commercial with Downtown Overlay" to "Seabiscuit Pacifica Specific Plan," and include a Height Overlay of H8 on 180 West Huntington Drive to allow a portion of the mixed-use building on that property. The Santa Anita Inn was a 2-story hotel comprised of 6 buildings, 110 rooms, 34,775 s.f., that was originally constructed in 1955 and remodeled in 1985.
Clean-up may cost millions in the aftermath of the windstorm that hit in the early hours of December 1. Power is still out in many communities, hundreds of homes damaged and thousands of trees have snapped.
Proposed logistics center in Arcadia could impact traffic and El Monte residents. A former gravel mine (quarry) may soon become a 1.6 million square foot logistics center and industrial park on an 81-acre site on the southeastern end of Arcadia. Property owner is John Edwards, Jr. El Monte City Manager Jesus Gomez is working with Arcadia and the developer to protect El Monte residents. With enough mitigation measures, if approved by Arcadia City Council, construction could begin after the reclamation is complete, as early as 2017.
Margaret Mathews, 85, of Arcadia, wants the stone pine tree in front of her house to be removed. It has caused more than $14,000 of damage to her home. Hers is one of 36 huge stone pines the City of Arcadia will soon remove and replace in the Highland Oaks area north of Elkins Drive. The trees were originally planted in 1955. The Arcadia City Council last month approved spending $181,700 to rehabilitate several streets and curbs damaged by the trees and nearly $78,000 to remove and replace them. Each tree that is removed will be replaced with a smaller 24-inch box tree, either a fern pine, an evergreen, or a southern oak.
Priyanka Patel, 17, of Upland, was seriously injured and her friend, Alice Zhang, 16, of Arcadia, was killed, when they were hit by a car driven by Bowen Du, in the crosswalk in the 600 block of West Duarte Road. Patel is suing the City of Arcadia and the driver, citing negligence and dangerous conditions. She is suing for more than $25,000 in damages. The teen has incurred nearly $200,000 in medical expenses so far.