An
important element of Yorba Linda's new Town Center project will be a
three-quarter acre “central open space” – or “commons” –
envisioned as “the heart of the retail center,” where community
members can gather, interact and experience "a sense of place.”
The
area, according to a report from city staffer Dave Brantley, “also
is intended to allow opportunity for outdoor community and special
events.” Brantley, formerly the city's principal planner, has been
named community development director to replace retiree Steve Harris.
Current
plans picture a space with artificial turf “and decorative
hardscape areas organized around a central water feature” that is
flanked by building units leased by small retail, food and
quick-serve businesses, such as yogurt, ice cream, smoothie, bakery
and coffee shops.
Brantley
notes developer Zelman Retail Partners has signaled strong interest
by well-known brands and operators to lease space, so the open area
will include outdoor dining tables, casual seating areas, benches and
other features to support “an active, informal setting.”
Also
planned are a “garden room with casual seating” – featuring
covered outdoor furniture for patrons to “relax and interact” and
“enjoy food and beverages” – and several kiosks selling “unique
and/or seasonal items” to be positioned on one side of the commons.
A
pedestrian pathway will link the Imperial Highway-Yorba Linda
Boulevard intersection, the open space-commons area and the proposed
10-screen, 1,100-seat upscale movie theater, as well as the other
major anchor tenant, a gourmet-specialty market, perhaps Bristol
Farms.
Questions
about parking still concern some of the adjacent Main Street business
owners and several residents who have observed the Old Towne-Town
Center planning permutations for the past couple of decades.
A
city-hired consultant determined Town Center needs 1,122 parking
spaces during the week and 1,039 on the weekend, and, at build-out,
“there will be a remaining deficiency of approximately 316 parking
spaces during the week and 245 spaces during the weekend.”
Included
in proposals for sufficient parking is a 429-space, four-story
structure that would be partially subterranean to allow the height to
meet a 35-foot limit for Town Center buildings, to be located on a
one-acre, city-owned parcel across a newly built street just north of
the open space-commons area.
To
alleviate typical anxieties about parking structures, the facility
would be well-lighted – “light and bright,” notes a planning
document – and include features to “soften the service-oriented
feel of such structures,” with color variations and painted murals.
And, as
more projects occur within Town Center, including future retail and a
potential new library, more parking spaces will be provided. Also
noted are several properties that have underutilized parking lots
that could expand the public supply by shared-use agreements.