On May 9 the City Council, members of the Planning Commission, members of the Economic Development Advisory Committee, consultants and staff met in the Friends Room of the Library to present their picture of the future of Monterey Park.

City Manager June Yotsuya and her staff from the Planning and Economic Development Departments and their consultants introduced each step of the agenda.

Land Use created by Measure O in 2001: Established Mixed-Use categories; Changed Industrial classifications to Employment/Technology; Changes Industrial classification to Commercial (Market Place project site); Changed Manufacturing (M) designation to Office/Professional (O-P) and Replace existing Specific Plans adopted in the 1980’s.

Zoning Ordinance Revisions: Reflect changes from the 2001 General Plan; Update the Zoning Map; Update the Zoning Ordinance with revised land uses and Create a more user friendly and flexible Zoning Ordinance.

Adoption of a Green Building Program: The Green goes public: From AB32 an SB375 to the California Green Building Code; Measuring the Green Buildings: The National Green Building Standard and the other green building rating systems; Potential local incentive programs to ease the pain of new regulatory green requirements and the city’s use of a properly crafted policy that can be used to entice and guide the development of commercial spaces that will be sought after by future businesses that will provide the city with an edge over our neighboring cities on economic development.

They also discussed a Merger of Redevelopment Project Areas that will consider an amendment to merge into a single redevelopment project area and add the other projects areas into one redevelopment project area. This would allow the funds to be used on all the projects in the city.

The staff and consultants discussed the strategy that will provide a comprehensive assessment of the city’s economic viability and market perspective.

The brand of the city will be changed to reflect all the residents. The Downtown area will have major brand names stores in the mixed-use projects and be more pedestrian friendly. The signage will be enhanced to landscape the area. Our zoning codes will be more user friendly. It will improve the Atlantic Square Shopping Center. New businesses will provide more jobs and tax dollars. New buildings in the city will be built using the Green guidelines.

Council and the commissioners are very excited about the city’s plans for the future.

The city staff and consultants will be holding public workshops and interviewing local business owners and residential leaders for their input on this new development of Monterey Park.

The staff and consultants plan to have this study completed in the next 12 to 18 months.

This meeting was recorded and will be replayed on Monterey Park’s Channel 55.