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PLACE - SYNTHESIS REPORT Michael: Our group talked about 3 things. The first one had to do with what we got out of Mr. Freedman's presentation. One of the components of creating community occurs through public spaces and that can be a civic center. Having a civic center that would be a place to gather, would have mixed use, not just government business, have a coastal orientation (beach focus of the city and village by the sea), access to public transportation, entertainment component, conference center, reflect a historic perspective, and be a cultural place. That would equal a place where people would want to go and to help connect with the community.
Erin: The second thing we looked at was the potential locations where we could use a lot of the ideas we heard in the presentation. One is the intersection of Palomar Airport and Carlsbad Blvd. where vacant land is located; Farmer's Building, Veterans park (see flip chart). The third thing was the importance of not forgetting the downtown village area. We still want that to be a focal point. We can enhance it as well. We want to focus on our vision before picking our location. We don't want to limit ourselves.
Mike: We came up with a goal of what we'd like to see Carlsbad 50 years from now. (See wording on chart). We see it as a dynamic city with a village-like quality where people can live and work in the city and the community will reflect diversity and equity in its population, housing and services. The City will fully utilize its natural resources, artistic ability, civic commitment, to realize the vision statement above. Mark: Just to show you that I'm not eye candy like I was last time (laughter). We had two questions. The first one was: "What are the most critical qualities of this community that we want to enhance?" (See flip chart list) Open space for people to enjoy Equity: everyone has a chance to live here. A great tax base (was brought up by the Mayor) Smart growth Meeting and gathering places (for example, town squares, civic centers, sports complexes) Harkening back to our past and reflecting that into the future.
The second question was: "Where are we headed and what does this place look like fifty years from now?"
Mike: Then we talked about some specific ideas we had. We talked about the northwest quadrant and the redevelopment area. We see a lot more people living in the redevelopment area. You can walk to the beach and to the rail station to get to San Diego. That could lead to the closing of State St. between Grand and Carlsbad Blvd. Make it a pedestrian walkway with shops. Get people walking there on the weekends. We also talked about connecting Hosgrove Park to the revitalized mall. We see the mall developing into a mixed-use project. A good portion of Hosgrove is really flat. Tremendous potential for a park area tied into a mall with some mixed-use. We could do something really special.
We talked about this location here and what we could do if we decided to make this our future City Hall/education facility for adult education. We talked about the potential of the second redevelopment area especially the relocation of Carlsbad Blvd. along the coast. We have got the opportunity to make it comparable to the greenbelt in La Jolla. We can create fantastic parks in that area which would help with the identity of the City. (See chart for other ideas)
Fred: We want to thank Michael Freedman for a great presentation. We got a lot out of it. We drew a picture with the European "no" across and based on what we learned, there is no way this building works as a Civic Center. We have a lot of issues with this building. If we use this for internal functions with the City dealing with the City and not with the public, this might work but if we want to have a place that facilitates community, this probably is not the place as it exists today. Dave: So we came up with this tremendous idea: (Dave showed a blank flipchart - laughter) We decided to use a blank page. For civic services it should be complimented with non-civic services such as coffee, and more coffee (laughter). Do we want people to say: oh, that lovely Carlsbad ocean breeze or do we want them to hear the DC10 starting up? Fred: If we were going to stay here, what it would take to have a place for civic presence? We could look at underground parking, eliminating streets, creating a mixed land use place, a place to come here to shop, to talk, to eat, to form associations, they come here 24 hours a day.
4. Civic and Community Space - Groups J, K, L Paul - We are picking up right where Fred left off. We focused our attention on this facility/area here. We want to think out of the box. We looked at several options. Creating something that is truly distinctive. What is it today and what do we want it to become in the future? The Civic Center should be reflective of the distinctiveness of Carlsbad. We thought of a skating rink, a performing arts center or an amphitheatre, something that caters to entertainment. Including retail, a gathering place, incorporating the many non-profit organizations and associations who could come together. Given the proximity to the business park, there is the potential for parking for evening events so there ought to be day and night use.
Terry - There could be public spaces adjacent to this space. Already on an important transportation corridor so we want to enhance that. The big question is: Use as is? Probably not. Let's try to reinvent the space. Julie: This is before (pointing to the chart) and that's after. (See chart) Some of the other ideas is to use it as government office space, state and federal offices, City Council Chambers, hotel site, tourist support, state of the art medical center, i.e., private upscale hospital medical center, But mostly we want this to be a place that we could be proud of and a site that would bring the entire community together. It would merge functionality and beauty. This space should not be the only civic gathering place in the community. Carlsbad is geographically large and we want to provide areas for lots of people. Already have some places we can use.
5. Connection - Groups M, N, O Lynn: Again, some of the things we were identifying as gathering places were the parks in different neighborhoods, commercial centers around Carlsbad Blvd. For example where people already gather. As for a large place, we don't have a civic theatre or a place where artists can learn, perform, work; all kind of uses as separate from government business such as paying your water bill. This would happen in a separate place. However, do we want then that place to be an inhospitable place for that? How accessible is it? We mostly did agree on decentralization: find places that naturally spring up as meeting places in neighborhoods. (See chart)
We asked: Can we enhance existing places to make them more community friendly areas? Supporting a healthy lifestyle by walking. Coastal location/orientation. This building might not be the place. We were divided on if transportation is an issue or not. Does it present a roadblock to where you would locate something?
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Monday 3/17 Tuesday 3/18 Wednesday 3/19 Appendix [click on images to enlarge]
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