Lancaster May Make Transit Concept Work By JACQUELINE FOX Staff Reporter The city of Lancaster is on a fast track to complete an ambitious redevelopment of its north downtown corridor that includes new single family and senior housing, retail shops, a public park, services for the indigent and two schools all within spitting distance of the existing Metrolink station. The project is largely about revitalization. But it revolves around a concept that, with one exception, has failed to gain traction here in the Valley and citywide: the creation of track-side, residential/retail communities to mitigate both housing shortages and highway congestion. Lancaster’s North Downtown Neighborhood Revitalization Transit Village Plan is a 110-acre, multi-phase, multi-faceted urban makeover being funded by several sources, including redevelopment agency money, state and federal grants and support from local and regional community service organizations committed to moving into the project area. The $120 million transit village plan has only been on the table two years and yet is expected to break ground this July. However, a significant part of the groundwork has already taken place with the tear down of some of the city’s oldest single family units that have long been home to the area’s poorest residents, and, as a consequence, led to gang and drug infestation and severe blight in the area. City officials anticipate the project, which covers approximately a half-mile square area of downtown Lancaster and is bound by Avenue I, Sierra Highway, Lancaster Boulevard and 10th Street West, will take roughly five to seven years to complete. Considering the pace at which other residential and commercial projects have moved along in Lancaster, developers say, there’s little reason to think this project will hit the kind of roadblocks experienced by proponents of similar transit village plans at the North Hollywood and Universal City MTA stations, as well as other transit stops dotting the city. “As a company, we really like working with Lancaster,” said Steve Eglash, general partner with Encino-based Urban Renual LP, which has signed on to build a $9 million senior living complex within the village project area, to be called Arbor Gardens. “Lancaster is, hands down, the best municipality we’ve ever worked with. They have a great overall concept here and they have already begun to implement it, which is more than we can say for other cities we’ve gone into. Usually, we run into so much bureauracracy going on, and so many channels to go through just to get to the right person, that things can never get done.” New units Urban will be revamping 40 of its existing senior units in the project area and connecting the building with 76 new units. The company now owns roughly 1,000 multi-family units across Lancaster and is planning two other commercial/residential developments outside the transit village area site. “Arbor Gardens is going to be one of the key components of the transit village project,” said Eglash. “The entire complex, once it’s built, will appear to have been built all at once, with what we are calling a ‘Tuscany’ style of architecture. It is going to be a very important part of this redevelopment and we are proud to be associated with it.” All told, the transit village plan calls for the addition of roughly 387 new housing units in the area, 38 of which will be single family homes. Several existing homes within the plan site and along the Metrolink corridor are also slated for renovation, and other developers are said to be in negotiations with the city to revamp commercial developments along Sierra Highway that may include housing infill, according to Elizabeth Brubaker, Lancaster’s senior redevelopment projects administrator. Financing delays and developer changes have long delayed plans to construct a mixed-use project adjacent to the North Hollywood MTA station, that includes both commercial and residential components, as well as a deal with the L.A. Unified School District to build a new high school. The project developer, J. H. Snyder, announced earlier this month it expects to finally break ground on the $160 million NOHO Commons this fall. But plans by the city’s Department of Transportation, the MTA and Metolink for similar developments around the Universal City MTA stop, the Chatsworth Metrolink and Amtrak station and the MTA stop at Hollywood and Vine remain dead in the water, despite being on the table now since the mid-1990s. The only success, so far, has been the Village Green housing complex at the Sylmar Metrolink stop. The 109-home development was completed in late 2000 by Tarzana-based Montage Development with some funding from the MTA, as well as the cities of Los Angeles and San Fernando. Despite its attraction in the single-family home market, as a “transit village,” Montage does not compare to what’s on the table for Lancaster when considering the size and scope of that city’s plans, as well as the lineup of community agencies committed to the project. Several stakeholders The roster of stakeholders in partnership with the city of Lancaster to complete the transit village and later relocate there or expand existing services include the Salvation Army, Children’s Center of the Antelope Valley, Los Angeles County Mental Health Association, Grace Resource’s Food Bank and St. Vincent de Paul Society. Desert Heart Christian School has committed to moving to the village. Sacred Heart Catholic Church and school, already within the project area, will be expanding. Both facilities will sit adjacent to the centerpiece of the village: a neighborhood park and recreational facility for both students and the community at large. In addition to squabbles over funding between previous developers of the planned NOHO Commons and city officials, public criticism has also played a role in the delay of that project. By contrast, the public comment period on Lancaster’s environmental review of its transit project closed without a hitch June 2. “People are very supportive of this plan,” said James Gilley, Lancaster’s city manager. “Everybody recognizes that this is one of the most troubled parts of our community. To be able to make a transition into a project with the compilation of community resources, retail, transit and housing components, is a tremendous boost to our goals for revitalizing the area and creating a livable and viable community.”