CORONA NORCO : Near Future Freeway Exit : Norco 6th Street May Go Western to Lure Shoppers

On a clear day in Norco, one can stand near the palm trees at one end of 6th Street and see the rock-strewn La Sierra Hills at the other.

In between, though, along the two-mile strip of asphalt that serves Norco’s secondary commercial district, there’s not much to look at, city officials fear. The five-lane street is lined mostly with detached, single-story buildings.

But city planners believe the city’s popular equestrian center in Ingalls Park, future new housing and a new freeway that will cut through eastern Norco can help 6th Street become a more vital commercial center, attracting shoppers and additional sales-tax revenue for the city.

The planners’ idea is to put out the welcome mat by developing an Old West theme along the street.

Most everyone involved supports the western motif--in principle. Merchants along 6th Street, however, have organized to oppose certain aspects of the zoning plan they believe would hinder, rather than promote, commercial growth.

They are concerned that land-use provisions proposed for the shopping street--to include residential and horse-keeping facilities--will confuse visitors and, ultimately, drive away potential customers.

Some merchants say the proposed architectural and landscaping requirements are too stringent and too expensive for small businesses to afford.

Others argue that the standards are reasonable, but to make the theme effective they must be applied equally to the street’s present homes, services and shops, as well as to new buildings.

The commercial district would have “landscaped front yards, pedestrian walks, equestrian trails, carefully situated parking areas, discreet signage and a definite Western motif in building design,” according to the zoning proposal before the city Planning Commission.

About 2 1/2 miles south of 6th Street, on Hamner Avenue, two retail and office plazas were built with wooden facades, roofed front porches and landscaping that displays antique farm equipment.

Cited as Prototypes

Those buildings are good examples of what planners would like to see on 6th Street, said Ralph E. (Bud) Plender, the city’s director of community development.

“The Western motif is excellent,” said Chris Kohlenberger, president of the Norco Chamber of Commerce, who owns an auto repair shop on 6th Street. “There’s a lot of good things about the plan . . . but I think it’s too much of a catch-all.”

Kohlenberger and other business owners said one of the main concerns is that some land uses that would be allowed under the special zoning would be incompatible with the street’s retail base.

By allowing too many and varied uses, said George Breyer, owner of a 6th Street feed and supply store, “it ends up like a stew. If you like carrots, you have to pick through the stew to get the carrots.”

The Western zone, as proposed, would have homes, retail stores, offices and light manufacturing.

Theme Is Rural

“The great differences between types of uses can be softened by similarities in architectural styles, especially if that architectural style promoted the idea that the town is rurally oriented,” Plender said.

To underscore Norco’s rural atmosphere, property owners would be allowed to keep horses on parts of their 6th Street lots--a prospect that Breyer, for one, finds unappealing.

“How can you have a restaurant next to a place that raises horses?” Breyer asked.

“The horses aren’t the problem; it’s the manure . . . (and) flies are a real problem,” he said. “They should not figure on putting horses next to a motel or a hotel or some kind of eatery.”

Some merchants also object to allowing more housing along 6th Street, “in conjuction with . . . permitted nonresidential use.”

“You can’t make the street more attractive for commercial (development) if you’ve got little kids playing in the front yards,” Breyer said.

Some See Hardships

The stringent architectural and design requirements of the Western theme, the Chamber of Commerce’s Kohlenberger said, would pose an undue hardship to residents and merchants already on 6th Street.

She is concerned that merchants will not be allowed to expand their facilities without making expensive alterations to meet architectural standards.

At the same time, though, some merchants believe the architectural requirements do not go far enough. They say that present owners should be required to improve their properties.

“What good is it going to do to have a nicely landscaped Western front (on a business) next to a house that looks like a junkyard?” Breyer asked.

The city is “not planning to force owners to upgrade old buildings,” Plender said. Norco would, however, require some general improvements to meet zoning requirements when an owner planned significant expansion, he added.

‘Not Rodeo Drive’

“It’s really not all that big an expense” to upgrade buildings, Plender suggested, citing Norco City Hall’s addition of an Old West facade.

“Even the store with the animal cages and dog houses out front--that’s part of the (Western) scene,” he said. “We’re not talking about Rodeo Drive here.”

Plender said that if current owners along the street will voluntarily make improvements to match the Western motif, “It would help their businesses as well as the entire business community of 6th Street,” he said.

The planners’ expectations are too great, Kohlenberger said. “They’re talking megabucks. The commercial people are not capable of doing what the city wants us to do without a serious financial hardship.”

The city can “make it all look like an old Western town,” she said, “but this is never going to be a Knott’s Berry Farm.”

Increased Traffic Ahead

Kohlenberger does agree, though, with city officials’ predictions that 6th Street cannot but see increased traffic and commercial activity, since it will have one of the two Norco exits from the new freeway.

Norco’s busiest street now is Hamner Avenue, which serves as the city’s primary commercial center and also is a heavily traveled commuter route (connecting the Riverside (91) Freeway and Interstate 15 in the south with the Pomona (60), San Bernardino (10) freeways and Interstate 15 to the north).

The new section of Interstate 15, running through Norco and neighboring Corona, is scheduled to open in the summer of 1988. It will relieve Hamner Avenue of its commuter-traffic burden.

With some planning and promotion, 6th Street can draw shoppers to this rural-residential city of about 20,000 people, said City Manager John W. Donlevy.

A thriving commercial district along 6th Street would “generate additional revenue (for the city) and at the same time maintain the rural life style,” Donlevy said.

Economic Base Lacking

“We need to start building a very strong commercial and economic base, something we’ve been lacking here for a very long time,” he said. “I really feel that 6th Street has a lot of potential.”

Merchants on 6th Street just want to be sure the city doesn’t waste that potential with poor or inconsistent planning, Kohlenberger said. She cites the city’s approach to parking space as one example.

The city promised merchants it would allow on-street parking when it widened 6th Street, Kohlenberger said, yet it has prohibited street-parking spaces. The new zoning would force merchants to have parking areas beside or behind their stores, to make room for the required landscaping, she said.

She said having visible parking space in front of stores is important in attracting customers, particularly in a spread-out shopping district that is not conducive to walking and browsing.

Setback Variance

The new zoning would not ban front parking, Plender said, but could encourage merchants to make parking areas less obtrusive, by allowing Western-style buildings a setback smaller than the usual 30-foot minimum.

The ultimate goal, Plender said, is to make 6th Street a unique commercial district--both in appearance and its variety of merchandise and services--that will attract shoppers from a wide area.

Right now, “It’s a wide, straight, uninteresting street scene,” Plender said.

“In the future, it will be the front door to Norco, where most people from outside the area will get to see and meet Norco.”