Crescenta Re-Examines 1970 Master Plan

Members of the Crescenta Valley Town Council and its volunteer planning committee are taking a hard look at the county’s 20-year-old master plan for the area and questioning whether the plan reflects what residents want their town to be in the future.

The master plan, adopted by the county in 1970, projected increased traffic and development as a result of the opening of the Foothill and Glendale freeways in the 1970s and anticipated a maximum population of 50,000--more than double the current 21,000 residents.

The plan allowed for high-rise buildings, expansive commercial strips, increased multifamily development and high-density neighborhoods of mixed single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses in La Crescenta and Montrose. Many residents say the plan is unsuited to the isolated rural community and lays the groundwork for unrestrained development.

“We’re fortunate,” said Councilman Don Hogue at a town hall meeting last week. “The pressure to expand didn’t come immediately, only in the last four or five years.”

The pressure for development and growth has spilled into the rural foothills from nearby communities, and residents say they are concerned.

Hogue was in on the planning for the Crescenta Valley when the master-plan process was initiated by the Department of Regional Planning 30 years ago. Now he and others want to take another look at the plan to determine if it still represents a community consensus.

The first in a series of meetings to determine that issue was held Thursday. The answers may not be apparent for at least six months, said Councilman Daniel J. Rendler, also a member of the planning committee.

Eventually, the group hopes to propose a revised master plan to county officials.

All cities and communities are required by state law to bring their zoning rules into compliance with a master plan so that the maximum number of residential units that can be built, for example, is in keeping with the plan.

Glendale and other areas surrounding La Crescenta began updating their plans several years ago. But the Crescenta Valley is low on the county’s priority list for such a process, and it could be 10 years before it is carried out, said David Decker, an architect serving on the local planning committee. After putting together the revised plan, the committee will try to get the county to update the plan ahead of schedule.

“We need to get a better feel for what our community will look like in the future,” Decker said at the meeting last week. “We need a plan that is much more specific to the texture of our area.”

Residents interested in participating have been asked to contact the council by writing to Post Office Box 8231, La Crescenta 91224. Telephone messages may be left at (818) 566-3743.