YORBA LINDA : Plan to Revitalize Downtown Unveiled

Quaint, tree-lined streets of neat homes. A vibrant Main Street of barbers, hardware stores and a dinner theater. Everything within walking distance.

Sound like a time gone by? For Yorba Linda, it could be the future.

A Newport Beach architect unveiled a concept last week to revitalize Yorba Linda’s historical downtown district, an area Main Street merchants fear will fall victim to modern regional malls and strip centers.

The plan devised by Langdon/Wilson Architects is aimed at preserving the small-town character of Main Street and the surrounding neighborhoods while injecting new life into the area by adding more specialty shops, making pedestrian access easier and creating avenues of small homes, duplexes and apartments, officials of the firm said.

“There’s a lot of pieces of something very unique and special here,” said Jack Camp, a partner at Langdon/Wilson. “We were looking for things to pull the area together, to slow down or stop the potential of the area going downhill.”

Over the next few months, City Council members and business owners are expected to study the concept, recommend changes and modifications and then decide whether to go forward with the redevelopment project, which covers 80 acres.

“It could be a place for very different retailers or retailers who look at it as a positive place to be,” said Linda S. Congleton, whose Irvine marketing and research firm has been put under contract by Langdon/Wilson. “Main Street’s character is so unlike a strip center. You can’t re-create its historic appeal.”

Main Street was once the center of all city activity and boasted City Hall, the Chamber of Commerce and the offices of the local newspaper. Although the character of the street has remained, professional services and specialty shops located there have had their ups and downs.

Marketing experts say the surrounding area is saturated with almost all types of retail businesses, hotels and office space, dimming any hope for any large-scale commercial development downtown.

Instead, Langdon/Wilson’s concept calls for enhancing the street by filling vacant buildings and lots with businesses such as coffee houses, hobby stores and a dinner theater.