Planners Offer ‘Artist’s Sketch’ of the City’s Ideal Future : Vision: Plan sees fewer cars and more places to stroll in an atmosphere of ‘managed growth’ and ‘arts enrichment.’

City planners have come up with an idealistic “sketch” of the city’s future, showing fewer cars on the streets, more places to stroll, more affordable housing and human services, a broad range of recreational resources, thriving businesses, all in an atmosphere of “managed growth” and “arts enrichment.”

The so-called “sketch plan,” a preliminary to the revised General Plan, was unveiled this week by a task force of citizens and city officials, who have been holding forums since last November to query citizens on the kind of city they want to live in.

“It’s akin to an artist’s sketch,” said Vice Mayor Rick Cole, co-chairman of the nine-member task force, “because we assumed that it’s up for discussion and modification.”

The plan, which also designates areas for special planning focus, was presented Monday to about 200 people at the Pasadena Center.

Among the special “strategy areas” are the neighborhood around the Norton Simon Museum, where there should be fewer car dealers and more office space, the Sketch Plan says, and the Pasadena Playhouse district, a future complex of entertainment facilities and new housing.

The city must complete major revisions to its General Plan, a statement of long-range planning goals, by the end of August.

The deadline was dictated by an out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit against the so-called Growth Management Initiative, a measure approved by the voters in 1989 that restricted the amount of housing and commercial development in the city. The city agreed to place the measure back on the ballot in November after the General Plan has been substantially revised.

Every city has a General Plan, although rarely is there broad community involvement in its preparation, city officials say.

Pasadena’s General Plan, aside from setting planning and design goals for specific areas of the city, will represent a vision of the city as an ethnically diverse, neighborhood-oriented metropolis, with emphasis on preserving the city’s widely admired architecture and placing some limits on growth, officials say.

But establishing the limits will be one of the task force’s toughest assignments, members say. The task force includes representatives of the groups that sought to eliminate the voter-approved growth caps, as well as a representative of the organization that promoted the initiative.

Those favoring the Growth Management Initiative and those opposing it are talking about promoting development that enhances the city--rather than “poorly designed office buildings or ugly condo projects,” said Nina Chomsky, a lawyer representing those who favor development restrictions.

Added Nancy Greenberg, representing the city’s Board of Realtors: “There definitely is a consensus that there needs to be a program for managing growth.”

She added hastily, “That doesn’t mean no-growth, though.”

The Sketch Plan will be the subject of a series of community workshops, beginning April 23 at Webster Elementary School, 2101 E. Washington Blvd., at 6:30 p.m.