GLENDALE : Committee Envisions Town Center by 2006

Proponents of a plan to revitalize downtown Glendale with new parks, retail shopping areas, a hotel and even a civic auditorium said Tuesday that they hope the city’s proposed “town center” will become reality by Glendale’s 100th birthday, in the year 2006.

Although the plans are strictly conceptual at this point, a committee of officials and business people wants to turn around the southern half of the city’s central downtown area between Broadway and Colorado Street.

Using the city’s downtown strategic plan as a blueprint, the group hopes to pave the way for the area’s commercial and public renewal, said John Hedlund, the group’s chairman.

“This town center is not pie in the sky. We can do this,” said Hedlund, who gave the City Council a progress report Tuesday on his committee’s work. “I’m not saying we can do it in a year or two, but I think within 10 or 11 years this can be accomplished.”

Hedlund said the major elements of the town center proposal include a centrally located civic plaza, a green belt area, a business-oriented hotel, a public auditorium and expansion of the Glendale Galleria shopping mall.

While definite locations for each project within the plan have not been decided, backers of the plan are eyeing the intersection of Louise and Colorado streets for the hotel, which would anchor the southern portion of the project.

An outdoor plaza spanning up to seven acres is being considered for the 100 block of north Brand Boulevard, just above the old Masonic Temple building. Under the proposal, the Glendale Galleria could be expanded eastward onto city-owned land along Colorado, Hedlund said.

The town center committee is one of six committees working on various parts of the downtown strategic plan, which was created for the city by urban planner Alex Cooper. Other committees are working on land-use issues, parking and transportation, the future of Brand Boulevard north of Broadway, and financing.

Derrill Quaschnick, the city’s assistant redevelopment director, acknowledged that financing for the plan, both from private developers and the city and redevelopment agency, “is a big question” at this point.

But, he said, no financial resources will be outlined until there are concrete plans for any of the various projects within the strategic plan.

“We are speaking strictly in concepts,” added Sheldon Baker, chairman of the city’s redevelopment agency. “Nothing has been adopted yet.”

City Councilman Larry Zarian said Tuesday that he will hold a question-and-answer session on the downtown strategic plan at 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, 613 E. Broadway. The meeting is open to the public.