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Planning staff previews downtown strategic plan: housing growth, connectivity and 2028 priorities
Summary
Planning staff presented progress on a downtown strategic development plan, sharing survey results and early strategies focused on connectivity, infill housing, parking/wayfinding, and fast‑action items ahead of 2028 events. Consultants noted large vacant land and potential to add thousands of housing units.
Planning Department staff briefed the Downtown Design Commission on April 16 about progress on a downtown strategic development plan and initial findings from public outreach and market analysis.
Justin Henry of the Planning Department said the plan team (Sasaki with subconsultants including SB Friedman, Kimley‑Horn and Hunden Partners) is roughly halfway through a nine‑month process and has collected nearly 3,000 public survey responses. Early goals include improving connectivity between major public projects, filling gaps with targeted infill development, strengthening retail corridors, and tying placemaking investments to emerging large projects such as the new arena and multi‑purpose stadium.
Henry highlighted two notable diagnostics: downtown contains an unusually large supply of vacant land and surface parking compared with peer cities, and nearly half of the downtown residential units were added since 2015. The consultant team's analysis suggested building at modestly higher infill densities on vacant parcels could add several thousand housing units and substantially increase downtown population by 2040.
The presentation also previewed near‑term priorities tied to 2028 opportunities (including canal and streetscape enhancements), suggested concentrating high‑quality bike/pedestrian corridors, and recommended working with transit partners to coordinate imminent MAPS 4 and other projects. Commissioners had few questions and thanked staff for the briefing.
