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Redding staff previews Riverfront Specific Plan update, seeking feedback on vision and options
Summary
City planning staff presented an update on the Redding Riverfront Specific Plan: outreach completed, seven vision pillars, near‑ and long‑term options for the Northern Riverfront (including a boulevard reconfiguration of Highway 44), and next steps to draft the plan and EIR; council requested more community re‑engagement on mixed‑use residential proposals.
City planning staff presented an informational update on the Redding Riverfront Specific Plan, summarizing earlier outreach and laying out aspirational concepts for the riverfront's future.
Director Jeremy Pagan said the plan is a policy and design document, not a development project, and described outreach undertaken so far: a large open house, a community coalition, an indigenous listening session, two workshops and an online survey with more than 900 respondents. He said the draft plan will set vision elements, design guidelines and an environmental analysis (EIR) for the riverfront area and that the EIR and formal public hearing process will follow plan drafting.
Pagan framed seven vision pillars: environment, indigenous community, entertainment venues, appropriate scale and use, recreation, connected spaces and memorable public places. For the Northern Riverfront, staff presented three options: targeted upgrades to the existing rodeo grounds and Civic Auditorium (near term); consolidating civic uses to create a more flexible combined venue and expanding conference space (longer term); and a full, transformational redevelopment in a grand plan. Staff also floated a conceptual Highway 44 boulevard and intersection redesign as a means to create a secondary access/egress out of the Northern Riverfront and to improve pedestrian and trail connectivity.
Council members asked staff to re‑engage the community on the question of mixed‑use zoning in the Northern Riverfront and expressed skepticism about the Highway 44 redesign’s cost and feasibility; Pagan said staff will return with more detailed options and economic analysis. Commissioners asked about parking, funding sources and phasing; staff said the specific plan can identify priorities and potential funding pathways but that private ownership and market feasibility will shape eventual development.
The item was informational; no action was taken.
