The
Valley Center Planning Group Monday night enthusiastically endorsed
the Weston Town Center project’s plan to file a General
Plan Amendment for land along the northwest corner of Cole Grade
Road and VC Road (behind the post office).
It’s for a shopping center and residences whose vision
is a “California farm village” that reflects the
area’s heritage by mixing styles to give the impression
that it evolved over time, rather than springing up all at once.
The developer, Herb Schaffer, has been working with local planners
and members of the planning group for six years to work out
details of the plan.
Schaffer’s team includes land planner Jim Chagala, architect
Richard Law of SWA Associates and David Ko principal of Angeleno
Associates in Santa Ana.
The plan is for Weston’s approximately 100 acres.
During the multi-year process the shopping center’s footprint
has been reduced from 152,000 square feet to 123,000 sq ft.
and from 17.5 acres to 14.3 acres.
The market has been reduced to 42,000 sq ft., and become more
“pedestrian oriented.”
The residential community, once “a series of barracks
to a military look,” according to Law, “has been
drastically changed.” Its density was decreased from 635
units to 529 units, all single detached house, and only a few
duplexes.
High density housing has been removed, said Law.
“That was the big move. The reduced density allowed us
to introduce a more curvilinear feel,” he said. Under
this plan Indian Creek Road is a envisioned as a community village
collector, which would put most traffic onto Miller Road, although
there would be several village entrances.
They have been looking at a roundabout instead of a signal (roundabouts
are a favorite passion of several VC planners) at some entrances.
Miller may ultimately have a signal—as may School Bus
Lane.
Over the years the developer worked with local residents to
develop “meaningful open space,” which would, among
other things, have a creek corridor, and a linear park of 4.5
acres and equestrian and walking trails leading to Adams Park.
Walkways would follow all of the roads planned within the community.
The compact town center would be pedestrian-oriented with links
from the individual neighborhoods to the village green, all
within a five minute walk.
The main street of the town center will be lined with shops.
David Ko explained, “We went to painstaking effort to
suggest a village with a smaller parking lot, a huge plus to
creating a wonderful setting for parking and human scale.”
This is the antithesis of a “strip mall,” said Ko.
“The idea we have for the buildings grew from the agricultural
heritage of orange packing houses and barns.
“Having a building like this would give a strong identify
to the village. There is nothing else like it in San Diego,”
he said. It would allow for a plaza, sidewalk cafes and galleries.
It would be designed so that the back of homes would not face
the streets. “The front doors would greet the community,”
said Ko, although garages would be hidden from the street and
some single family homes would share driveways. Sound mitigation
walls will be avoided using set-backs and landscaping.
The planning group gave conceptual support to the Weston project
and approval of its PAA (planning amendment application.
“This reflects Valley Center’s actual history. We
appreciate the expertise and imagination,” said the motion.
* * *
Lael Montgomery, chairman of the VC Design Review Board said
she was happy that the group endorsed Weston’s project.
“The Design Review Board and the North Village Subcommittee
(which began life as the Villages Subcommittee in 2003) have
been working for the last six years to develop a vision for
our village areas that reflects Valley Center’s authentic
history. We wanted the village to look like it just grew here
– over time. We are pleased with the evolution, so far,
of the California Farm Village that the Planning Group saw on
Monday night. Most people who live in Valley Center want to
hold onto the things that make our town one of the last best
places in Southern California -- the rural countryside, the
small town flavor, the enormous diversity of who are and how
we live.
