Montclair is a typical Southern California post-war suburb, dominated by tract houses and apartments from the 1950s–1970s, with a commercial district of auto-oriented retail clustered around a regional shopping mall. Virtually no building in the city predates the 1940s and there is no historic downtown.
The North Montclair Transit Village Specific Plan mitigates the city’s sprawl by establishing a framework and development strategy for a pedestrian-oriented retail and residential district surrounding the city’s regional transit center. Patrick Siegman led the transportation planning effort for the project while a Principal at Nelson\Nygaard, as part of a team led by Moule and Polyzoides.
The plan focuses on approximately 150 acres of strip malls, vacant lots, and other marginal land uses located between the mall and transit center. The transit hub is served by local buses, regional Metrolink rail and the recently-opened Gold Line light rail. The plan proposes a variety of compact housing types, from apartments over retail to courtyard apartments and townhouses, commercial office and retail, and the transformation of the existing mall into a compact, walkable, mixed-use village. The plan also addresses the full range of traffic, economic and environmental reviews.
Mr. Siegman developed the plan’s pedestrian-friendly street designs, bicycle, pedestrian, and transit networks, and parking and transportation demand management regulations appropriate to a transit village.
The Plan was unanimously approved by the City Council in 2006.
It was and is our pleasure and honor to serve as your support team, and we are extraordinarily grateful for the continued collaboration...thank you for your leadership, guidance, and incomparable insight into creating the vision for North Montclair.
— Edward C. Starr, City Manager, City of Montclair, to the Moule & Polyzoides team
Images courtesy of Moule and Polyzoides