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My hometown, Pasadena, also known as the City of Roses, is located in sunny Southern California, beautifully situated in Northeast Los Angeles County alongside the Foothills of the San Gabriel Valley. Pasadena is home to the nationally recognized New Year’s Rose Parade, the Rose Bowl Stadium, and a number of famous institutions. As a relatively large city, Pasadena has a vibrant and diverse local economy that provides a foundation for prosperity to all residents, students, and employers.

In this article I will why zoning would be useful as an economic development tool for commercializing college districts in Pasadena and why college district zoning should be a main focus of Pasadena’s Basic Growth Policy.

Pasadena’s Economic Development Strategic Plan (EDSP) published a baseline assessment of the existing conditions that drive the economy in Pasadena. This plan, originally published in April 2012, includes strategic recommendations to enhance Pasadena’s business climate, ensure the fiscal health of the city, and support economic growth in the city in a manner consistent with the city’s character. Overall, it intends to help the city implement strategies that directly contribute to its economic development. The EDSP is significant because it also serves as a reference document for the General Plan’s land use and development policies.

“Every city in California has a General Plan, a blueprint for growth and development that lays out specific strategies for land use, mobility, housing, open space, conservation, noise and safety” (General Plan Updates, 2016). The EDSP focuses on a shorter time frame than the General Plan given the more constant fluctuations in economic conditions. The General Plan is only revised every decade or so to become more meaningful and relevant based on the current state of the city (General Plan Updates, 2016),

In collaboration with the public and business communities, the EDSP stated four goals and core aspirations: support investment in the community that creates new jobs, enhance commercial districts to create quality shopping and dining experiences, cultivate an entrepreneurial and academic environment that fosters innovation, and encourage the growth of cultural assets and entertainment activities that attract visitors and conventioneers. These goals were set on a five-year timeline and were derived from an evaluation of issues and opportunities associated with Pasadena’s primary economic drivers.

The economic development policy that I will focus on is called the Basic Growth Policy. It is a land use and development policy that applies to all land uses and geographic locations throughout the City of Pasadena and it is meant to “accommodate growth that is consistent with community values and that complements the scale and character of Pasadena’s unique residential neighborhoods, business districts, and open spaces” (General Plan, 2015). This policy aligns perfectly with three of the four EDSP goals and aspirations. So, the policy is likely a prosperous way to achieve economic development across the City, and specifically within Pasadena’s college districts.

Currently in Pasadena, the commercial districts that are adjacent to local educational institutions of higher learning have very little connection with their academic neighbors. Thus, the City should consider a means to encourage commercial and residential development of the highest quality in order to facilitate targeted economic growth. Updated land use policies and marketing efforts should be pursued so that new housing and retail development can enhance and support the already collegiate atmosphere of the City of Pasadena.

In 2016, several goals and policies were formally presented for land use in the City of Pasadena. The goals are defined as “general direction-setters, as an ideal future related to expressions of community values and may be abstract in nature” while the policies defined are “specific statements guiding decision-making indicating commitments to a particular course of action that carry-out one or more goals” (General Plan, 2015). These goals and policies are divided into three sections: (a) globally to all uses and locations in the City, (b) to each principal land use category depicted on the Land Use Diagram, and (c) to sub-areas of the City including adopted specific plan areas. Updated land use policies and marketing efforts should be pursued so that new housing and retail development can create the collegiate atmosphere.

According to Pasadena’s Economic Development Task Force Report, land use policies are actually a very useful economic development tool. There are two reasons why college zoning land use policies in particular would make for an especially useful economic development tool. For one, Caltech, Pasadena City College, and other colleges can provide commercial districts with a stronger identity” (Task Force Report, 2012). This means that higher education institutions and other commercial businesses could be mutually beneficial to each other, if placed together within the same neighborhoods. The other reason why college zoning land use policies could be useful is that “Pasadena is a built-out city with high land values” (Task Force Report, 2012). So essentially, the City should take advantage of institutions on the outskirts of town and continue to build outward, helping to bring development and attraction to those less centrally located institutions. Overall, commercial and residential development around Pasadena’s higher education institutions would be economically beneficial to the entire city.

While the aforementioned goals and economic development plans all sound good, there are some concerns and arguments to be made against them as they pertain to college district zoning and the Basic Growth Policy in Pasadena. In short, significant work is needed to fully realize the opportunities associated with cultivating an innovative, entrepreneurial and simultaneously wholesome, academic environment. In fact, the City must first do five things in order to cultivate this environment in the first place, but each of these tasks present a great challenge to the entirety of the economic development plan and policy.

First and foremost, Pasadena must (1) foster a nurturing environment that actually supports the City’s academic pursuits by encouraging ongoing improvements to Pasadena’s public schools, providing creative exchanges between all local schools and the business sector, and making skill development available to all Pasadena residents eager to enter the workforce (Task Force Report, 2012). Then, (2) fully improve recruitment efforts by targeting aerospace, engineering, healthcare, software, and green business sectors, working with existing companies to bring more (industry sector specific) attention to Pasadena, and tracking local labor force strengths and weaknesses (Task Force Report, 2012).

Moreover, Pasadena must (3) be sure to maintain support for local start-up enterprises by identifying sites for the construction of new flex-tech space, working with property owners that may be willing to partner with local institutions, working with local researchers to evaluate specific opportunities for local tech based job growth, building off the initial success of local incubators like the Pasadena BioScience Collaborative, and updating zoning to protect light industrial areas that can accommodate start-up businesses (Task Force Report, 2012).

Next, the City would need to (4) collaborate with local institutions that spin-off new companies by tracking new opportunities to leverage Caltech’s significant influence in a wide range of technology, pursuing design related companies with the Art Center College of Design and its affiliations, and finding ways to support a local culture of entrepreneurial risk taking (Task Force Report, 2012).

The final challenge would be to (5) further leverage Pasadena’s international prominence in the field of astronomy through highlighting Pasadena’s significant contributions to historic discoveries and exploration projects, considering an astronomy day in Pasadena that highlights activities at Caltech, JPL, Planetary Society, Carnegie Observatories, and Mt. Wilson; and finally, actively pursuing international astronomy conferences and seminars (Task Force Report, 2012).

Even more, if and when the City of Pasadena addresses these challenges, spacing is the next issue to confront -parking spaces to be specific. If Pasadena is to increase interest, activity, and visitation at and around educational institutions, then the City must also consider how the public will access these locations, either by private or public transportation. This segways into the challenging topic of parking caps.

Currently, city regulations demand parking limits on certain new projects so that public transit is encouraged (Task Force Report, 2012). Thus, a revised policy should be considered so that the city can maximize business opportunities, create parking, and support retailing. Especially since commercialization “can also lead to tenants leaving Pasadena, business owner hindrances, and shopper frustrations” (Task Force Report, 2012). Unhappy residents and tenants is the opposite of what the Basic Growth Policy aims to achieve. For this reason, college district zoning and the Basic Growth Policy in general are not perfect plans and may need to be reimagined and/or developed further. 

Naturally, as a Pasadena native, I have mixed feelings about the Basic Growth Policy. On one hand, it would be phenomenal to have commercial and residential land development in the city, especially around the college districts. On the other hand, I have concerns of what unhappy, possibly fleeing residents, and difficult parking situations would do to the city. These are my main concerns because similar developments in the City have led to these outcomes. Overall though, most of the strategies and objectives of Pasadena’s Economic Development Strategic Plan and the Basic Growth Policy would substantially grow the local economy and put Pasadena on the right track in regards to economic development. 

In conclusion, there are several reasons why zoning should be used as an economic development tool for commercializing college districts in Pasadena, and this blog details a number of ways to go about realizing Pasadena’s Basic Growth Policy. Since the pros seem to outweigh the cons, I would support both the Basic Growth Policy and college district zoning for the greater economic good of the City of Pasadena. Colleges are plentiful in Pasadena, so there are plenty of people to reach, both through service and employment, with this economic development plan.

Sources by the City of Pasadena:

Economic Development Task Force Report, 2012.

City of Pasadena General Plan, 2015. (Amended 2016).

Updates to the General Plan. 2016.

What are your thoughts on commercializing college districts in Pasadena?

Could these new developments benefit Pasadena natives or would gentrification push people out of their homes?

Let me know what you think in the comments below!