SAN BERNARDINO l Re-establishment as One of Southern California's Three Urban Cores

[PragmaticIdealist]

A couple of days ago, San Bernardino successfully completed the annexation of the previously-unincorporated Arrowhead Springs, and the Press Enterprise's Cassie MacDuff was there to cover the celebration.

Seven years have passed since a developer unveiled plans for a billion-dollar expansion of the Arrowhead Springs Resort in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains.

There was a flurry of excitement as city officials saw a golden opportunity to annex the nearly 2,000-acre site owned by Florida-based Campus Crusade for Christ.

Then the project ran into problems: An environmental group sued. The Local Agency Formation Commission questioned whether enough water could be supplied for a 300-room hotel addition, shops, a golf course, town homes and more housing. And Campus Crusade's relationship with its developer soured.

This week, those problems melted away. The annexation was approved, Campus Crusade officials are looking for a new developer, and the city and Campus Crusade agreed the developer will build pipes and pumping stations to get water from the city's system.

Campus Crusade officials flew in from Orlando to host a reception to mark the milestone.

On Wednesday evening, the resort's elegant dining hall was filled with 100 guests celebrating the long hoped-for turning point in Arrowhead Springs' rebirth.

"This is a wonderful, wonderful day," said Campus Crusade President Steve Douglass. "Many of us were praying for this day." They thought development would happen a lot sooner, but with their faith, they never gave up hope.

Campus Crusade now is looking for a developer with a deep sense of the history of the site, who will understand what it means to the community, Douglass said.

Vonette Bright, widow of Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright, told guests she felt as if her husband were in heaven marshaling the angels to make this happen.

"It is with great anticipation that we now wait to see what (God) will do," she said, before leading a prayer.

Campus Crusade Chief Financial Officer Mark Tjernagel joked that his prayer was for a developer with "access to capital and credit."

http://www.pe.com/columns/cassiemacd...0.49d2bfa.html

[PragmaticIdealist]

A much more detailed picture of the new multimodal terminal is now coming into focus, especially with the recently-published scoping comments from the Mayor of the City of San Bernardino regarding California High-Speed Rail.

Omnitrans, the lead agency behind the station, launched the project Web site just a few hours ago at: http://AreYouIn.Omnitrans.org

[PragmaticIdealist]

Yesterday was the big day when the San Bernardino Intermodal Transit Center and Transit Village was unveiled to the public.

The West side of E Street will initially include four Metrolink platforms accommodating eight trains within a dramatic open-air pavilion formed by giant ribbons of solar-energy collectors, suggesting the prehistoric geological forces that shaped the valley.

The architects expect LEED Platinum cerification for the entire complex.

These ribbons then extend across a linear "bus street" that will encompass 25 bays, mostly for commuter buses since Omnitrans plans to simplify its existing routes so that they feed into sbX, instead of converging in the city center.

Four tracks of high-speed rail would be accommodated below grade in a trench in order to allow for the trains to cross the 215 freeway without having to use an elevated guideway that would have to be built fifty feet or so above the ground.

Passengers will enter the terminal though the Great Hall, a multi-story concourse with ticketing facilities, escalators, and a green roof on the fourth level that will serve as a park offering dramatic views of the city's mountains and skyline.

The first sbX station will occupy the median of E Street and will connect with an iconic, elliptical, and cable-stayed pedestrian bridge that will stretch from the first phase described above to the second phase, which will be located on the East side of E Street.

The terminal on the East side of E Street will encompass: the light rail to Redlands; the fixed-guideway link to San Bernardino International Airport; and, the all-weather tramway to Big Bear Lake.

A new street will be created immediately South of both halves of the terminal to provide facilities for: taxis; shuttles; limos.; and, "kiss-and-ride." Additional facilities will be provided for bicycles, as well as for car sharing and conventional car rentals. Most parking for private vehicles would be located off-site at the 1918 train station.

Additional sbX stations for the Route 66 Line and the Airport-to-Airport Line would be located on medians in the middle of Rialto Avenue in order to form a "T"-shape with the E Street station.

A "Central Garden" runs along the edges of all the at-grade tracks. Mixed-use development is seamlessly-integrated throughout the terminal with a residential emphasis South of the tracks and an employment emphasis North of the tracks. A generous amount of meeting and convention space is also included in the design. But, the complex does a remarkable job of amassing these facilities without creating a superblock since a network of interconnected streets are interwoven throughout the site.

The first phase occupies twelve acres, and the surrounding transit village consumes six large 600 x 600-foot blocks. I'll post pictures soon.

[PragmaticIdealist]

[PragmaticIdealist]

[PragmaticIdealist]

Mayor Patrick J. Morris

[PragmaticIdealist]

[PragmaticIdealist]

[PragmaticIdealist]

PACE Advanced Water Engineering is continuing its preliminary engineering of the project to "daylight" the numerous natural waterways that traverse San Bernardino's city center. And, AECOM has been awarded the contract to design the new bridge between Second and Third Streets in the proposed Democracy Park.



For State Proposition 84, San Bernardino and San Juan Capistrano-based RJM Design Group have prepared applications for the new $5 million Sturges Square, which, if approved, will occupy a full city block bounded by E, D, 8th, and 9th Streets and will feature two wide promenades that cross diagonally in the center, thereby forming a major new public gathering space on the fringes of the central district. This "X"-shaped design is intended to help improve the walkability of the block and the surrounding area.

The site is located immediately northeast of the Sturges Center for the Fine Arts, including Sturges Auditorium.

Sturges Square will feature its own outdoor performance spaces, among several other amenities, and the square will help fill the gaping voids in the area's landscape, which is mostly characterized by used-car lots, outdated land uses, and outmoded single-use zoning, at the moment. San Bernardino's Parks Department, as well as much of the rest of the City government, are in the process of being reorganized as extensions of the Economic Development Agency, and Sturges Square is considered a key to attracting new investment in this area as the sbX project moves forward.

[PragmaticIdealist]

Incidentally, the Route 66 Line now has full funding, and Omnitrans recently announced the following event:


sbX Forum: Building New Mobility

Location: Hilton San Bernardino, 285 East Hospitality Lane

Date: Wed, May 26th, 2010

Time: 8:00 am - 1:00 pm



An RSVP has been requested for this event. www.EStreet-sbX.com

Join Omnitrans, local, state and federal dignitaries as we celebrate the success of the E Street Corridor B.R.T. Project. Also, learn about how local cities can capitalize on the expansion of sbX and related projects to improve quality of life.

[PragmaticIdealist]

Mayor Patrick Morris' impressive presentation to the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board is available in mp3 form and in two parts. The main remarks are in this file:

http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/im...3_32_side2.mp3

The first portion of the presentation starts with this file at 42:30:

http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/im...3_32_side1.mp3

[PragmaticIdealist]

San Bernardino's new Chancellor's Park, on the northeast corner of Kendall Drive and Campus Parkway, will be the first site to feature the results of an ambitious city-wide public-art program that is being financed largely by civil-society entities and is being directed by the influential Visual Arts Department of San Bernardino State University, in conjunction with the City's Fine Arts and Cultural Development Commissions.

The series of larger-than-life oxidized-metal sculptures will celebrate the indigenous flora and fauna of the wilderness that surrounds the mountainside university.

The park is located adjacent to the first sbX corridor, and the presentation of the proposal is available at the 35-minute mark of the March 15 City Council meeting available here:
http://www.iemediagroup.com/player.p...eting&Episode=

In the same meeting, the Common Council approves the study of a new circulatory transit system to link San Bernardino State University with the proposed University Hills traditional-neighborhood development and the surrounding University District.

[PragmaticIdealist]

The February 1, 2010 meeting of the Mayor and Common Council of the City of San Bernardino started with great presentations by Dr. Hasan Ikhrata, the Executive Director of SCAG, the region's metropolitan planning organization, and prominent local economist, Dr. John Husing, about Senate Bill 375, which is forcing California's municipalities to coordinate land-use and transportation planning to minimize vehicle miles traveled.

In the discussion, E.S.R.I. is mentioned as the model of an employer that would be attracted to a San Bernardino Valley that has been transformed into a transit-oriented, New Urbanist environment appealing to young and well-educated professionals.

For a growing number of people, walkable neighborhoods that have character, as well as an active civic life, are preferable to the suburban tract homes that have invaded the Inland Empire over the last few decades and to the shoebox-sized condominiums and townhomes that predominate in the dense areas of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Seniors are expected to double in proportion to the overall population. And, households without children are skyrocketing. So, the current and future demographics now strongly support infill development in existing cities.

The presentations begin about thirty minutes into the video.

http://www.iemediagroup.com/player.p...eting&Episode=

[PragmaticIdealist]

Last month, RJM Design Group hosted its final public charette for the proposed multi-million dollar remodeling of Seccombe Park in the city center of San Bernardino.



Originally a State urban recreation area, the large park deteriorated significantly in the ensuing years when the State government decided to stop funding the maintenance.

Suggestions resulting from the charette process included:

• Better sightlines into the park
• One or more jets of water rising from the lake's surface
• Kiosks for coffee, crepes, etc. at the expanded entrance plaza
• Cafe tables with movable seats at the expanded entrance plaza
• Wireless internet access
• Rowboats and/or pedal boats
• Indirect lighting, twinkle lights in the trees, and other decorative lighting enhancements
• A dance floor and/or a dance pavilion for swing dancing and big bands
• Fencing around parts of the park
• Surveillance cameras, especially in areas without "eyes on the street"
• More facilities for large festivals, including ethnic events
• A fishing pier and/or boat docks added to the island in order to make it more of a destination
• Angled, on-street parking, instead of parking lots
• A special garden for weddings and other private events
• Conversion of Pioneer Memorial Cemetery into "historical gardens" with ornamental plantings and interpretive features
• New medians and parkways to integrate the park with the surrounding streets
• Balloon vendors and roving buskers
• Interactive fountains
• Additional pathways and cycling routes
• And, naturally, multi-story mixed-use development on and around the existing park footprint

[PragmaticIdealist]

Last year, the Vision & Action Plan for San Bernardino's city center was presented to four major developers for review and for a panel discussion, which is quite interesting.

(The presentation by EDAW-AECOM's Vaughan Davies begins at the 14-minute mark.)

http://www.iemediagroup.com/player.p...me=EDAW part 1

[PragmaticIdealist]

[PragmaticIdealist]

http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_14136954

COLTON-Despite a gloomy economy and the city's financial woes, officials say the proposed Super Block and Pellissier Ranch developments are still viable projects.

Plans for both are still in the works, but there's no timetable for when they'll be completed or when construction could begin, officials say.

"We've done a lot of work," said Mayor Kelly Chastain. "I don't want it to be put on a back shelf. It's still doable so we need to be ready when the economy is on an upturn."

The Superblock is envisioned as a 250-acre, high-end, mixed-use development, similar to Citrus Plaza in Redlands, that would include medical office buildings to jockey the neighboring Arrowhead Region Medical Center.

"It's important that we do leverage the amenities we do have in our city, like a major hospital, to create revenue for our city," said Councilman Vince Yzaguirre.

Its site, between Valley Boulevard and San Bernardino Avenue south to north and Pepper and Riverside avenues east to west, is home to the endangered Delhi Sands flower-loving fly.

The city is in the process of seeking approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a Habitat Conservation Plan that will propose an alternate habitat area for the fly. Approval must come before construction can occur.

The city has purchased a neighboring chunk of land for about $4 million that has been proposed as alternative fly habitat, Yzaguirre said.
lies where the Pellissier Ranch is planned, near the Santa Ana River, 215 Freeway and Riverside County border. Plans call for nearly 3,000 upscale homes, two schools and a town center on 500 to 600 acres of developable land, according to city reports.

Former City Manager Daryl Parrish and former Assistant City Manager Mark Nuaimi were the chief architects behind plans for both developments. With their departure, development could move in a different direction.

"We're kind of at square one again of looking at where everything is," said Councilman David Toro, whose District 1 encompasses the Super Block project area. "We're back to the drawing board."

Toro said he'd like to see city staff provide the council with alternate options for both project areas so development could begin sooner. Toro says with current plans, construction may not come for 10 years or more.

"I think there's potential of doing things now and bringing jobs and revenue to the city now," Toro said. "Being in my district and probably having the last and best area for growth, I want to make sure the best thing happens there."

The so-called Superblock is a traditional neighborhood development that is situated at a station location along the proposed sbX "Airport-to-Airport Line" that will connect L.A./Ontario International Airport and San Bernardino International Airport via the San Bernardino Avenue corridor and the proposed San Bernardino multimodal terminal.

[IconRPCV]

So when is the metrolink extension to Redlands coming to fruition?

[QuarterMileSidewalk]

The Colton superblock looks rather nice, but I sure wish they'd rebuild/renovate/infill Downtown Colton first, before using up a brownfield site. It's so bleak right now, but it has potential.

[PragmaticIdealist]

Originally Posted by IconRPCV

So when is the metrolink extension to Redlands coming to fruition?

Metrolink will be extended to the new Intermodal Transit Center and Transit Village in 2013.

There will be no Metrolink extension to Redlands; however, the light-rail between the University of Redlands and the new Intermodal Transit Center and Transit Village is due to be completed in 2016.