Workshop prompts fresh visions for Poway Road

Poway Road was “reinvented” Tuesday night to include clustered restaurants and wine bars, a mixture of new retail and residential opportunities, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and families riding their bicycles along well-defined lanes with drought-tolerant landscaping.

Those suggestions came from about 50 people attending the first of two public workshops planned as part of the development of a new Poway Road Corridor Study. Their recommendations will be considered by an 11-member ad hoc committee appointed last fall by the City Council to work with the project’s consulting firm. The study will eventually be reviewed and approved by the council, most likely toward of middle of next year.

A second public workshop will be held in about six months, said Rich Whipple, the city’s planning director. Two City Council workshops are also anticipated.

The consultant, MIG, Inc., and the ad hoc committee are in the process of updating the 19-year-old Poway Road Specific Plan, which has been guiding development and land use along the 2.5-mile roadway, between Garden Road and Oak Knoll Road. The document covers everything from zoning to exterior designs and the type of signs and streetlights that can be used.

MIG employee Laura Stetson told the group that Poway Road carries between 24,000 and 32,000 vehicles a day, depending on the section of road being used. Some of the road, especially toward the western end during commuter hours, rates an “F” in the ability to smoothly handle the load, she said. Bike path conditions rate between “D” and “F’ while the walkability of the roadway falls within the “D” category.

Other challenges facing Poway Road include limited housing opportunities, a building height restriction, older shopping centers, a lack of visitor-serving uses and retail competition from Carmel Mountain Ranch, Stetson said.

On the plus side, the city’s main road has several new large retail stores, good public facilities and is close to households with high incomes and a skilled workforce, she said. It’s also close to Ramona’s growing wine country.

For Tuesday’s workshop exercise, participants were free to express any suggestions on how they’d like to see the city’s main thoroughfare improved. This was done in two steps. Participants first viewed photos of homes, offices, businesses, sidewalks and bike paths and were asked to place green “like” or red “don’t like” stickers on each suggestion. The group then split into nine discussion circles to fine-tune their visions for Poway Road.

A survey of the stickers showed strong support for public plazas, small “pocket” parks, outdoor cafes, parking for bicycles, and stormwater-fed plantings. Regarding building designs, the group appeared to favor more modern appearances over Old West-inspired exteriors which are now encouraged in the specific plan.

Huddled around nine round tables, each with a large map of Poway Road, the participants discussed and advocated on behalf of their personal visions for Poway Road. After about 30 minutes each group selected a spokesperson who shared top design suggestions with the rest of the room. Among theses were:

• Clusters of places to eat and drink, including restaurants, wine bars and breweries;

• Structures providing a mixture of small retail and residential uses;

• Housing for young professionals and families;

• Improved bike lanes;

• Enchantment of creeks to allow walking and biking trails;

• Limited use of the road by trucks;

• A city visitor’s center on the western end of the road;

• Develop new reasons for residents living around Poway Road to spend time there.

Whipple said approximately 3,600 invitation postcards to the first workshop were sent to property owners and residents along Poway Road. The process will be repeated for the next session, he said.

MIG is being paid nearly $350,000 for the 18-month project. The money will come from the city’s allocation of TransNet sales taxes.

More information about the Poway Road Corridor Study and updates on its progress can be found on the city’s website, www.poway.org.