AGENDA #5c

MEMORANDUM

TO: Mayor and Town Council

FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

SUBJECT: Report on Development in Downtown Monrovia, California

DATE: January 8, 2001

The Council has asked the Town Manager to contact officials in Monrovia, California, to learn more about that community’s downtown vitalization efforts. This report responds to that request.

ABOUT MONROVIA

Monrovia is a city in southern California, about 10 miles northeast of Los Angeles (see map below).

Monrovia is a community of similar size to Chapel Hill: population is approximately 40,000, in an area of approximately 14 square miles. The Monrovia Chamber of Commerce describes its history as follows:

“As the fourth oldest general law city in Los Angeles County and the L.A. Basin, Monrovia enjoys the stability, tradition and heritage few communities realize in Southern California. Established in 1887 as an incorporated city, Monrovia has grown from a sparse community of orange ranches to a lovely residential community of some 40,000 residents. The city boasts a fine cultural background rich in tradition, yet progressive and forward thinking in business and industry. It has become a center for industry and manufacturing, businesses of all sizes and shopping.”

The employment profile of Monrovia shows approximately 9% of the workforce in business/professional jobs, 40% in manufacturing, 22% in retail/wholesale.

DOWNTOWN MONROVIA

The historic center of Monrovia is its “Old Town.” This historic downtown area has been the subject of considerable planning and investment, and is now described as follows on Monrovia’s website:

“The quaint charm of Monrovia’s Old Town is renown throughout the region. With its restaurants and specialty boutiques, it’s Friday Night Family Festival street fair and Library Park, it is a center of activity not only in the community, but throughout the area, attracting shoppers and diners from many miles around.”

This photograph of an Old Town street is captured from the website (website address: www.ci.monrovia.ca.us).

According to Monrovia officials, work on the downtown area has been an ongoing project for the last 25 years. The Director of Community Development told us that, “We are continually trying” to improve the downtown. In the late 1970’s, a specific plan was prepared to revive the Old Town area. Monrovia created an overlay Historic District zone, and established the 1920’s-1930’s era as the design theme. (A copy of Monrovia’s “Historic Downtown Preservation Zone” is attached.) A key decision was to reduce the size of retail zoning in Old Town, gradually decreasing the size over time to a more realistic area where activity could be concentrated.

Over the last 25 years, focus has been on public improvements, streetscape elements, achieving consistency in design elements, and creating a pedestrian feel to downtown. Working with merchants has been a key to success. There is now a 12-screen movie theater (a 15 million dollar project), and Monrovia continually tries to bring new businesses into the Old Town area. Restaurants are beginning to come into Old Town, partly because of the presence of the movie theater. The pace of zoning and planning changes is described as “gradual.”

Three years ago, the City worked with Old Town merchants to create a “Vision 2000 Committee.” That group produced a report, outlining short-term strategies and recommendations (5-year planning horizon). A copy of that report is attached here. The group continues to meet, and is now working on a 2005 update, again with a 5-year horizon.

SUMMARY

Monrovia’s “Old Town” is described as a charming, thriving downtown area. Local officials credit the success of this revitalization effort to working hard with merchants, achieving a sustained focus on improvement that has lasted 25 years, and adopting a local Historic District overlay zone.

ATTACHMENTS

1. Vision 2000 Committee Report (p. 4).
2. Monrovia Historic Downtown Preservation Zone (p. 17).