The Northridge Vision Project: Developing Long Term Sustainable Growth for Greater Northridge

On any third Wednesday of the month, in the conference room at Council District Twelve in Chatsworth, your can find a group of like-minded individuals giving up their time, enthusiasm and unique skills to work to build a better Northridge. 

Northridge Vision was founded to counter a series of negatives:  growing suburban blight, uncontrolled and unsustainable growth, outdated zoning models, and a growing sense of dissatisfaction by the citizen stakeholders with the institutions that surrounded them: economic, political and social.  Clearly, no one was engaged in a purposeful conversation about the problems that beset everyday life.  Several projects along the Northridge Corridor were built out of scale with the neighborhood, bringing questions about the development and planning processes, the participation of the local neighborhood councils, and the importance of citizen participation in every step of the planning process.

 A turning point in this process was the acceptance of Northridge Vision’s preliminary statement of purpose as a guide for future development in an updated community plan for Northridge.  The full LA City Council adopted that preliminary plan in October of 2013.

Northridge Vision has been a long process (see 2012 Executive Summary), which at times seemed to wander off into the weeds. However, for the last year or so, this group of local activists, neighborhood council members, business people, chamber members, educational leaders as well as local public officials such as Council District 12, have begun to craft a long-term vision of sustainable growth for the greater Northridge area.

The Northridge Vision plan has been vastly aided by the parallel activities of the Northridge Sparkle group, whose commitment to neighborhood clean up and beautification led to the City of LA to launch its Great Streets Project here in Northridge.  That led to extra funding in the form of matching grants from the city for further development of the Northridge Corridor in a series of business and community related events that are scheduled for the next six months. 

Northridge Sparkle and Northridge Vision, with the help of Council District 12, have been able to piggyback on these successful activities to seek funding for new landscape and hardscape for Reseda Blvd, in the form of a Southern California Gas Company Environmental Grant for the City's first "Zerogation" median.  The locations for these medians will be the Reseda Blvd Great Street Corridor between Gresham and Plummer.

Other current projects include the re-engineering and re-landscaping of the hillsides at the Parthenia Gateway at Parthenia and Reseda.  This will include seeding of a drought tolerant collection of California natives as well as new terracing to reinforce the hillside adjacent to the rail lines.  Plans also include complete painting and maintenance of the overpass structures.

 Plans for the Northridge Metrolink Station include the design and construction of foot and bicycle access to the station from the north, through the flood control basin below Vanalden Park.  This will allow pedestrians and cyclists to access the station without having to transit Reseda or Tampa south to the station at Parthenia and Wilbur.

Two large-scale projects in development for the Greater Northridge area include a Northridge Mall adjacent mixed-use project at Nordhoff and Shirley, which is currently in the process of being graded.  The southern portion of the site fronting Nordhoff will be mixed use, including market rate apartments with ground floor retail, totaling 429 units in two buildings with approx. 21,000 s.f. retail.  The northern portion of the site will be a mix of various sized for-sale condos (153 units) with resident amenities.  The project has been considerably scaled down from the first, pre-recession, version.  A project update on this development was shared with the Northridge West Neighborhood Council in the summer of 2014.

Another large project, not planned to begin for another five years or more, is the development of the Northridge Post Office site at 9546 Reseda.  The project is currently designed as a mix of retail and rental properties.  This project has a much for longer horizon for development, as the post office lease on the property does not expire for another five years.  The final form of this project is currently under discussion between Northridge Vision, the developers and other local groups.  This project was presented to the Northridge Vision committee last month.

So there you have some of the projects that Northridge Vision is working on.  There will be more in the months and years to come, as Northridge Vision Project morphs from simple beautification to major planning and development.  Centered on the success of Northridge as the first Great Street, Vision looks forward to the development of many more sustainable, long-term projects, pedestrian and environmentally friendly, in a Northridge that we can all be proud of.