February 29, 2008

Growing Pains

Glendale planners may consider halving new residential units “needed through 2014 if a draft update to the city’s housing plan goes unchanged before June“. With all the mega developments and high rise upgrowth lately in the downtown core, it seemed a city impervious to the housing woes. So despite what one might logically conclude from the swirling doom and glooming, this consideration is not triggered by the housing crisis, but instead attributed to the slowdown to Glendale’s population growth. As always, the Glendale News Press has some illuminating stats on the subject:

Until recently, Glendale had been going through a population boom — having grown about 15% over the past 17 years, from 180,000 in 1990 to slightly more than 207,000 residents last year, according to the state Department of Finance.

That growth rate led state and city planners to forecast a need of nearly 6,100 new residential units in Glendale’s last Housing Element of the General Plan for 1998 through 2005.

But recent growth trends have slowed, prompting housing officials to slash the number of residential units they think would be needed to accommodate revised growth forecasts from 6,099 to 3,131 for inclusion as the most significant update to the housing plan, which must get state approval.

“Clearly, lower targets make it easier for everyone,” said Bill Kane, chairman of the Planning Commission.

Glendale’s growth rate has slowed from 2.5% between 1980 and 1990 to 1.2% now, according to the Southern California Assn. of Governments.

A less active development plan would equate to less of those high rise towers the city’s been so high on lately right? Just what the opposite may be the case, as implied by Planning Commissioner Leonard Manoukian, “Those projects don’t seem to be going away, if they are successful, it will have a cascading effect.”