Foothill guidelines adopted

LA CRESCENTA — Eight years of tedious community planning were put to rest Tuesday when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, moving through a packed agenda, swiftly adopted new design guidelines for Foothill Boulevard.

For Sharon Raghavachary, a longtime proponent of the guidelines, the quick vote was rather anticlimactic for a plan meant to bring a renaissance to what many concede is a drab business corridor.

“It was sort of like, ‘Wait, where’s the party? Where’s the applause?’” she said after the meeting Tuesday.

The amendment to the La Crescenta-Montrose Community Standards District applies to new buildings and projects within the unincorporated county portion of Foothill Boulevard between Pennsylvania Avenue and Pickens Canyon and comes as Glendale planners evaluate the city’s adjacent north annex for their own planning update.

The guidelines represent years of arduous planning meetings, as community stakeholders worked to draft a plan that would revitalize the boulevard and yet keep new development honest to the area’s “small-town” charm.

But with the thrust of that effort now at an end, proponents of the plan said all they could do now was wait.

“That was actually just the first step,” Raghavachary said. “We said this isn’t going to happen overnight.”

At a time when few developers have the means or the gusto to push ahead with planned projects, let alone propose new ones, community leaders acknowledged that it could be 10 years before the guidelines bring any noticeable change to the boulevard.

But they were relieved to have them all the same.

“It’s been so long,” said Richard Toyon, who worked for years on the Crescenta Valley Town Council’s Foothill Design Subcommittee to draft the guidelines.

The sweeping guidelines will regulate building heights, design features, street signage and force developers to adhere to either Victorian, Craftsman, Mission, Prairie, Spanish or Foothill Eclectic architecture.

Tony Bell, a spokesman for county Supervisor Michael Antonovich, whose district includes La Crescenta, said the revised plans would undoubtedly bring “a higher quality of life” to the area.

It will now be up to the town council to make sure prospective developers are made aware of the new standards and adhere to them, Toyon said. Vigilance in making sure pedestrian and traffic flow keeps up with future development would also be needed, he said.

“[The community] should look at it as a living, breathing tool,” he said.

And as Glendale officials continue to move forward with an update to the North Glendale Community Plan, the now-codified set of Foothill Boulevard guidelines would likely add weight to the efforts of La Crescenta residents to see both jurisdictions under similar rules.

“Even if we have to wait for development, that’s one positive that should come much more quickly,” Raghavachary said.

 JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.