On the agenda: City Council

Downtown Rancho
This is amazing news. This is what the mall is missing and will finalize the founders plan for a modern day downtown. Finally a downtown for all the I-15 Freeway to see. A downtown that will say, "Hey...look at the shiny tall glass buildings...stop here...we have a Macy*s for the ladies and a Bass Pro Shop for the men folk."
The debate between mid-rise and high-rise will determine our city's status. Will we have a skyline that is short and fat or will we have a skyline that is sleek and tall. Will our skyline say high end or say good enough. Will the offices and hotel be tall and modern or midrise and uninteresting.

High Rise Option A Must
The high rise option is a must. The city must think big like 15-25 floors. The bullet train will station in Ontario and the LA/ONT Airport will expand dramatically. As a new major California High Speed Rail Hub, the city of Rancho Cucamonga will benefit greatly from this project. The name Cucamonga alone has rocketed the city into a corporate destination along with the upscale shopping and hotel districts and Route 66. The safety, schools, and executive homes will ensure a bright future for the city.

Major corporate names that our founders couldn't have dreamed of will be pounding on Cucamonga's door in the near future and we must have extreme class-A office for them to move into. Mid-rise is the wrong way. Build the condos mid-rise but build the office high-rise giving the skyline a built up look. If you look at cities such as Glendale you see a perfectly planned city core with multiple high-rise office towers and parking structures. And their streets aren't nearly as elaborate as Cucamonga's.

High Rise Impact
The impact will be significant but in a good way. Instead of having large surface level parking lots that bake your cars in the sun we should have large class-A office towers, fountains, plazas, parkways, and of course shared parking structures to protect the elderly and young from the heat of the summer.

The traffic will easily be absorbed by the intense roadways surrounding the mall complex. Mid-rise buildings would underutilize the modern planned roads and freeway expansions. The mall is very quiet as of now...almost too quiet. As shopping districts go, Victoria Gardens has a garden like noise level. A few more office and residential tenants would not hurt the noise level of the mall. The mall itself looks as if it is incomplete and people are expecting more noise and more stores and more more more. Noise should not even be an issue but it is. Ten more floors on a building and a few more parking structure levels would mean increased business and a larger economic benefit overall. Ten less floors gives you less economic benefit on the same parcel of land. Wasted sky and wasted revenue.

Most cities malls are located in lots chosen in the 1960 70 & 80's. Rancho Cucamonga is a young city and has the potential to become a different kind of Southern Californian city whose downtown is it's mall, and it's not a mall it is actually many city districts coming together to form one modern day downtown: shopping / cultural / entertainment / office / hotel districts. Right down the street is the Civic District which is City Hall, Courthouse, Police Headquarters, and the new Fire Headquarters. The Civic District also has Terra Vista shopping district, one of the best power centers in the region.

Mid-rise Underutilization Plan
The impact will be too mild. The prime office district is limited due to building heights alone. The land, sky, and existing wide avenues and thoroughfares are under-utilized. The skyline will look short and fat instead of cascading or tall and sleek. The buildings will not seem glamorous enough for high end retail. Large corporations will shy away from such meager buildings. The city’s image and economic potential will be a total loss. Build tall or not at all.