Monterey Street Uptown Specific Plan

The Monterey Street Uptown Draft Specific Plan provides a vision for a segment of one of the major corridors in the city of San Luis Obispo. Located amid a bustling downtown and the hotel/motel district, as well as a direct connection to both Highway 101 and the California Polytechnic State University, the Corridor finds itself as a distinct transition between all of these different areas. The purpose of this plan is to guide orderly development that will maintain a sense of place and achieve a cohesive streetscape that lends itself well to the aforementioned nearby uses. The goal of the plan is to create a vibrant, compact, mixed use community that will compliment the uses in the downtown, while enhancing linkages with other portions of the city. Introducing residential uses into the area would not only help to alleviate the controversial housing crisis in the city, but would also create a lively, 24-hour “Uptown”.

The intent of the Specific Plan is to encourage a comprehensive development pattern and establish the area as a separate entity, rather than the thoroughfare of automobiles, that it is today. By encouraging the construction of public spaces and elements which ultimately provide for a walkable community, the Specific Plan will result in a intensified and vital sector of the city. The Monterey Street Uptown Draft Specific Plan realizes the considerable time constraints of seeing such a transformation, and that to avoid piecemeal decisions and development, a plan must be in place as soon as possible to ensure an interconnected whole. The driving force behind the design and policy guidelines throughout this plan was the intensive study of Smart Growth principles.