Last Tuesday, The City of Olmos Park, held a Town Hall Meeting to present the Conceptual Vision Plan for our little neighborhood to the Residents and Merchants in the area.  The collaboration of the THE VISION PLAN was prepared by local architect firm Michael G. Imber.  They did a wonderful job presenting the plan and addressed many concerns and questions with local residents and merchants during the 2.5 hour meeting.

Here is a glimpse of what may be in store for our charming historical area!

Olmos Park Vision Plan

Of course those of you who are familiar with the area will recognize “The Fountain” (and of course the building just behind it…MEADOW!!!).  The development to the right side of the drawing will be new.  Thethought is to make our building and the fountain somewhat of a town center in Olmos Park – creating a gathering place for the community.  Imber did their homework…they collaborated with other small communities such as Santa Barbara and put together a great proposition that can be read in detail here.

Imber gave examples of how simple upgrades to signage, architecture, and landscape elements (benches, fountains, ground plantings and trees) could make our little neighborhood feel like one of the town villages we have always wanted to live in….but that would have entailed us moving somewhere else…. like California!  If the Vision Plan becomes a reality we really may be able to live in one of the picturesque places that we once were only able to visit.  Having grown up in the area I will say that I think the Vision Plan is long overdue and would bring so much class and even more charm than we already have to this area.  I hope that they are able to start putting the Vision into Action before too long. 

Here are a few more pictures that were given as examples to show what the Vision Plan is trying to achieve in terms of creating a downtown/small community feel to Olmos Park.

sidewalk dining

walkability

Wouldn’t it be fun to look out of the shop windows on a Saturday afternoon in April and see this in our new Olmos Park Town Center…..

The view.....

As with most urban development there will be growing pains and this Vision will have plenty, but after last weeks meeting we are one step closer to an improved Olmos Park.   There are many questions that still need to be answered before this happens, but I am excited that there is a vision.

Thank you to Olmos Park Economic Development Corporation and Michael G Imber Architects for working so hard to better our community.  We look forward to being a part of the transormation for years to come!

If you love Olmos Park as much as we do…post a comment and let us know what you think about THE VISION PLAN!