Carson is beginning to update its General Plan, an effort officials consider vital because of the city's unusual layout: half of the community is industrial, while the other half is divided evenly between residential areas and commercial spaces.
Carson hired Dyett & Bhatia, an urban planning company based in San Francisco, to oversee the process of rewriting the General Plan first developed in 2004. The company will also be responsible for public outreach efforts. The city will spend about $1.1m in the process, which will take two years, and will use the groundwork already in place as the foundation for future plans.
Ken Farfsing, the city manager, noted that the use of much of Carson's land for industrial purposes poses some challenges. A lot of the land that might be used for development is contaminated by waste products from industrial use, or is part of a closed landfill.
Farfsing said he believes Carson will be an entirely different place in five or ten years. He wants to have a good blueprint in place to use as a guide for development over that period. He adds the first thing planners intend to do is hold public workshops to determine what is important to Carson's residents.
Efforts like these can benefit if officials work with a flyer printing company to create a mailer for residents, announcing the dates of the workshops and asking for community feedback.
