Park Avenue Visioning Study

City of Chico

DC&E prepared a vision plan for Park Avenue , the original alignment of Highway 99 and the southern entrance to Chico 's historic and picturesque downtown. Today, Park Avenue is a commercial strip with a predominance of automobile-oriented businesses, flanked on either side by quiet, tree-lined residential streets laid out in a simple and walkable street grid. The Chico General Plan identifies Park Avenue as a potential component of an inner ring transit loop. The Visioning Study addressed the future of Park Avenue over a 15- to 20-year horizon, and imagined future growth along the corridor as being interrelated to the intensification of bus service. It gave clear guidance as to how Park Avenue could be developed as a transit-supportive mixed-use corridor, with increased housing opportunities on the adjacent streets. The Park Avenue Visioning Study resulted in concrete proposals for new housing in the area, including a mixed-use below-market-rate residential project sponsored by Butte County. The Vision Study also launched a larger planning effort to improve the neighborhoods on either side of Park Avenue.

This drawing illustrates plan and axonometric views, a vision of Park Avenue emphasizing three-story buildings with no setbacks. On the residential street behind Park Avenue, the building massing transitions to two- and three-story residential buildings with setbacks comparable to the existing single-family homes in the area.