Southern California Compass

2% Growth Strategy

For decades, Southern California has experienced some of the most dramatic growth seen anywhere in the world. The regional population now surpasses 18 million. By 2035, another six million people are likely coming with more than half from growing families already living there. The region provides an intriguing mix of expansive areas that have been fully developed for years, and others where new communities are springing up. Southern California is unique in its use of key corridors for both transportation and development; creating in many cases 'linear downtowns'.

The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) hired Fregonese Associates to craft a long-range vision for Southern California. SCAG is the Municipal Planning Organization for the six counties of Imperial Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura. The project's goal was to craft a comprehensive, far-sighted "vision" with a broad public from across six counties and 185 cities as the decision makers

To achieve the potential benefits, however, the region needs to increasingly rely on land use strategies. This means, among other things, creating a program at the regional level and implemented at the local level to help realize this Vision. The Compass 2% Strategy was created for this purpose, embodying the idea that small, incremental, and strategic changes in small parts of the region can yield great benefit to the region as a whole as well as to the individual cities

FA has been working on implementing the 2% Strategy since 2002. FA worked closely with SCAG to identify the 2% of the region which could provide 90% of the benefit. Since the critical areas were identified, FA has been working closely with local governments to create smaller area plans which will have a large impact on the region. FA has completed this work for the City of Compton, City of Covina, Hawthorne, City of Los Angeles Exposition Line, and the City of Ontario, among others.

The projects involve a variety of small area planning projects, including small scale urban design, visualization, redevelopment potential analysis, public involvement, the development of specific area plans and comprehensive plan amendments, as well as implementation projects including funding strategies