Council Approves Transit-Oriented Development Plan for Downtown Metrolink Area

The City Council last week approved a new planning framework aimed at advancing a decades-old vision of turning the area around the Downtown Metrolink Station into a center with housing, jobs and transit.

The City Council approved the item June 23 on its consent calendar, receiving an update on preparation of a Transit Oriented Development Action Plan and adopting a resolution required under Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) 2.0 grant guidelines.

While the action plan does not approve construction, rezone land or commit city funding, officials say it is intended to create a clearer path for future investment around one of Riverside's most significant regional transit assets.

The plan focuses on the area surrounding the Downtown Metrolink Station at 4066 Vine St., where city staff say development policy has not kept pace with changes in transportation patterns or broader housing goals.

According to the staff report, the area is still shaped largely by the Marketplace Specific Plan adopted in 1991 before the Metrolink station existed and before transit-oriented development became a major planning focus. That plan emphasized industrial and commercial uses and included limited opportunities for housing.

The station has faced other planning setbacks in recent years.

In March 2023, the Riverside County Transportation Commission voted to terminate an expansion project that would have added new tracks, a platform and a parking lot on the station's east side. The project, funded through the Southern California Optimized Rail Expansion program, was intended to reduce delays caused by freight train activity, but community and historic preservation groups opposed it over concerns about demolition of the nearby FMC Building.

The new action plan is intended to emphasize preserving the area's industrial and cultural identity while creating opportunities for future housing, employment and public amenities, according to the staff report.

Recommendations include strengthening partnerships among public agencies and private developers, updating or replacing the Marketplace Specific Plan, improving pedestrian and bicycle connections to the station area and identifying realistic redevelopment opportunities based on current market conditions and infrastructure capacity.

The planning effort was funded through Regional Early Action Planning 2.0 technical assistance coordinated through the Western Riverside Council of Governments and the Southern California Association of Governments.

City staff said the adopted framework will help inform Riverside's ongoing General Plan update and future grant applications tied to transit-oriented housing and infrastructure.

Public comment submitted ahead of Tuesday's meeting reflected broader frustrations about transportation and economic development in Riverside.

"What the…old Council did to Riverside's transportation capabilities should not have gone this long," resident Aurora Chavez wrote in comments submitted online before the vote. "We wonder why business people don't know where Riverside is? We were cut off from the world! We need to correct this now!"

Chavez also suggested that converting part or all of the Mission Inn into a casino could attract transportation activity and generate additional revenue for the city. No proposal involving the Mission Inn or casino development was included in the agenda item.

Tuesday's vote closes out the grant-funded planning process, but city staff said work to implement the plan and reshape the station area over time will continue through future planning efforts and funding opportunities.