Design Review authority within the Glendale Downtown Specific Plan and San Fernando Road Redevelopment Corridor resides with the Glendale City Council, with advice and recommendations from the City’s Urban Designers. In order to encourage new development in the wake of the Great Recession, a permit streamlining ordinance (#5571) was adopted in 2007 that consolidated all discretionary review for projects within the these two redevelopment areas under the City Council / Redevelopment Agency. This ordinance eliminated an advisory review by the City’s appointed Design Review Board and Planning Commission, thus granting the City’s Urban Designers significant authority to interpret design guidelines and steer new projects towards hearings with the City Council.
As Principal Urban Designer for the City of Glendale, from 2005 to 2015 Alan Loomis was responsible for design review of approximately 5000 units of urban housing and over 750,000 square feet of commercial space, providing design direction to architects through submittal process. This included preparing written criticism and recommendations to City Council and Redevelopment Agency regarding work by architects such as: Johnson Fain, Togawa Smith Martin, Architects Orange, TCA (Thomas Cox Architects), Marmol Radziner, KTGY, Studio One Eleven, Gensler, Carrier Johnson + Culture, Kevin Kennon Architects, KFA Architects, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Callison, Withee/Malcolm, Shimoda Design Group, and Gruen Associates
Delirious LA 