POMONA >> More than 10 years, countless meetings and studies later, a draft of the documents that will guide the city’s future development will be the subject of a public hearing and possible adoption by the City Council on Monday. 

The open portion of the meeting where the council will take up the matter begins at 6:45 p.m. at Pomona City Hall, 505 S. Garey Ave. 

The draft General Plan update provides guidelines for development in Pomona, and the proposed Corridors Specific Plan provides details for the implementation of guidelines and standards for four of the city’s main thoroughfares — Garey and Holt avenues and Foothill and Mission boulevards. 

A number of developers are waiting for the plan to be adopted in order to submit proposals, said Brad Johnson, the city’s planning manager. 

“We’re getting so much interest from the development community.  I think it (the plan) has a strong chance to be successful,” Johnson said. 

If approved, the updated General Plan and the Corridor Specific Plan provide the vision and road map for having more housing along the city’s main corridors with green spaces, center medians and other features that are expected to entice people to walk or bicycle to their destinations instead of driving. 

Shopping opportunities would be organized in hubs within short distances of housing. 

Instead of segregating uses, different types of uses such as residential, commercial and industrial could be next to each other if they are found to be compatible, Johnson said. 

Higher density housing developments that offer condominium, town houses and other types of housing that would appeal to young professionals and empty nesters who do not wish to live in single-family homes would also be allowed in the corridors

Resident Vernon Price said he has some concerns about the general plan but overall is glad to see the document has been updated. 

“It’s a starting point and I’m all for it,” Price said. “ It’s a plan and plans can be amended.” 

Price is concerned that the proposed plans call for high-density housing, which he thinks will eventually attract residents that will put pressure on social and municipal services such as the Police Department. 

Parking is also a concern to Price, who said high-density housing will strain available parking in neighborhoods if parking requirements are relaxed. 

Other residents such as Gwen Urey said high-density housing as presented in the proposed plan would meet a need.  With the right developers such projects can be successful because they are large enough to have on-site management, she said. 

The plan itself is “not perfect but it’s pretty good,” said Urey, a past member of the city Planning Commission and a professor of urban and regional planning at Cal Poly Pomona. 

Relaxing parking requirements shouldn’t be a problem because many people are interested in living close to public transportation, she said. 

Pomona resident and developer Ed Tessier participated on a citizens commission involved with the update. 

The last time the general plan was updated was in 1976, according to a city staff report. 

“To have a general plan unchanged for all that time basically meant we didn’t have a general plan,” Tessier said. 

That is something developers don’t like because it means special hearing processes, longer entitlement processing periods, greater expenses and a need “to argue the merits of each project,” he said. 

Having an updated general plan will be welcome news to the development community because the document will make the city’s vision clear about what it wants in future development. 

“It’s a giant first step in getting a better reputation with developers, business owners and investors,” Tessier said. 

From a resident’s point of view, the plans should be popular because as the quality of projects improves, residents will see their property values and quality of life improve, he said. 

To make sure the two plans are successful, some elements will be needed, Tessier said. 

The Community Development Department needs additional staff so project proposals can be reviewed swiftly and shepherded through the entitlement process, staff is needed that can attract potential developers to the city, he said. 

“They are going to have to go out and woo developers,” he said. 

The first project will be critical, he said, because it will attract other developers and residents will see what a quality project is like.