KMA assisted the City of Laguna Niguel with the development of a new Specific Plan for the approximately 300-acre Gateway area.  The Plan area is located along the Interstate 5 Freeway and State Route 73, encompassing a MetroLink commuter rail station.  Historically, land uses in the Plan area have comprised retail, automotive, service commercial, office, and industrial.  The updated Specific Plan addressed market pressures to develop multi-family and mixed-use development.

KMA analyzed market support for retail/restaurant, office, hotel, and multi-family/mixed-use residential; prepared a fiscal impact analysis for the preferred plan; and identified potential infrastructure financing strategies.

One important strategy that the City decided to enact was the provision of density incentives that would allow developers to build larger projects in exchange for providing public benefits.   

Examples of public benefits that could be negotiated on a case-by-case basis, through Development Agreements, include:

•        Affordable housing
•        Community service facilities
•        Open space amenities
•        Meeting rooms
•        Recreational facilities
•        Streetscape improvements
•        Environmentally sustainable design

Since adoption of the new Specific Plan in 2011, four major multi-family/mixed-use projects comprising 1,200 new housing units are under construction, approved, or pending approval.