Pre-design Activities: Site Analysis

Lake Elsinore, CA

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. LOCATION AND LEGAL ANALYSIS 2. TEMPORAL RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 3. CULTURAL RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 4. DEMOGRAPHICS ANALYSIS 5. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS 6. SOCIAL ANALYSIS 7. DENSITY ANALYSIS 8. PATTERNS AND FABRIC 9. SIZE AND FORM ANALYSIS 10. ZONING ANALYSIS 11. ENVIRONMENTAL AND LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS 12. CLIMATE ANALYSIS 13. ATTRIBUTES AND RESOURCES ANALYSIS 14. UTILITY LOCATIONS 15. DIAGRAMS 16. SITE CHALLENGES 17. SITE OPPORTUNITIES 18. POINT OF VIEW (POV)

LOCATION AND LEGAL ANALYSIS

CALIFORNIA

RIVERSIDE COUNTY

LAKE ELSINORE

There are no documents available of any current ownership or restrictions of the site.

A masterplan proposal for the downtown area overlaps this site, but it is not a proposal that the government will take action on since the proposal is meant to rebuild the whole part of the city.

The 2011 Downtown Master Plan goes into detail to use the site as commercial property in the future.

TEMPORAL RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS PAST In the beginning, the Luiseño people inhabited the valley before any foreigners explored the land. These Native Americans left behind historical pictographs around the canyons and hills.

In 1844, Julian Manriquez acquired the land grant to Rancho La Laguna, including an adobe and the lake. After multiple years of development across the land and the rancho being sold to Agustin Machado, it was used as the station house, a post office, and eventually destroyed.

On October 5th, 1883, Franklin H. Heald and Donald Graham and William Collier bought the remaining rancho, intending to start a new town. Afterwards in 1884, there needed to accommodate the rising development and population.

The California Southern Railroad built a line from Colton through the Cañon de Rio San Jacinto (Railroad Canyon). This helped link to many other areas of Southern California, including places like San Diego County.

On April 9, 1888, Elsinore became the 73rd city to be incorporated in California, just 38 years after California became a state, the area eventually became part of Riverside County since Riverside County was created in 1893. The city was named Elsinore after the Danish city in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. (check source) The lake water was purchased by the Temescal Water Company for the irrigation of land in Corona.

After 1893, the lake’s water level sank almost continuously for nearly 10 years, with a slight rise every winter.

Heavier precipitation, beginning in 1903, gradually filled the lake to about half the depth above its minimum level since 1883.

Then, in January 1916, a flood rapidly raised the level to overflowing.

Lake Elsinore was a popular destination in the first half of the 1900s for celebrities to escape the urban Hollywood scene. Many of their homes still stand on the hills surrounding the lake, including Aimee’s Castle, a unique Moorish-style house built by Aimee Semple McPherson.

Also, actor Bela Lugosi, known for his lead role in Universal Pictures’ film, Dracula, built a home that still exists in the city’s Country Club Heights district.

In 1966, Tom Yardborough, the first black mayor was elected in Elsinore, California.

In 1972, citizens voted to rename the city as Lake Elsinore PRESENT In 2007, an aeration system was added to help with the lake’s ecosystem.

In 2000-2008, Lake Elsinore was ranked the 12th fastest growing city in California with a boom of commercial businesses.

The lake also hosted teams for Olympic training and high-speed boat racing in the 1920s. The lake went dry in the mid-1930s, but refilled by 1938.

During World War II, the lake was used to test seaplanes, and a Douglas Aircraft plant making wing assemblies for Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers was located in the city.

The lake ran dry during most of the 1950s and was refilled in the early 1960s

In 2008, the City celebrates its 120th anniversary, choosing the theme ‘The Spirit of the Dream’ to honor the founders and those who have forged the City’s progress to date FUTURE There have been proposals to rebuild the main city strip that showcases what can change a normal city into an iconic destination. The image below is a proposed master plan from a local architecture firm.

CULTURAL RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS Upon investigating the site, there have been unusual patterns of behavior occurred around the site. One instance was the hill located a block away showed a man relaxing on top of a hill as he was spinning in circles on a swivel chair. Another instance was what looked like grade school students walking from school to their home. Based on their travel path, they avoided the shortcut through the park. The park was filled with sleeping homeless individuals, so the kids walked through the project site where they had fun jumping and walking across destroyed pieces of cement foundation.

Values and priorities around this area of the city is quite biased, since most of the new buildings and maintained infrastructure are centralized in the 4-block span downtown area. Then when you travel more south to the lake where the project site it, there is a lot of underdeveloped land where areas are overgrown and neglected. The city’s values and priorities seem to be focused where the main city hall and commercial buildings are, and not at the edge of the lake.

Tourism is quite large at some parts of the year. On the hills to the north of the city is where you can view the superbloom of California poppies. Diamond Stadium, home of the Lake Elsinore Storm minor league baseball team. When baseball is not in season, other uses for the Diamond Stadium include concerts, boxing, graduation ceremonies, holiday events, and also hosted the 2017 Stadium Super Trucks racing series’ World Championship Finals.

DEMOGRAPHICS ANALYSIS

POPULATION 1990- 20,080 2000- 29,886 2010 - 51,821 2017 - 66,411 2018 - 68,183

2019-2020 LEUSD Map

The Lake Elsinore Unified School District currently provides education to over 22,000 students. Even though the nearest college is a 25 min drive away outside the city, the district offers many educational benefits to enhance student success, such as AVID and IBDP.

Advancement Via Individual Determination

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

No Excuses University

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

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Downtown Master Plan shows the site to be used as commercial property in the future.

SOCIAL ANALYSIS A lot of activities that take place in the city are public setting locations. Places such as The Lake Community Center is open to the public for those interested in a variety of classes, such as dancing, martial arts, fitness, and even art. The facility is able to host birthday parties, banquets, meetings, and other large events.

The city boasts a total of 22 public parks that are spread around the lake for all to enjoy.

While public events and activities are in high demand, tourism took its toll on March 3rd, 2019 as thousands descended onto the hills to view the superbloom of California poppies along the 15 freeway. Riverside County Regional Park Rangers are asking the public to stay off of hillsides and refrain from picking the delicate flowers. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG).

It is unpredictable to see how the city will handle this year’s bloom event. Reports show that enforcement and capacity rules will set new limits to this event. If the trend continues, it will lean towards a private event as to preserve the wildlife.

CRIME RATES AND LOCATIONS

DENSITY ANALYSIS Lake Elsinore was a popular destination in the first half of the 1900s for celebrities to escape the urban Hollywood scene. Many of their homes still stand on the hills surrounding the lake, including Aimee’s Castle, a unique Moorish-style house built

by Aimee Seple McPherson. Also, actor Bela Lugosi , known for his lead role in Universal Pictures’ film, Dracula, built a home that still exists in the city’s Country Club Heights district.

The lake also hosted teams for Olympic training and high-speed boat racing in the 1920s.

The lake ran dry during most of the 1950s and was refilled in the early 1960s.

In 2000-2008, Lake Elsinore was ranked the 12th fastest growing city in California.

In 2008, the City celebrates its 120th anniversary choosing the theme “The Spirit of the Dream” to honor the founders and those who have forged the city’s progress to date.

Currently, Lake Elsinore is still widely popular for their recreation. They have facilities like the Lake Community Center, the Senior Activity Center, a plethora of restaurants and many outdoor recreational activities.

PATTERNS AND FABRIC NOTABLE AREAS OF ATTRACTION

Lake Elsinore’s Lake

Historic Downtown

Walker Canyon Trailhead

ROADWAY DEVELOPMENTS AND WALKSCORE

LAKE ELSINORE DISTRICTS

There are 10 districts in the city of Lake Elsinore.

They are the Alberhill, Ballpark, Business, Country Club Heights, East Lake, Historic, Lake Edge, Lake Elsinore Hills, Lake View, North Peak, and Riverview Districts.

SIZE AND FORM ANALYSIS SITE DIMENSIONS:

360’ x 440’ Rectangle (158,400 sf)

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220’ x 210’ Rectangle (46,200 sf)

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200’ x 250’ Triangle (25,000 sf)

=

+/- 87,200 sf Total

SITE FORM:

Irregular Polygon

BOUNDARIES / EDGE CONDITIONS: All edges of the site are open to access with no impeding walls or boundaries. The south-west corner of the site is met by a small existing housing property, while all other sides are exposed to streets.

PLANNED FUTURE: The future of this site, as defined by the city of Lake Elsinore’s future zoning and planning map, is reserved for mixed-use development, with no particular specifications.

ZONING ANALYSIS SETBACKS: Mixed Use - 15’ setback on street side and on rear side if adjacent to residential use.

No height limit.

No other specifications for mixed use lot lines or property lines.

USES / VARIATIONS: Mixed Use - Available for the development of residential, commercial, institutional, or entertainment uses.

FLOOR AREA RATIO (FAR): Mixed Use - 2.50 (250%) FAR = Total Building Floor Area / Gross Lot Area 2.50 = (x) / 87,200 sf Total Building Floor Area = 218,000 sf (Maximum) This FAR allows for multiple stories on a mixed use site.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS Lake Elsinore has very little green spaces near the downtown area. The benefit of these green spaces is that they are community areas like parks so that means that they are still being maintained by the city. The city has made it very clear that they want to keep these parks for the community As you get closer to the lake, you will notice that the topography goes down about 15 feet to 20 feet. The project site is able to take advantage of this opportunity to engage with the topography.

The nearest body of water to the project site is the lake of Lake Elsinore. Even though it may not seem like it due to the color, it is still used for recreational activities ike fishing, swimming.

The public perception of Lake Elsinore is not the greatest. The nickname that has been given to the city is “Lake SmellSomeMore.�

This is because the lake itself gives off a very strong aroma that is unpleasant. This is part of the reason why people stay away from the city because of this smell.

Pictures of lake water up close

CLIMATE ANALYSIS Lake Elsinore is in California Climate Zone 10. It is exposed to intense sun and minimal amounts of wind most of the day, however, in the winter and spring months, the sun is less extreme and the wind tends to pick up slightly.

Temperatures range from the 40’s to the 70’s around the winter and spring months. During the warmer months of the year however, temperatures can reach an average of 90 to 100 degrees.

Needless to say, this is a very warm climate most of the year.

The location of Lake Elsinore is somewhat humid, ranging from 40 to 80 percent humidity throughout the year.

Rain only occurs for an average of 15 or less days per year, and no more than 5 days in any given month. Historically, Lake Elsinore has received much more rain than stated, but this lack of precipitation has been consistent in recent years, and has caused a concerning drought in the area. The Lake itself has gone down significantly as a result. Although the resource has been scarce in the past 10 years or so, the recent 3 or 4 years have brought a slight increase in precious rainfall.

The immediate project site is exposed to the sun at all times, with the only shade near the site being provided by the small hill to the east, and some small one story homes to the south.

There are no trees that provide shade on the site either, but there is a public park with trees directly to the North.

ATTRIBUTES AND RESOURCES ANALYSIS

The downtown district of Lake Elsinore has gone through a lot of development. Much of the development includes retail shops and restaurants. The city of Lake Elsinore also has a very rich history. Another thing is that the city is well-known for their natural environment and outdoor recreational activities. These amenities are what draw people into the city.

The project site is located at the end of Main Street and adjacent to Main Street Park. There are a few bus stops within the downtown area and some places for parking near the site. Accessibility into the site is most likely going to be pedestrian access. The main road runs by the site but there is not as much space on the site to park.

There are 2 primary views from the site. Both of these views capture the beauty of the natural environment. The view from the site are one that is Southwest being the lake itself and one that is Northeast being the mountains. Both of these views are very beautiful and really show why Lake Elsinore is a place to see.

Lake View

View into site

Mountain View

UTILITY LOCATIONS

ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION LINES

NATURAL GAS LINES

CABLE

DSL

FIBER

WIRELESS

OTHER COPPER WIRE NON DSL

CABLE

DRAINAGE AREA MANAGEMENT PLAN

Diagrams

City Grid Land Use Plan

Attractive views from site

Accessability into site

Views into and from the site

Historic Sites in Lake Elsinore

SITE CHALLENGES SITE CONTEXT

IMMEDIATE SITE

- Homelessness

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Sun Exposure

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Lack of Proper Utilities

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Lack of Proper Utilities

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Insufficient Infastructure

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Insufficient Infastructure

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Trash / Grarbage (As shown in image)

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Natural Slope

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Street / Road Maintenance (As shown in image)

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Empty Lots / Buildings (As shown in image)

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Algae Blooms

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Lake Condition

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Traffic

SITE OPPORTUNITIES This site presents a complicated composition of challenges, but with all challenges come equally abundant opportunities. In particular, the condidtion of the site’s context is lacking in several ways, with the noticeable presence of homelessness and trash, and the possible issues invloving the Lake to the south west, not to mention the vitality of adjacent buildings and public spaces. However, all of these challenges can be looked at as opportunites for our project.

For example, the homelessness issue is an opportunity for affordable housing, or appropriate education, and the issue of inadequate architecture and public spaces becomes an opportunity for a model building / space that can act as an example for surrounding spaces.

Even without consideration of the challenges regarding the immediate site and its context, the site itself has several distinct advantages. For one, the site has a direct connection to the largest body of natural fresh water in Southern California. This is an obvious opportunity for views, and can be a tangible point of interest for any proposed building type. This advantage of natural views will likely never be complicated by potential threats, seeing as the official future zoning plan for Downtown Lake Elsinore has outlined this particular site as the closest building zone to the lake. This means that our site will always have direct access to views towards the lake, because no other structures will be built inbetween ours and the lake.

One of the only real threats to this idea is the condition of the lake itself. If the lake continues to deteriorate over time with the presence of natural algae, views to the lake may become less desirable. However, the city is actively combating this issue with large water treatment operations to ensure the success of the city’s gem.

POINT OF VIEW Final thoughts involving this site can be summarized as hopeful.

While the site has many challenges that face it, most if not all of these challenges can be looked at as opportunities to provide Downtown Lake Elsinore with a more suitable and desireable environment.

This particular site is optimal for development, seeing as it has direct access to views towards the gem of the city (the lake). It is in the heart of the city, adjacent to the main road running through downtown, and it is categorized as mixed use for future zoning, making it an even more desirable location given its flexibility.

For these reasons, it is advisable to utilize this site.