The City of National City received a smart growth grant from SANDAG for their Downtown Specific Plan (DSP) to update development and parking standards within the district. Key objectives included positioning Downtown National City to capitalize on resurgent real estate and employment markets by making the plan more user-friendly, allowing a greater range/mix of uses, and increasing the quality of design through updated design guidelines. KTUA and its team of subconsultants produced materials related to the promotion of former redevelopment agency properties, the assessment of parking assets and programs/policies, the existing DSP/application processing review, public outreach and workshop facilitation, urban form modeling and visualizations, update of the DSP and the creation of a parking management plan, environmental conformance review, and the presentation of the plan to City staff and elected officials.

One section of design guidelines chapter focuses on recommendations for the public realm, including all spaces within the right-of-way encompassing sidewalks, parkways, bike lanes and roadways. Specific topics addressed include street typologies, public on-street parking, stormwater basins and infrastructure, bicycle facilities, pedestrian facilities, street amenities, signage, public art and street tree palettes.