Southern California City Pins Hopes for Transformation on General Plan Update

The struggling, industrial South Bay city of Carson wants to shake its image as the site of Los Angeles' landfills and waste treatment plants. It has embarked on a $1 million overhaul of its general plan, despite having a $4.1 million budget gap.

2 minute read

June 22, 2017, 10:00 AM PDT

By Irvin Dawid


Los Angeles Galaxy Soccer Team

Among other things, Carson, California is where David Beckham used to work. | Photo Works / Shutterstock

"The [Carson] City Council hired San Francisco-based urban planning firm Dyett & Bhatia earlier this month to oversee public outreach and rewrite the city’s 2004 General Plan," reports Sandy Mazza for the Daily Breeze. "The firm outbid five other companies for the two-year job."

“It’s going to set the stage for future development in the community,” City Manager Ken Farfsing said. “This is going to be a totally different city in five to 10 years.

Carson, population 100,000 [pdf], is the youngest city in the South Bay of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, 12th youngest among Los Angeles County's 88 cities [pdf]. The city celebrates its 50th anniversary next year.

South Bay Region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Los Angeles metropolitan area. (Wikipedia)

As an unincorporated region in the county, it was unable to prevent the location of necessary but unsightly regional facilities, according to the city's history webpage.

By the time Carson finally incorporated as a city in 1968, its landscape was pockmarked with the dozens of refuse dumps, landfills, and auto dismantling plants which none of its neighbors would have in their own cities.

The city also has a history of oil drilling which led to the development of refineries and left a brownfield legacy. "Much of the developable land is contaminated by closed landfills or industrial waste," adds Mazza. But times are changing.

The city’s downtown, along Carson Street between the 405 and 110 freeways, has seen a huge boom in residential development in recent years. Hundreds of new apartments have been built in multiuse developments that include retail shops, eateries and offices.

A critical component of the general plan update will be to generate revenue through economic development.

“The city has been running on a structural deficit for the past several years. It is critical that this update examine ways to balance the increasing cost of providing services with limited sources of revenue,” the document states.

“The city’s economic viability may be at risk unless it formulates new strategies to promote fiscally sound practices.”

Hat tip to L.A. Transportation Headlines.

Sunday, June 18, 2017 in Daily Breeze

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 2, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

White and purple sign for Slow Street in San Francisco, California with people crossing crosswalk.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths

Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

July 1, 2025 - KQED

Google street view image of strip mall in suburban Duncanville, Texas.

Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall

A developer is reimagining a strip mall property as a mixed-use complex with housing and retail.

July 6 - Parking Reform Network

Blue tarps covering tents set up by unhoused people along chain link fence on concrete sidewalk.

Study: Anti-Homelessness Laws Don’t Work

Research shows that punitive measures that criminalized unhoused people don’t help reduce homelessness.

July 6 - Next City

Aerial tram moving along cable in hilly area in Medellin, Colombia.

In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle

Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.

July 6 - InTransition Magazine