About PLEASANT HILL, CA
The area that is now the City of Pleasant Hill grew from farmland into a bedroom community during World War II. Residents voted to incorporate in 1961. Early on, community leaders expressed concerns about the deteriorated condition of many properties developed decades before around the intersection of Contra Costa Boulevard and Monument Boulevard, two main roadways through the community.
In the early 1970’s, the City explored various ways to achieve its vision and, in 1974, adopted the Pleasant Hill Commons Redevelopment Plan for the area, as authorized by the state Community Redevelopment Law. The Redevelopment Plan provided a framework for future decisions about the type and amount of new development to be allowed, put into place the administrative powers needed to implement the plan, and established the financial resource of property tax increment revenue to fund public improvements and subsidize private sector redevelopment efforts.
The first design concepts prepared for the 129-acre redevelopment project area were for a suburban, low-rise, campus-style development of offices and retail uses interspersed with large green spaces, encircling a central lake. However, with little property tax increment revenue in the early years, the City Council, sitting as the Redevelopment Agency, was unable to financially support such large-scale projects. As a result, for a number of years only smaller, individual redevelopment projects were undertaken, around the edges of the redevelopment project area, while the 33-acre core area was reserved for the “dream” project.
In 1998, twenty-four years after adopting the Redevelopment Project, twelve years after the citizen initiative led to the planning of a traditional downtown, seven years after adopting the downtown plan and selecting a Master Developer, and three years after committing to a new Developer and approving a totally revised tenant profile, ground was broken for development. The Grand Opening of the Pleasant Hill Downtown was celebrated on the 4th of July 2000, with a citizen parade, fireworks, congratulatory speeches and general euphoria.
Learn more about this city.
City of Pleasant Hill, CA official site
City of Pleasant Hill, CA Chamber of Commerce
City of Pleasant Hill, CA newspaper
County of Pleasant Hill, CA official site
State of California official site