Profile of Pleasant Hill, California

Pleasant Hill History

It was in the 1890s that Pleasant Hill was identified as the hub of a growing farming community with good cropland. Approximately 19 large and small farms around the area helped provide a robust agricultural economy that sparked steady growth. Early roads in Pleasant Hill were nothing more than adobe trails and travelers could not pass through the area in the winter. Rail travel came to Pleasant Hill in 1891 when the Central Pacific Railroad started a line through the Diablo Valley. In 1911, an electric railroad passed through Pleasant Hill on its way to the Sacramento Valley.

Farmers kept in touch by telephone lines that came into the region in 1906. Rural mail service began around 1912. Incorporated by local voters on November 7, 1961, Pleasant Hill began organizing itself into a "community to be proud of." It rapidly became the center of a growing suburbia showing the signs of a robust economy and residents sharing in the good life.

The area that is now Pleasant Hill grew from that farmland into a bedroom community during World War II. Early on, city leaders expressed concerns about the physical and economic deterioration of numerous properties developed decades before around the intersection of the two main roadways through the community. It was envisioned that the city would have a central place that could provide a focal point of community identity and also provide a gathering place for residents while strengthening the community's sense of place.

A World-Renown City Hall & Downtown Redevelopment

In 1983 the Pleasant Hill City Council took the first steps in planning for a new city hall. When the city was first incorporated in 1961, the city offices were located in a small former library building and then moved to an old supermarket. Both facilities were woefully inadequate. Bringing together a citizen task force, the City began the process of calling for design proposals for a new city hall. After many meetings and review of dozens of proposals, the firms of world-renown architect Charles Moore, FAIA/Urban Innovations Group and Fisher-Friedman Associates were unanimously chosen to work together with the community to design a building that would capture a sense of the heritage and history of the Pleasant Hill.

Today, visitors calling on City Hall are struck by the large barn-like and open feeling of the main city hall building that has showcased the agrarian history of the city. The building was designed with that sense in mind--capturing a sense of friendliness and a service-oriented environment where employees are helpful, accessible to the public, and willing to serve. The city hall building has a total functional square footage of 32,000 ft² - 20,000 ft² of office space, 9,000 ft² of council chambers and 3,000 ft² of community meeting rooms.

The community needed to tackle the rest of the surrounding area through the process of redevelopment and a strong Redevelopment Project.

The goals of the Redevelopment Project were strongly supported by the citizens of Pleasant Hill but it would be nearly 25 years before a new downtown, fulfilling those dreams, would be built. Going through many concepts before settling on one the community could support, the City began an intensive community-based planning process that involved everyone from school kids to business leaders. They worked together to arrive at a development that would incorporate a mixed use, pedestrian-oriented downtown, featuring traditional architecture that would mix community and regional serving retail uses with entertainment, residential and civic uses anchored by the new City Hall. In 1998, 24 years after adopting the Redevelopment Project, 14 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 developers and approving a totally revised tenant profile, ground was broken for development. The Pleasant Hill Downtown had its grand opening on July 4, 2000 with a citizen parade, fireworks, congratulatory speeches and general euphoria.

Pleasant Hill's Quality of Life Today

The attractive community of Pleasant Hill has grown to nearly 33,000 residents since its incorporation in 1961. Since 2000 when it opened its new downtown, Pleasant Hill has developed a sense of identity and a strong financial base. The downtown area, near the City Hall and its lake, is part of a redevelopment project that has become a pedestrian jewel for residents and visitors alike.

Located in the central part of Contra Costa County alongside Interstate 680, Pleasant Hill has a nearby BART station and extensive County Connection bus lines to serve both residents and commuters. Primarily a bedroom community, the City has a mix of new developments and older neighborhoods. Pleasant Hill is especially proud to be the home of the county's main central library as well as the home to John F. Kennedy University, a multi-disciplinary college with a law school and other professional schools, and Diablo Valley College, one of the leading state community colleges. The City's schools are served by the Mt. Diablo Unified School District.

And only a few steps from busy city streets in Pleasant Hill is an entirely different world - a network of beautiful regional trails for jogging, hiking, bicycling, skating and horseback riding with many of these trails passing through the heart of the city. These trails allow the user a chance to enjoy a leisurely, rural pace while experiencing beautiful trails in fresh air and landscaped surroundings with some trails providing sweeping vistas of the nearby mountains and Mt. Diablo.

The creation of the new Pleasant Hill Downtown has dramatically improved the quality of life of the community. Nearly 50 new businesses have opened and more than 700 net additional new jobs have been created. In addition to the positive fiscal impacts on the City, the project has eliminated physical blight that not only impaired the appearance of the area but of the self-image of the community. Creation of the downtown has improved the image of the community throughout the region and has fostered a renewed sense of pride for the residents of the City.

Because the area has been so well received, the flow of pedestrian traffic enhances and contributes to the small city main street environment. During the warm spring and summer months, the parking lot at City Hall is transformed into a market place with the local farmers' market being held. The City also hosts a free outdoor Summer Concert Series where many residents of the city and surrounding communities come to sit on the lawn area around the lake at City Hall and listen to a variety of live bands each week.

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