General Plan Update - City of Inglewood

2.1 Land Use
Residential Areas with Four or More Units
Non-Residential Uses
The following section presents the non-residential land uses in the City. These uses,
which consist of commercial, office, industrial, public facilities, open space and
recreation, and other non-categorized and undefined land uses, make up 33.6 percent of
the City’s total land area.
Commercial
The existing commercial uses in the City total approximately 296.9 acres, accounting for
6.5 percent of the City’s total land area. Commercial uses, as shown in Table 2.1-1, are
divided into two categories: Commercial and hotel/motel. Commercial uses encompass
all of the general retail and service uses in the City such as department stores, shopping
centers, restaurants, and service shops; and comprise 271.2 acres, or 6.0 percent of the
City’s total land area. Hotels and motels comprise 25.7 acres, which is less than
one percent of City’s total acreage.
Commercial land uses are found primarily along the major arterials in the City. The major
north-south commercial arterials include portions of La Cienega Boulevard, La Brea
Avenue, and Prairie Avenue; and the east-west arterials include portions of Centinela
Avenue, Manchester Boulevard, Arbor Vitae Street, Century Boulevard, and Imperial
Highway. Many of these corridors form important gateways into the City at major
freeway access points, providing opportunities for high visibility and accessibility into
Inglewood. These gateways include entrances into the City from the west at Century and
Manchester Boulevards adjacent to the San Diego (I-405) Freeway; and from the south at
Prairie Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard adjacent to the Century (I-105) Freeway.
While the City has made great strides in revitalizing its commercial corridors, there is still
much to be done toward their improvement. The large extent of businesses on the City’s
commercial arterials competes with and hinders the success of a viable downtown. The
over-saturation of commercial corridors results in many underutilized businesses that are
non-viable resulting in pour maintenance and visual blight. Many of those businesses are
City of Inglewood General Plan Update Technical Background Report
2.1-7