|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
For four years, California Avenue has been stuck in planning limbo as city leaders, merchants and community members brainstormed and clashed over ways to enhance the car-free segment of Palo Alto’s second downtown.
Next month, that effort will finally yield some concrete milestones, as the city’s contractors launch a five-week program of “rapid” streetscape improvements; the City Council weighs in on broader aesthetic enhancements; and the city’s planning commissioners delve into the environmental analysis that will allow the city to formally designate the street as a permanent promenade.
The construction is set start on Feb. 18, according to a new report from the office of City Manager Ed Shikada, and will include resurfacing the street, adding stamped crosswalks at intersections and replacing the orange water-filled barriers that have served as entry points to the business district since the street was closed to cars in 2020. The barriers will make way for planters and bollards at the El Camino and Birch Avenue entrances to the commercial district.
At the same time, the city is preparing for broader and more ambitious improvements to celebrate and enhance Cal Ave’s identity as the chiller, funkier and more neighborhood-serving alternative to the city’s more prominent downtown artery, University Avenue. This includes rows signs that brand Cal Ave as a destination to “eat, shop, play,” a prominent monument at the El Camino Real entrance, a bikeway in the middle of the street and a rearrangement of plazas and parklets to better “activate” areas all around Cal Ave for public use, according to a concept from the architecture firm Urban Field Studios.
The concept, which the City Council plans to discuss on Feb. 3, leans into the theme of “modern optimism” with an emphasis on cheerful pastel colors and mid-century aesthetics that celebrate the history of Cal Ave and its existing architecture. The theme was picked over two others – “artsy saloon,” which draws upon the boozy, nightlife vibes of Mayfield, and “upscale contemporary,” which aims for a more minimalist and sophisticated feel – after months of discussions with area merchants and the broader community. A city survey showed 330 respondents choosing “modern optimism” as their preferred design, while 297 voted for “artsy saloon” and “235” supported “upscale contemporary.”
According to the report from Shikada’s office, results from the community survey showed responders valuing “modern optimism” for its “vibrancy, warmth, and alignment with California Avenue’s unique identity.” And merchants liked the option because of its “balance of aesthetics and functionality, emphasizing safety, flexibility, and its appeal to diverse audiences.”
While the work is set to launch, the city has just finalized the environmental analysis that is required to formally designate Cal Ave a permanent car-free street, in line with the council’s direction from November 2023. The analysis, which the Planning and Transportation Commission is scheduled to review the documents on Feb. 12, found that the project “will not result in any new or more severe impacts compared to impacts previously identified in the City’s comprehensive plan,” according to Shikada’s report.
“This formal action is a critical step and will provide stakeholders with certainty that California Avenue will remain car-free, such that they can make investment decisions accordingly,” the report states.
A key theme in the proposal is “outdoor activation” of spaces along California Avenue to create more opportunities for businesses to use public spaces for dining, retail and entertainment, according to the report. The proposed program, which the council will review of Feb. 3, effectively divides the street into various components – the “frontage” zone next to the buildings, the “activity zone” on the roadway, and the “pedestrian” and “street furniture” zones in between them.
The activity zone under this plan would be “designated for outdoor dining, retail merchandise, and public space for use by the Farmers’ Market, events, public art and other community, cultural or public use that attracts pedestrian activity to the street,” according to the presentation that Bruce Fukuji, an architect who joined the city manager’s office to manage the project, is set to make to the council on Feb. 3. The “street furniture” zones would include dining areas as well as street trees, lighting, bike parking, planting and other amenities, according to the presentation.
For the council and area merchants, the proposed improvements can’t come soon enough. Even though the council had made “rapid implementation projects” on Cal Ave one of its official objectives, staff and consultants had fallen behind schedule. Council member Julie Lythcott-Haims, who sits on the councils Retail Committee, observed the delay during last spring’s discussion of council priorities.
“When I drive past, I’m struck by the fact that those old, tired barriers are still there and the weeds in the turn lane are still there,” Lythcott-Haims said during the March discussion. “It still kind of looks like we haven’t moved to next phase of whatever Cal Ave looks like.”
Council member Pat Burt, who also sits on the Retail Committee, similarly argued at that time that Cal Ave improvements are long overdue.
“It’s happening too slowly and somehow we have to speed it up,” Burt said.
