Sebastopol Seeks Downtown Improvements

Published with permission by Sonoma West Times, GoLocal Member since 2009

The Sebastopol Community Development Agency (CDA) and City Council took several steps Tuesday night hoping to improve the downtown core area and address parking and road repair issues plaguing the community.

In the seemingly eternal search to acquire uniform “wayfinding” signs for the city, the CDA chose to reject all bids that have been submitted for the project and authorized rebidding.

The initial bids were authorized in April after funding for the signage was appropriated in Fiscal Year 2008-09. The project includes 50 signs and two informational kiosks, to replace the mish-mash of directional signs that now exist throughout Sebastopol.

There has been $70,000 budgeted for the project and bids that came in from Paramount Sign Contractors and Signs of All Kinds both topped out at a little more than $82,000. The bids were withdrawn due to math errors on the part of Paramount and Signs of All Kinds failed to add sales tax, which is required.

City staff will send the project out for bid again. There was no mention of the design contest that several CDA members had previously requested.

The CDA also authorized a request for bids for a prefabricated restroom for the Town Plaza, which Planning Director Kenyon Webster called a “long-standing need.”

There was discussion in May about having a design contest for the restroom, but city staff cautioned against that due to the costs involved and the extra time it would take to get the project off the ground.

The city acquired land for the restroom near the east entrance to the plaza parking lot, and the design is expected to reflect features that already exist in the Plaza, such as the columns on the gazebo, and the flat roofs of the surrounding buildings.

Functionality and durability are the main concerns, and the structure will also feature anti-graffiti, anti-vandalism features, as well as “ultra-low” plumbing fixtures and high efficiency lighting. The budget for the project is $120,000.
“Staff is anxious to get it going,” Webster said, in the interest of getting it built by next spring.

There was discussion of unisex bathrooms in order to address a disparity in waiting time for public facility access that sometimes exists between men and women, and Webster said it could be considered, but members of the audience and CDA — many of them women — were against the idea, due in part to cleanliness issues.

In the interest of unifying and further improving the downtown area, Councilmember Kathleen Shaffer brought forth a proposal to try to unify Main Street from “Wilton to the Post Office,” in order to address business owners’ concerns that “Main Street stops at the traffic light” at its intersection with Bodega Avenue.

Shaffer has been working with South Main business owners for several months, and convened a meeting in early June to discuss ideas to create a more contiguous business district.

She brought the group’s “interesting, yet economical” ideas — as well as supportive business owners — which included LED lights for the trees, painting designs on benches and garbage cans, and displaying banners in front of the stores.

Linda Galletta, executive director at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts cautioned against painting the existing benches, because many of them are designed to not be painted.

Galletta said that eight or nine years ago, the Center painted several benches in preparation for the summer music series, but the paint peeled and the benches had to be disassembled and sanded in order to get rid of the paint.

Shaffer requested $964 to get the project off the ground, for lights, flower boxes and possibly a bench for the block south of Burnett — although one might be moved from the plaza — with the money coming from a $200,000 “Urban Core Improvement” fund that was created in this year’s budget.

But the majority of discussion at Tuesday’s meeting was centered on street improvements and the City Council’s item involving “traffic calming measures” presented by Sebastopol Police Chief Jeff Weaver.

The city authorized $400,000 in funding for a project to rehabilitate several streets including Valley View Drive at the west end of town, which hasn’t had any major work since 1976.

Funding comes from Proposition 1B, a one-time grant for street overlay projects.

The project is part of a “triage” plan to maintain city roads to minimum acceptable standards in a time of extreme economic hardship. It would cost the city about $675,000 per year for the next five years to get the city’s streets to “good condition.”

Several residents of the subdivision were on hand to encourage the city to do more, but the street is in such bad condition, funding will be focused on rebuilding the cul-de-sacs, which endure more wear and tear, and the street will get a layer of “cape seal” in the hope of putting off major work a little while longer.

City Engineering Director Sue Kelly called it a “terrible situation,” adding that the city was doing what it had to do in order to maintain its pavement management plan.

“The logic is difficult to understand, but there is a logic to it,” she said.

Residents were unhappy with the decision, calling it an embarrassment, and warning of injuries and possible lawsuits.

But City Manager Jack Griffin explained that most large cities “let (streets) fall apart completely” then come up with a financing plan.

“We recognize the state” of the street, he said, and “every one of us on staff has sympathy” for the problem.

City staff will come back with a “complicated report” leaving the council with “tough decisions.”

After creating an adaptive (handicapped) parking space in front of the residence at 470 Eleanor Ave. and rejecting a request to shorten the red zone on the north side of Healdsburg Avenue east of DuFranc Avenue, council then heard complaints from the Florence Avenue neighbors of Steve Sheldon’s live/work units on Florence and Healdsburg avenues.

Neighbors were on hand to bring forward issues such as not being able to put their garbage out on the street, or being able to allow their kids to go outside unsupervised. They also complained about rude treatment from people parking in front of homes and employees of the businesses taking up parking spaces.

Several solutions were put forth, such as creating more red zones, particularly around driveways, and painting “Ts” on the street to limit the amount of space available to cram cars into.

Other options included creating public/private arrangements with other businesses to use empty lots after regular business hours.

Questions about zoning for the Sheldon property were raised by Webster, indicating that there may be violations of his mixed use approval. Webster said it was brought to the planning commission’s attention that at least one of the live/work units had been divided and may have been rented out to multiple individuals, exacerbating an already bad parking situation.

Weaver reported that he would try to arrange a meting with business owners and their employees to try to come up with an equitable solution, but expects it to be at least two months before he can go back to council with a report.