Healdsburg’s open streets program — which involves the closure of Plaza Street between Center Street and East Street for outdoor dining and other activities — will end on Jan. 3, 2022 and the street will be reopened to vehicular traffic.
However, the Healdsburg City Council is interested in having the city develop a comprehensive concept for an open streets program that could be seasonal, event-based, or something else entirely, in order to build upon the pedestrian and community-friendly space that the Plaza Street closure created.
The city is also moving forward with its framework for an ongoing parklet program, which is proposed to start on Jan. 1, 2023. Healdsburg’s temporary parklet program permit runs through Jan. 17, 2023.
Since June 2020, the city has developed and implemented several downtown business support programs in response to the COVID pandemic. The programs include the temporary outdoor activities permit for parklets and sidewalk use, loading zones and open streets; the open streets program; and the temporary parklet permit program for parklets only.
The temporary outdoor activities component ends this month on Dec. 31. Those who have temporary outdoor activity permits and have not applied for or do not meet compliance with the most recent temporary parklet permit program guidelines will be required to remove their parklet by Jan. 1, 2022.
There are 28 active permits under the temporary outdoor activities permit program and there are currently 15 parklets, five sidewalk uses and six loading zones.
Considering open streets
The open streets program began in the summer of 2020 and was implemented as a way to support local businesses and allow ample social distancing space for dining and other activities. It first involved the closure of Plaza Street between Healdsburg Avenue and Center Street and in front of El Farolito. Once that was reopened to traffic, a small portion of Plaza between Center and East Streets was closed for the program.
Not all Plaza Street business owners agreed that the street closure was a good thing for local business and even some retailers, such as Ronnie Kemper of Rainsong Shoes, said that the street closure had a negative effect on businesses on Plaza and on surrounding streets.
In 2020, Kemper said one of the things that draws loyal customers to her store is the easy parking on Plaza that is typically open but is now closed due to the street closure.
“During an eight-hour retail day over 100 parking spaces are now sacrificed so a few can have a coffee in the street. And yes, there is a parking problem,” she said during a Sept. 21, 2020 city council meeting.
On the other hand, the owner of Bradford Brenner Gallery was open to the open streets idea, and several others ,such as Mark McMullen and the Healdsburg 2040 group, supported the program.
According to Healdsburg city staff, the open streets program cost the city approximately $126,000 to maintain with rental equipment, waste servicing, cleaning and staffing.
With this in mind — and since city staff observed that the public areas/seating areas within the open streets are no longer benefiting the wider downtown area — city staff made the recommendation to council to end open streets on Jan. 3, 2022.
Vice Mayor Elect Ariel Kelley said she liked the open streets program and suggested that the city work on creating a plan for a continued and enhanced program that is pedestrian safe.
“I think we’ve learned a lot in hindsight from this pilot … A lot of the work that we did around open streets, I don’t think we had enough proactive planning to … make it as successful as it could’ve been,” Kelley said. “I don’t think we know what the potential for open streets could be.”
Kelley said that while she’s open to allowing the street to be reopened, she would love to see the city continue to work on creating pedestrian-safe areas downtown, “I think we have the opportunity to study and look at some more permanent solutions that could get us to a more pedestrian-friendly downtown but at the same time are also elegant and on brand with the charm and beauty of Healdsburg’s downtown.”
Councilmember Skylaer Palacios agreed with Kelley, adding that now would be a good time to reopen the street and to perhaps consider a seasonal street closure until a more in-depth plan for open streets can be made.
Healdsburg resident Mark McMullen spoke in support of continuing the open streets program, especially on the portion of Plaza Street between Center and East streets, but that improvements could be made to the program.
“I believe the current open streets on Plaza Street is an important component in creating a better pedestrian downtown,” McMullen said. “Just by creating a three-way intersection rather than a four-way intersection, we have made walking on Center Street so much more pleasant and safe. The open area with tables behind the barrier has been underutilized due to the lack of signage telling anybody that this is an open space for everyone,” McMullen said. “With nothing inviting you to use the space, it is far too easy to assume that it’s part of El Farolito or Idlewild. Let’s add components that everyone recognizes as a public space. We can add our wooden benches, the city’s black benches with the tables that are right around the corner, let’s put them in those parking spaces there, that will make it a destination.”
He also suggested painting the east Plaza Street area to liven it up.
Tim Bucher said one of the issues with Plaza Street is the many vacant storefronts. Bucher spoke about restoring vibrancy and said he and his wife recently purchased a vacant building on the corner of Center Street and are “committed to bringing it back to its historical origins and really adding vibrancy to it.”
Councilmember David Hagele was open to Kelley’s suggestion of creating an pedestrian-friendly program with an open street. Mayor Elect Ozzy Jimenez had to recuse himself from the item due to a conflict of interest with his Matheson Street business Noble Folk Ice Cream and Pie Bar.
Hagele said there are a lot of things the city could do to increase walkability without closing Plaza Street. In terms of the Plaza Street closure, he said it would be nice to do something with more permanent outdoor furniture, rather than plastic chairs. He said what the open streets program has been furnished with doesn’t exactly fit with what’s expected downtown.
Councilmember Evelyn Mitchell said she likes the idea of a seasonal closure of Plaza Street or an events-based closure. She agreed with staff’s idea to open it up to traffic until the city can think of something more.
Understanding and developing parklets
On Feb. 1, 2021, the city council requested that city staff return to them with a proposal for a parklet program that would extend into 2022 and beyond. On April 5, the city council approved the temporary parklet program extension that allows businesses to use sidewalks, parking spaces and other right-of-way areas for outdoor commercial use until Jan. 17, 2023, under revised guidelines.
At the same April meeting, council directed staff to work on developing guidelines and policies for an ongoing parklet program that would continue beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
In early 2021, after getting input through several public Zoom meetings on the development of a long-term parklet program, city staff created considerations and policies for an ongoing parklet program.
The considerations and policies are around design and maintenance, location and equity, roadwork, weather, existing code preclusions, program fees and program administration.
The program fee would become effective in January 2023. Once approved by council, there would be three different fees for each parklet size, small, medium and large. The small parklet annual fee would be $4,200. The medium parklet annual fee would be $8,736 and the large parklet annual fee would be $14,604.
The ongoing parklet program would not be open to spas, barbers and salons.
Kelley said she’d like to make sure that the parklets are always being used and suggested that they could have it codified that a parklet must be used. She said she’d like the program to have the flexibility to allow spas and salons in case any COVID business related restrictions or closures force businesses to provide services outside. Palacios said it may be good to consider a fee waiver for businesses who may rely on the parklets for bringing in income that’s needed to keep the business alive.
“My goal going back even before COVID was to try to do as much as we can to bring more life outside, more activity, dining outside, everything. COVID kind of helped propel us to be able to do a test case and see how things work,” said Hagele. “I’ve heard nothing but overall, overwhelming support and pleasant feedback on the parklets in terms of quality and the direction we went with them, so I think that has contributed a lot to the walkability. The overall quality of life I think for downtown has improved with feeling that sense of community and being able to walk around and see people and the parklets being active, that’s a big piece of it.”
Next steps
For the ongoing parklet program, city staff will incorporate council’s feedback into a revised set of program guidelines to be approved by the council in early 2022. Plaza Street will reopen to traffic on Jan. 3 and staff will come up with a plan to present to council regarding an enhanced open streets/pedestrian friendly program.
