After more than a year of planning, and 15 years of consideration, the Windsor Town Council reversed course and voted against the extension of Jaguar Way. The project would have made a through way from Windsor Road to Starr Road, and would have featured two lanes of car travel, bike lanes and pedestrian paths. The plan now is to investigate installing just a bike and pedestrian pathway connecting the two roads.
Jaguar Way runs just east of the high school, between the high school and Keiser Park. It is a paved road for most of the southern end, and is used for access to the high school parking lot, but turns to dirt and ends at Starr Creek at the north end. The plans included adding a bridge of Starr Creek.
The council listened to a presentation from Geoff Coleman of BKF Engineers, and Olivia Ervin and Tom Ford from M-Group, who were contracted for project design, public outreach and environmental planning.
The original purpose of the meeting was for the council to approve a resolution adopting an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program for the Jaguar Way Extension Project and to provide direction to staff on seeking grant funds to complete preliminary engineering and final design, and indicate which of the three alternatives was most favorable.
There was significant public comment before and during the item that was roundly critical of the plan, as well as concerns expressed by local agencies like California Fish and Wildlife over impacts to trees populations, wildlife and riparian areas.
The original idea for the connection was to help reduce traffic impacts and allow an additional egress route from the high school. However, studies have shown the actual traffic reductions would be only 2% to 3%.
The numbers of trees that would have to be removed for the various alternatives is between 75 and 98 and special permits would be required due to the alteration of the riparian corridor and wetland features.
Some public comment suggested routing the road through Keiser Park, though that did not seem supported by any of the council. However, it became clear that consensus was leaning towards scrapping all three alternatives and returning to the drawing board to create only a bike and pedestrian path, and a substantially smaller bridge of Starr Creek.
Reasons for this change of direction included a desire to preserve more trees, reduce cost and reduce the use of cars and increase bicycling and walking in town.
“Now that we’re 15 years out from talking about this road for the first time, I need to be reminded why and with our climate goals, I need to be reminded of the need for this road to include vehicles,” said Councilmember Deborah Fudge. “The passage of time and the environmental documents has changed this for me. I would like to propose an option four, which I know needs to be analyzed and I’m not sure how it would work, for a bike and pedestrian path only.”
Councilmember Sam Salmon, Vice Mayor Esther Lemus and Mayor Dominic Foppoli all supported the idea of the option four, eliminating it as a vehicle roadway. Bruce Okrepkie opposed.
There was conversation about whether or not they should vote to approve the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program, since with a drastic alteration to the design could make the impacts outlined in the declaration grossly overstated. It was determined by Town Manager Ken MacNab and town attorney Jose Sanchez that once the new design was prepared, they could add an addendum outlining the changes in impacts.
The vote for the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program was 4-1, with Salmon opposing because he didn’t believe the tree impacts were sufficiently addressed in the document.
The vote for going back to the drawing board and creating an alternative 4 also passed 4-1, this time with Okrepkie against as he disagreed with the change of design and plan.
Other meeting briefs:
Measure M
The council voted against supporting the renewal at this time, three (Okrepkie, Salmon, Foppoli) to two (Lemus and Fudge). Okrepkie was the tie breaker, who announced that he was in favor of Measure M, but he thought the timing for the renewal was poor and it was unlikely to pass. However, the councilmembers stated they could consider adding their support at a later time. Measure M is a one-fourth cent sales tax from the Sonoma County Transport Authority. Passed by voters in 2004, the measure is used to help maintain and fix roads and transit services.
Levi Leipheimer’s Gran Fondo coming to Windsor in 2021
Carlos Perez of Bike Monkey told the council about Levi Leipheimer’s Gran Fondo, which will be coming to Windsor on May 29, 2021. The date is meant to avoid wildfire season and also give plenty of time to deal with COVID-19 planning. The race will start and finish in the Town Green, with a route that takes them up to the Geysers. The first year the ride will be capped at 2,500 participants, but in previous years the Gran Fondo has had 5,000.
Emergency ordinance for public alcohol consumption
This emergency ordinance passed unanimously to help support local restaurants who have been hurt financially by COVID-19 shutdowns. It stands for a year, until June 17, 2021, and “temporarily allow alcohol consumption on public streets, parking areas and sidewalks in the downtown area,” and will return to the council to extend or expire. It can also be canceled by the council at any time.
Agreement with Sonoma County Transit
All of the councilmembers voted in favor of authorizing the town manager to execute a Letter of Agreement with Sonoma County Transit (SCT) for the continuation of the Route 66/Windsor Shuttle “Fare-Free” program for the Fiscal Year 2020-21. The program cost will be capped at $24,000, though the town only pays for rides taken. Ridership numbers have plummeted since the COVID-19 closures, but even before then the numbers were fairly low outside of school hours, so both Foppoli and Salmon want the numbers addressed at a later point in time.
Garbage contract alteration
The rate changes voted on in a previous meeting passed 3-2.
