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 The bids were withdrawn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 meeting 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.
