Council to consider downtown plan
WATSONVILLE >> How will downtown Watsonville look over the next few decades? That is a topic that will be explored as the Watsonville City Council considers adopting the Downtown Watsonville Specific Plan at its meeting tonight.
According to a staff report by Community Development Director Suzi Merriam and Principal Planner Justin Meek, specific plans are tools used by local governments in the implementation of general plans and to guide development in a localized area.
In this case, the Downtown Watsonville Specific Plan would cover about 195 acres of downtown. The plan is mostly centered around Main Street and extends west to the edge of Hyde Street and Western Drive and a portion of Freedom Boulevard, south to a portion of Walker Street and east toward Front Street.
The plan will be divided into nine chapters: an introduction; the goals, policy direction and vision for downtown; design framework, mobility and transportation, public realm improvements, land use and
zoning, historic preservation and implementation. Among the items outlined in the document are mobility and transportation goals related to parking and adopting a complete streets model for roadways, street modifications, pedestrian improvements and implementing road diets to reduce the amount of traffic lanes. A reduction of lanes on Main Street is included in the California Department of Transportation's upcoming State Highway Operation and Protection Program.
At its Sept. 5 meeting, the Watsonville Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend the council adopt the plan. Some questions were raised
by members of the community, including Watsonville Blueprint owner Patricia Guilder, who asked about emergency response times and noise along Main Street. Staff responded that the proposed road diet would calm traffic along Main and not obstruct emergency responses because a center turning lane and parallel parking could be used as a pullout to allow emergency vehicles to pass safely.
Resident Lupe Ortiz also expressed concerns about poor pavement conditions at Main and Beach streets and Main Street and East Lake Avenue, which made it hard for pedestrians to cross. Meek and Merriam wrote that City Engineer
Murray Fontes had put in a request for Caltrans to improve these intersections.
In addition to adopting the plan, the council will also consider a resolution certifying the Final Environmental Impact Report, an amendment to the 2005 General Plan, the interaction of an ordinance amending the zoning map to reflect the boundaries of the Downtown Watsonville Specific Plan Area and an amendment to the Watsonville Municipal Code to refer to the permitted uses and development standards in Chapter 6 of the specific plan.
In other business, the council will consider a request by Watsonville Municipal Airport Director Rayvon Williams to submit an application for a matching grant to the Federal Aviation Administration for the purchase of a zeroemission vehicle. This item is on the consent calendar.
The council will meet publicly at 6:30 tonight in the Council Chambers on the top floor of the Watsonville Civic Plaza, 275 Main St. This will be the council's first meeting in the Council Chambers since July, when it was closed for renovations. A closed session will precede the regular meeting at 4:30 p.m.