Aid plan targets outdoor commerce
The Transportation Authority of Marin will consider awarding grants of up to $20,000 to local governments this month to convert roads into commercial spaces during the coronavirus crisis.
Municipal officials say they are working to find ways to help struggling retailers and restaurants to do business while maintaining safe distancing for patrons and staff. The county recently reinstated a ban on indoor restaurant dining because of rising coronavirus cases.
Over the weekend, Mill Valley closed Miller Avenue to vehicles between Throckmorton and Sunnyside avenues for the
first time to reserve it for outdoor restaurants and businesses. City Manager Alan Piombo said the weekend closure is a pilot project.
The city is seeking a nearly $17,800 grant to create a street closure “toolbox” that will include more street barricades and a flatbed trailer to expand and more easily set up future street closures.
“Right now our guys have to load them on a handful at a time on the back of a truck and it takes multiple trips from downtown to the corp yard rather than having it sit on a trailer ready to go,” Piombo said.
The city is also looking to purchase more bike racks to encourage residents to bicycle or walk to the outdoor space, according to Andrew Poster, the public works director.
The “quick build” grants are being funded by Measure AA sales tax dollars as part of TAM’s local streets and roads program. At its meeting today, the TAM executive committee is set to review $182,456 in grant requests submitted by Marin County, Sausalito, Mill Valley, Tiburon, Fairfax, Novato, San Rafael, San Anselmo, Corte Madera and Ross. Most of the applications are seeking funds to create public space for the public and outdoor dining.
San Anselmo is seeking $20,000 to help pay for its $35,200 project to close one lane of San Anselmo Avenue. The town’s public works director, Sean Condry, said officials have already closed the avenue on weekends, leading to reduced parking.
The town plans to use the TAM funds to strike a balance by closing the southbound lane of San Anselmo Avenue between
Tunstead and Tamalpais avenues to make room for parklets for businesses without removing parking, Condry said.
“I’m just hopeful that this is something that can help the community, the merchants and the businesses and residents come together,” he said. “COVID has hit us hard not just on a health level but on an economic and social level.”
In Sausalito, the city is seeking $20,000 to help pay for a $45,000 project for Caledonia Street. As part of a pilot project, the city has been closing the street to vehicles between Pine and Johnson streets from 1 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday to make room for outdoor dining.
The city plans to use the TAM funds to pay for a traffic engineer to study other options, including permanent closure of the block or converting it to a one-way street. Kevin McGowan, the Sausalito public works director, said he expects the pilot project and study to last a couple of months.
“If this takes and we find this is a good idea and the community likes it, we’ll try to move forward with other aspects of maybe a permanent closure in this area,” he said.
The Transportation Authority of Marin staff plans to recommend that all of the jurisdictions receive their full funding requests. The commissioners are set to make a final vote on the grants on July 22.
“These small projects can provide a boost for neighborhoods during our collective efforts to recover from this health crisis,” Anne Richman, the executive director of TAM, said Friday. “The local jurisdictions responded with great interest and have developed projects that re-envision our local streets and community spaces to respond to the current needs.”