Downtown sidewalks going with a Villa Hermosa design
N. Santa Cruz Avenue streetscape plan goes before town council
By Gloria I. Wang
A downtown beautification project, six years in the making, is apparently on its way toward completion.
Improvements to the town's central business district include changes to landscaping, lighting and sidewalks that will make the area more pedestrian-friendly. Known as the downtown streetscape plan, the project was originally approved in 1996. Work was done only on the N. Santa Cruz Avenue sidewalks between Elm and Main streets, however.
Now the town is prepared to start and finish streetscaping on N. Santa Cruz, between Bachman and Bean avenues. The timeline is to complete construction by Oct. 31, before this year's holiday shopping season begins.
At the April 15 Los Gatos Town Council meeting, town staff presented plans for the next phase of the streetscape project. John Curtis, director of parks and public works, showed conceptual drawings for the three-intersection stretch.
According to Curtis, the main features of the plan are new sidewalks at six street corners, bulbouts (curb extensions to slow traffic and make crosswalks more pedestrian-friendly) and woonerfs, which raise crosswalks to sidewalk level.
The sidewalks, Curtis said, will be in a Villa Hermosa design, which has been adopted by the town as its sidewalk pattern and will be used in the Town Plaza Park renovation project. The Villa Hermosa style is described as large squares of concrete with brick stripes in a rectangular pattern. The newest example is in front of the as-yet-unopened Sharper Image store at the corner of N. Santa Cruz and Bean.
Curtis said the bulbouts will eliminate a few curbside parking spaces. Extending the curb into the street, however, will not hinder traffic flow, since there still will be one full lane width left on either side.
Councilmembers wanted to drop the idea of the woonerfs because they said it didn't make sense. "Although we do need it to be pedestrian-friendly, I'm sort of underwhelmed by the concept," Councilman Steve Glickman said.
Curtis confirmed that the raised intersections will not increase the value of the area. In fact, Curtis said, the added value was more perceived because of the visual effect.
Mayor Randy Attaway added that already there are certain points along N. Santa Cruz in which the street is nearly at the same elevation as the sidewalk, almost creating a raised intersection.
An important aspect of the project is interaction with downtown merchants such that they will be aware of the construction scheduled to take place around their businesses, especially work on the sidewalks. Shopowners will be included in the contract between the town and construction firm, Curtis said, so that they will be kept in the loop.
"People are going to realize there's going to be an impact. I mean, there has to be," said Greg Stowers, chairman of the board of the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce. As long as there is communication from the contractor, however, the process should be relatively smooth, Stowers said.
Attaway recommended that town staff retain a project manager who will deal with outreach to businesses.
Vice Mayor Sandy Decker also asked Curtis to provide an employee from the Department of Parks and Public Works to be on call for the construction crew. That person, Decker said, should have some knowledge of the town's history in order to deal with "anomalies" caused by decades-old paving and maintenance that could present a problem to construction.
"You don't want to get halfway through with something like this," Decker later said, "and stop work and end up taking weeks of investigation" when there could be a staff person nearby to give the green light to proceed.
According to Curtis, town staff will return to the council with a complete design plan as well as an accurate cost estimate of the project. The design costs, which will fall under $100,000, have already been appropriated, but the estimated $3 million for construction has not yet been allocated. Curtis said those funds will come from the town's redevelopment agency, which focuses on development and infrastructure improvements in the downtown area.
Other sections of N. Santa Cruz will be worked on separately. Montebello and Broadway are already being worked on as part of the Town Plaza renovation; future projects include construction up to Almendra and Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, as well as work on the sidewalk between Main and Elm.
Working on the section between Bean and Bachman is "a step in a comparatively long process," Curtis said.
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