The next Santana Row? Council has big plans for California Avenue

A new proposal to enhance car-free California Avenue with planters, road improvements and a playful “modern optimism” aesthetic won a warm reception on Monday night from Palo Alto’s elected leaders, whose chief regret was that the work hadn’t been done sooner.

The street, which closed to cars in 2020, is up for a refresh starting on Feb. 18, when contractors will begin repaving the road, repainting the crosswalks and replacing the plastic orange barriers at the entry points with planters. Concurrently, the City Council is preparing to advance a more ambitious and extensive overhaul for Cal Ave., one that aims to give it a sense of identity and a jolt for vitality.

In its first discussion of the proposed plans, most council members favored going beyond simply enhancing California Avenue. They supported transforming it.

“The opportunity to be able to completely reimagine one of the community’s downtown shopping cores rarely comes along so this is really a once in a generation opportunity for us to redefine the space,” Stone said.

To gauge the extent of the council’s ambition, city staff proposed two concepts for Cal Ave.’s long-term future. One, known as “adaptive street,” would retain existing curbs and add bike lanes, planters and modified planting areas to the street. A more ambitious one, known as “reimagined street” would go further and create an extensive tree canopy, a continuous pedestrian surface, a central multi-use public space and public art galore.

Stone was among those who favored the latter option.

“I see us being able to have something that could rival Santana Row within 10 years and really create California Avenue as a destination for shopping and dining for the entire Bay Area,” Stone said. “I really don’t want us to lose that opportunity.”

Others were more cautious, noting that the more ambitious proposal would also take longer and cost more. Council member Pat Burt also noted that the council’s goal for California Avenue was never to create a new regional draw. Rather it was to support retailers and enhance a popular neighborhood-serving area.

“A certain amount of vitality is necessary to do that, but I’m not interested in turning Cal Ave. into principally a regional destination,” Burt said. “I’m interested in our focus being to help those retailers thrive and help Cal Ave be a location that our community values and our neighbors value, from neighboring communities who come there.”

While Burt found much to like in the “reimagined” concept, he said he was skeptical of the idea that this could be done within “reasonable time and cost.” Mayor Ed Lauing similarly suggested that the price tag could ultimately prove to be sobering. He invited staff to propose ambitious ideas, even as he conceded that the council may ultimately scrap most of them because of costs.

Council members Keith Reckdahl and George Lu, meanwhile, both a gradual evolution toward the reimagined concept, an idea that Fukuji said will be explored. Lu suggested that the city can phase in elements like public art, installation of tree wells or modifications to curbs.

The council will delve further into the details of reconfiguring California Avenue in the spring and summer, by which time the city hopes to complete the environmental clearance that it needs to formally designate the street as permanently car-free. The required zoning actions are set to go to the Planning and Transportation Commission on Feb. 12 and to the council in March. Architect Bruce Fukuji, who is managing the project from City Manager Ed Shikada’s office, said that the environmental review indicated that there will be no new significant impacts related to the permanent closure of California Avenue.

“We’re very excited about that because that first step is a big step to move all the subsequent projects forward,” Fukuji said.

One question that several council members posed related to bike routes. Reckdahl, Burt and Lu all supported adding bike improvements to Cambridge Avenue, which runs parallel to Cal. Ave., and directing speedy cyclists to use that street rather than the pedestrian promenade of Cal Ave. Lu also supported installing significant safety improvements on Cal Ave.

“What you really want to target at the worst of the worst offenders, the people who disregard ‘No biking’ signs or disregard common sense and speed limits and things like that,” Lu said. “The medium bicyclist that bikes slowly or just rolls into bike parking near the destination is not the problem.”

Whichever long-term alternative the council ultimately chooses, Cal Ave. will see some reshuffling of street furniture and dining areas. The concept that Fukuji presented to the council showed the street being divided into five sections, each with a distinct function and each designed to “activate” the street. There is the frontage section next to the buildings; the pedestrian zone; a slim “street furniture” zone at the edge of the existing sidewalk, an activity zone for people to gather and dine and a wide “access” zone in the middle of the road.

A key objective is to take advantage of – and play up — the street’s car-free status, which allows the city to promote activities that cannot be done on roads with cars and parklets. The reimagined Cal Ave. will be a more open environment where it’s “easy to walk around and to hear and see other people and the activities that are going on in the street,” Fukuji said.

“One of the things we wanted to see is — how do you create a social environment that is attractive and, at the same time, invites people for social engagement?” Fukuji asked.

The council generally endorsed the proposed street activation, as well as the city’s choice of the “modern optimism” aesthetic, which features playful fonts and soft pastel colors and which will infuse the proposed wayfinding signs along Cal Ave. and the large gateway sign that will ultimately be installed at the El Camino Real entrance. They were most excited, however, about the near term improvements, which follow years of outreach and design work. Council member Julie Lythcott-Haims called the Monday discussion a “milestone” for the Cal Ave. project and Reckdahl said he is particularly excited about getting rid of the orange barriers.

“I’m really excited to have something that looks more permanent,” Reckdahl said.

This story originally appeared in Palo Alto Weekly. Gennady Sheyner covers local and regional politics, housing, transportation and other topics for the Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Online and their sister publications.