Friday, Jul. 25, 2008
Rail corridor workshop produces development plan
Public will have opportunity to view master plan for Rail Trail this fall
By Corey Pride / cpride@losbanosenterprise.com
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ReprintCity officials gathered at City Hall Tuesday for a workshop to discuss and choose design concepts for the housing and retail mixture planned for the full build out of Los Baños' Rail Trail.
City Council members, planning commissioners, city staff, residents and representatives of Urban Design Studio RBF Consulting met for the second time in three months to discuss the issue.
Redevelopment Agency Manager Elaine Post said from the workshops a master plan will be produced that will give developers guidance when they build on the corridor.
"We have very strict design standards now," Post said. "It's restrictive but it also gaurantees the city gets what it wants along the corridor. We don't end up with an amusement park look."
At the workshop Jason Jones gave an overview of the different types of housing the rail corridor plan may include. Jones highlighted split-level townhouses, multiple-story apartment complexes and buildings with upstairs living units and downstairs office or retail space.
The city must be careful that the number of apartment complexes it asks to be built meet the demand for them.
City Manager Steve Rath said the city needs to decide what area it wants them in. He said some apartments/condominiums are already planned for the Lakes at Los Baños project.
Mayor Tommy Jones stated his preference.
"We want to make sure that this market is taken care of first because the No. 1 thing we want to do is bring people downtown," Tommy Jones said.
Planning Commissioner Shirley Napolitano was concerned that multiple-story buildings downtown will obscure Henry Miller Plaza. Jason Jones assured her the plaza would be visible.
"This is not meant to detract from Henry Miller Plaza. It's meant to be an extension of it," he said.
Parking was another issue that was discussed.
There was a decision to be made of whether to place a parking structure on Fifth Street or Seventh Street for shops and facilities that will surround the plaza.
Councilwoman Anna Brooks does not like the Seventh Street option.
"I don't think Seventh Street needs to be any more congested," she said.
Tommy Jones played devil's advocate.
"My one concern is seniors have senior activities at the community center. How far do they have to go to get parking?" he asked. "The only time I'm concerned about is when they have big dinners and how far they would have to walk."
The community center, which will be built along Seventh and H streets near Henry Miller Plaza, will have an additional parking lot in the rear of the complex.
Napolitano was worried about another parking issue involving seniors. The rail corridor plan requires that each housing unit only has one and a half parking spaces. Napolitano said that is not enough.
"I think it's much too low," she said. "I'm a senior. So if I come downtown to live I'm going to use my car. When I do I'm going to come back with something, and when there's something going on there's not going to be any parking on H, G or any of those streets."
Napolitano said the low amount of parking already impacts residents trying to walk the Rail Trail.
"If you want to draw people down there make it easy. Right now if you want to walk the trail and you got two big dogs and three kids... you can't park downtown, it's already filled up."
After a lively discussion attendees marked their likes and dislikes on maps of the rail corridor. The consulting firm now has the task of producing another model of the rail corridor master plan based on the suggestions they received.
A public viewing of the plan will take place in upcoming months.
Tommy Jones said he is satisfied with the progress being made.
"What I see so far is great. I'm just waiting for some developers to come in and look at the plan and pick out what part they can do," he said.
The rail corridor is located on H Street and extends from Second Street to Mercey Springs Road.
Enterprise staff writer Corey Pride can be reached at 388-6563 or cpride@losbanosenterprise.com