Downtown Matters!
Making it Happen, Making it Real!
Overview
The City has been hosting a series of workshops and tours designed to “refresh” the vision for Downtown Martinez. This series is part of the General Plan Update process and will identify the choices, trade-offs, priorities, and strategic actions required for the Downtown to prosper in the 21st Century. It was organized in response to the large number of comments received about Downtown during the first round of community outreach for the Update conducted last fall. The community feels that Downtown is important and that making it a more successful gathering place and commercial center should be a top priority.
The series was kicked off with a tour of Downtown Redwood City June 17th. Two workshops were then held June 22nd and 29th. The first workshop focused on examples of suburban downtowns that were in decline and have been revitalized. The second took a look at the new realities that we face in the 21st Century. The second tour, to Livermore and Lodi, took place July 16th. The theme of the third workshop, held July 19th, was the art and science of placemaking.
The primary purpose underlying the effort is to reach out to the community and the pertinent stakeholders to hear their thoughts and ideas on how to help transform Downtown from being a place with "so much potential" to the community destination that it can be.
Tour of Downtown Redwood City
The kick-off event was a tour to Redwood City, a city whose Downtown has been dramatically transformed in the last decade. It has some similarities to Martinez in that it is a county seat, it was incorporated around the same time and was a center of commerce and transportation early on, and its Downtown had been in decline for decades as core businesses moved out to surrounding shopping centers.
The tour began in the City’s Council Chambers where Dan Zack, Downtown Revitalization Coordinator for the City, gave a presentation on the transformation of Downtown. The group then proceeded outside to visit a number of key places Downtown where major changes have occurred. The tour group visited an affordable multi-family housing project adjacent to City Hall, a number of rehabilitated commercial structures, a newer, single-block retail structure that houses a large, multiplex theater, and the centerpiece of Downtown, Courthouse Square. The group asked a number of questions and made comparisons to the City of Martinez. The final part of the tour involved listening to live music in the Square, part of the City’s summer arts programming.
Key points and observations:
- Precise Plan (similar to a specific plan but more general) was developed that involved an intensive community participation process to guide Downtown revitalization;
- City Council fully behind vision articulated in the Plan;
- Key downtown property, the Fox Theater, had an owner willing to make a significant investment in upgrading their property and making it a regional entertainment venue;
- Opportunity to create a central Downtown gathering place, Courthouse Square, was taken advantage of;
- Significant investment by the City in the public realm (streetscape improvements, public parking garage, and Courthouse Square); and
- City assigned specific staff to oversee the effort.
The observations of one of the tour participants can be viewed by clicking on the link below. Workshop #1 – Transforming Suburban Downtowns
The first workshop featured Dan Zack, Downtown Revitalization Coordinator, Redwood City; Greg Tung, Principal, Freedman, Tung + Suzaki, urban designers; and Susan Moeller, former Redevelopment Director of Redwood City and Cathedral City and consultant to Martinez for the “Downtown Matters!” workshop and tour series. The presentations highlighted specific revitalization successes in a number of cities in addition to Redwood City, and featured both large and small scale improvements, public and private.
The workshop highlighted the importance of the public realm in creating a sense of place, catalyst projects, maintaining the historic integrity of a downtown with compatible new development, and incentives for both private investment and activity-generating uses and was supported by a discussion of key principles to stimulate and guide positive change. Success in Downtown Redwood City was achieved where there was a shared vision that was big, bold and compelling, a champion, political will, the ability to broker opportunities, and a focus on creating a great place rather than just building projects.
Workshop #2 – New Realities in the 21st Century
The second workshop encouraged the community to prepare for the significant changes that will be coming our way in the years ahead—and that will greatly impact our lives and those of our children and future generations. The presenters were Don Weden, a 34-year veteran with Santa Clara County Planning, recently retired; and Matt Vandersluis, Senior Field Representative with Greenbelt Alliance for the East Bay.
Demographic, economic, and environmental trends all indicate challenges for communities in terms of mobility, continuing and expanding competition for resources, housing options and economic viability, and sustainability. Both presenters emphasized the importance of communities setting aside differences to identify and implement strategies to become “intelligently more urban” and plan for “livable, green, urban neighborhoods” within existing boundaries that provide desirable and convenient alternatives for those young and old who would prefer (or may need) places to live that are not dependent on owning an automobile and that are more sustainable for the environment.
Handouts from the workshop can be viewed by clicking on the link below.
Tour of Downtown Livermore and Downtown Lodi
Downtown Livermore
The second outing included a visit to the Downtowns of Livermore and Lodi. At both locations a tour was conducted and a presentation made. Key points and observations regarding Livermore and its Downtown include:
- Change began in the 1950s, but the real success has only occurred in the last eight or nine years.
- There was no “magic,” but there was a method.
- Being real about your community, its economics, and what can be supported is critical. The City did an economic study nine years ago, which said they had too much commercial, more housing was needed. The commercial focus was then shifted to dining, entertainment, and specialty shops. It was a difficult reality for the community to accept —had to get over what would not be and realize there was no rational reuse at 30-40 cents per square foot.
- Parking is important but what is more important is people’s experience of desirable places (e.g. people flock to good places where parking may be difficult—they go because they like the place for other reasons).
- Early successes are important.
- Visioning process is key—revealed the importance of open space, which led to urban growth limits and the purchase of easements.
- Goal is about creating an emotional attachment to a place (e.g. safe, interesting, active, etc.).
- What is important in land use regulatory documents:
(1) standards, which are measurable;
(2) guidelines, recommended but not mandatory; and
(3) intent, i.e. what is trying to be accomplished.
- Having CHAMPIONS is important and must include key staff.
- “You get the development you demand!”
- Putting people on display so downtown looks alive, active, and busy is very important; outdoor dining does this, benches, and public gathering spaces, small and large.
Presenters were Marc Roberts, Community Development Director and Paul Spence, Planning Manager, both of the City of Livermore; and Rachael Snedecor, Executive Director of Downtown Livermore, Inc.
Downtown Lodi
Key points and observations regarding Lodi and its Downtown include:
- Meaningful capital improvements are possible WITHOUT a redevelopment district: Regional transportation funds were used for JOINT BENEFIT PROJECTS, such as a parking garage that could serve both a regional transit center and Downtown commercial uses. Garage was instrumental in attracting a private developer to build a multi-screen movie theater.
- Construction of new “upmarket” housing at edge of downtown NOT necessary to attract local consumers: Downtown improvements can focus on the existing commercial and traditional mixed-use land uses. Waiting for more residents is not essential.
- City should focus on making capital improvements within the public sphere, to make the existing retail core more inviting to consumers and investors: Adding shade trees and wider sidewalks that are more conducive to outdoor dining encourages private improvements.
- Nonconventional “traffic slowing” improvements can help make the environment more inviting: Curb free “flex spaces” that are intentionally congested have worked to make side streets more inviting for restaurant uses and special events.
- Entertainment/eating drinking uses must dominate downtown uses. Let the ghosts of Woolworths and Penney’s past go.
The sole presenter was Rad Bartlam, Lodi’s City Manager.
Workshop #3 – The Art and Science of Placemaking
This workshop featured Greg Tung, Principal, Freedman, Tung + Suzaki, urban designers. It started with an overview of terminology and key principles. The workshop participants then proceeded outside to tour Downtown, stopping at key points and intersections. At each stop the group was asked to determine what traits the location had. There were specific categories such as: type of street or space, current activities, features, amenities/design matches place type?, visitor/user impression, ability to encourage private investment, and Martinez feel. For example, under visitor/user impression the possible choices were: welcoming, neutral, or unappealing. The idea was to determine what worked and what didn’t work at the key points and intersections.
Once the group completed its tour of Downtown, they returned to the Willows Cabaret Theatre where a discussion of issues and observations about the Downtown ensued. Some of the highlights of the discussion included:
- Downtown’s circulation system—ease of use and the pedestrian experience.
- Existing amenities/design appropriateness for the key points and intersections.
- Need for better connectivity between Downtown and the Marina.
The final part of the workshop consisted of a series of questions directed at the audience. They included:
- Do the important linkages and connections points Downtown work?
- For those that don’t, what could make them better?
- Would better coordinated way finding (directional signage) help?
- How would you rate the on-street gathering spaces in general (e.g. the 500 block of Main Street)?
Workshop #4 – Making It Happen: New Opportunities for Downtown Martinez
The final workshop was held Tuesday, September 20th at 6:30 pm at the Martinez Event Center. The workshop was entitled Making it Happen: New Opportunities for Downtown Martinez. The presenters were:
· Dena Belzar, President, Strategic Economics
· Dan Zack, Downtown Revitalization Coordinator, City of Redwood City
· Erik Calloway, Senior Associate, Freedman, Tung + Suzaki, urban designers
Workshop participants received information on population, household, and economic trends. They participated in a guess the density game and engaged in a group consensus building activity aimed at determining what parts of Downtown and the surrounding area were most in need of attention and what the goals should be for those parts of the City. The final part of the workshop included the formulation of a list of strategic action items that will assist the City and its citizens, property and business owners, and other stakeholders with Making it Happen! Making it Real!
