The San Juan Bautista Planning Commission is considering a plan to make the downtown area of the Mission City more pedestrian friendly as part of its general plan update.
The proposed change stems from a bill signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008. It is called the California Complete Streets Act and encourages local communities to make the most efficient use of public land, especially in downtown and urban areas, to make those areas easier for pedestrians to get around and help reduce greenhouse gases.
One such technique is “traffic calming,” said Matthew Leal, the city’s assistant planner, at Tuesday’s meeting. Some techniques for calming might include expanding sidewalks into the street, eliminating parallel parking spaces, and placing medians with trees and bushes in streets in order to slow traffic.
“A median is a nice way to let you know you’re coming into a downtown,” Leal said.
Another idea is to consider the use of “parklets.” Benches, street furniture and other amenities could be placed in old parking spaces to expand sidewalks for pedestrians.
“I like the idea of parklets,” Commissioner Wanda Guibert said.
The revitalization, which is known as a “streetscape,” would strive to make the downtown look cleaner, use space more efficiently and make it safer for people to get around.
“There are a lot of opportunities in San Juan Bautista,” Leal said.
