Healdsburg city staff, departments don’t go on vacation

Staff Report

Though the City Council and citizens commissions have suspended their meetings for a traditional July break, other city departments continue to work throughout the summer months. Following the June 19 acceptance of a new striping plan for March Avenue, part of a longstanding plan to improve that transportation corridor, the city’s Public Works Department is again requesting public input in determining its priorities for the coming year.

Next Thursday, July 17, it will hold a community meeting at the Abel De Luna Community Center for those interested in the potential city projects that could find grant funding from a county agency in the coming year. The meeting was announced by the city via email and social media last week, and a page on its website has full information (healdsburg.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=687).

The Sonoma County Transit and Climate Authority (SCTCA), formerly simply the Sonoma County Transit Authority, in 2021 offered a new program that combined grant funding sources from federal, state and county resources. It would ensure a coordinated approach that would direct funds to the highest priority projects. Although the grants had multiple sources, and thus were multiple grants, the SCTCA called for each county agency to submit five project priorities, followed by grant applications for each.

Healdsburg’s “Cycle 1” proposals included the March Avenue pavement rehabilitation, the Grove Street neighborhood plan, Hwy 101 interchange improvements at Dry Creek Road and Mill Avenue, and the Ward Street Neighborhood Revitalization project, currently partially funded.

Now the city is preparing five Cycle 2 project applications, due in August. In advance of those applications, the city is holding a Community Meeting to gather public input on the five projects to be included to evaluate public priorities and ideas. The projects that Public Works will be presenting, and seeking public input on, include the following:

U.S. 101 / Dry Creek Road Interchange
Intersection improvements at the Dry Creek Road and the U.S. 101 interchange with the possibility of roundabouts at the freeway ramps. The estimate of the project is $16 million for design and construction. The County of Sonoma Public Infrastructure has expressed a willingness to submit a joint application since U.S. 101 is the city-limit line.

South Healdsburg Avenue Connectivity
Bike, pedestrian and roadway improvements along Healdsburg Avenue from the Memorial Bridge to Exchange Avenue are already funded to the tune of $1.3 million from other sources, but an estimated $3 million is being sought for additional improvements. These would include complete pavement rehabilitation (as expected on March Avenue early next year), enhanced pedestrian crossings, curbs and sidewalks, streetlights, and improved drainage, signage and striping (possibly to include green painted bicycle lanes).

Mill Street Complete Streets
Bike, pedestrian and traffic operations improvements along Mill Street from the Roundabout west to U.S. 101. The County of Sonoma has plans for future bike improvements on Westside Road which should tie into this project. An estimated $1.5 million would be requested.

Grove Street North
The currently funded project on Grove Street ends at Dry Creek Road. This project would extend pavement repair and resurfacing, along with bike and pedestrian improvements, along Grove Street to the north between Dry Creek Road and Healdsburg Avenue. Also included in the $850,000 request would be curb ramps, painted bike lane buffers where feasible, and updating all signing and striping to meet current standards.

Pavement Preventive Maintenance
This most straightforward project would perform localized pavement repairs followed by street resurfacing on about 20 street segments throughout the city. Estimated cost is $2.4 million, but the project is scalable by adding or subtracting segments.

Not included

Not included in these five projects are additional funding for the Ward Street neighborhood, which remains uncertain; an e-bike share program due to “uncertainty regarding community preference of type of future program” (given the failure of both Zagster and Bird Bikes); slope stabilization on Sunset Drive near the entrance to Villa Chanticleer (not expected to score well in the bidding process); and several others.

The community meeting will be held in the multipurpose room at the Abel De Luna Community Center from 6-7:30pm on July 17. Public Works Director Larry Zimmer will speak about the grant process and the purpose of the meeting, then there will be a “station” or table for each project with a representative to answer questions and record comments. Light refreshments will be provided.

Anyone unable to attend may provide input directly to Clay Thistle, principal engineer, at 707.431.3391 or ct******@********rg.gov.