City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: ACTION ITEMS
Lead Department: City Manager
Meeting Date: February 3, 2025
Report #:2501-3982
TITLE
Update and Potential Direction on Car-Free Street Improvements on California Avenue; CEQA status – CEQA review is currently underway on the projects as described in this report.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council discuss and potentially provide direction regarding ongoing improvements at Car-Free California Avenue.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This item provides an update on work to enhance California Avenue as a car-free street -both significant work efforts through 2024, upcoming meetings, and next steps to advance this priority objective. This effort furthers the first guiding principle of the City’s comprehensive economic development strategy to “Reinforce each districts’ distinct scale and offerings by…embracing California Avenue as a community and neighborhood serving place.” 1 In alignment with the Council direction to make the car-free street permanent, this report is organized to discuss the following work underway to support this:
•Work on near-term improvements,
•California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements, •Stakeholder engagement through 2024,
•Updates on signage and wayfinding,
•Outdoor activation guidelines, and
•Alternative street designs.
This report provides a status update and includes preliminary outputs; continued and ongoing stakeholder engagement is necessary to finalize and implement elements such as signage and 1 https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/Business/Comprehensive-Economic-Development-Strategy
wayfinding, outdoor activation guidelines, and advance the discussion on alternative street designs.
BACKGROUND
Previous City Council Direction
On June 20, 2020, the City Council temporarily closed portions of California Avenue to vehicular traffic to facilitate outdoor dining and retail. This was in response to county and state regulations related to COVID-19 and limits on indoor activities. Since then, Council has affirmed the status of California Avenue as a car-free street multiple times and gave direction to staff on November 6, 2023 to pursue making that status permanent2. That motion also included direction to create a two-way slow bike lane down the center of California Avenue, install wayfinding signage on California Avenue, and initiate a branding program based on the historic and contemporary strengths of the California Avenue Business district. The City Council approved a contract with Urban Field Studios (UFS) to assist with this work on December 18, 2023.
ANALYSIS
Near-Term Improvements
On December 16, 2024 the City Council approved a contract amendment with O’Grady Paving, Inc. to implement near-term improvements3. This work is anticipated to begin February 18, 2025 and take place over a period of five weeks. This work will include replacing water-filled barriers and vinyl banners with planters and bollards, resurfacing the street, providing stamped concrete crosswalks at various intersections, and other aesthetic enhancements. A second phase of work at the intersection of California Avenue and El Camino Real is dependent on Caltrans approval and will commence once the City’s encroachment permit is approved.
CEQA Requirements
The CEQA analysis required to precede final City Council approval of car-free California Avenue has been completed and will be reviewed by the Planning and Transportation Commission (PTC) on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. The full analysis will be released subsequently to this memorandum, but the findings indicate that the project will not result in any new or more severe impacts compared to impacts previously identified in the City’s comprehensive plan. As such, no further environmental review beyond the proposed addendum is required. 2 https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Public/CompiledDocument?meetingTemplateId=13051&compileOutputType =1
3 https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Public/CompiledDocument?meetingTemplateId=14538&compileOutputType =1
The CEQA clearance will enable PTC recommendation and City Council approval of an amendment to the Circulation Element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Subject to PTC review, staff anticipates advancing the General Plan Amendment to City Council in March. This amendment will formalize designation of California Avenue between El Camino Real and Birch Street as a car-free street. This formal action is a critical step and will provide stakeholders with certainty that California Avenue will remain car-free, such that they can make investment decisions accordingly.
Stakeholder Engagement through 2024
From February to November 2024, City staff and UFS engaged merchants, residents, and community stakeholders to hear their preferences on near-term improvements and car-free street design.
Stakeholder engagement was extensive, involving merchants, community members, and other stakeholders. Monthly workshops were conducted with California Ave. merchants focusing on street design, signage, wayfinding, and broader design goals for a permanent car-free California Avenue. Attachment A: Car Free California Avenue Engagement summarizes stakeholder engagement by month and topic.
A brief listing of merchant and community stakeholder priorities for the transformation of California Avenue is below, followed by a table of consensus and differences of merchants and community stakeholders on street design considerations.
Merchant Priorities: Merchant priorities for what needs to change for the successful transformation of the street to enhance community experience and improve economic vitality are ranked from top goal to lower priorities below.
•Top Goal: Retail vibrancy.
•High Priorities: Nature (trees, plantings), outdoor dining and events. •Moderate Priorities: Walkability, public art, nightlife and public social spaces. •Low Priorities: Non-pedestrian mobility (e.g., vehicle or bike access).
For detailed findings and discussion of engagement by month, please refer to the project website: https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/Departments/Transportation/Transportation- Projects/Car-Free-Streets-Cal-Ave.-Ramona-Street. Before the November 2023 City Council vote to pursue permanently closing the street, 35 businesses signed a letter asking City Council to keep one lane open to traffic. This topic recurred frequently during the merchant engagement throughout 2024.
Community Priorities: Staff and UFS engaged community members through a community open house on May 16 during ‘3rd Thursday’, neighborhood association meetings, and an online survey (May–September) that received 930 responses. The key findings are detailed below. •Top Priorities
oAccessibility and Inclusivity: Level paving, ADA compliance, and shaded seating for families, seniors, and disabled individuals.
oLandscape: Strong desire for trees, shade, and drought-resistant landscaping to improve comfort and aesthetics.
oBusiness and Economic Vitality: Support a diverse range of retail options, preserve storefront visibility, and minimize construction disruption. •High Priorities
oBicycle and Pedestrian Integration: Need balanced co-existence, opinions divided on whether bike traffic should share pedestrian zones or be rerouted to parallel streets.
oEvents and Programming: Support for farmers markets, night markets, and cultural events, responsive to business needs and resident noise concerns. •Medium Priorities
oSustainability and Climate Resilience: Interest in permeable paving, solar lighting, and shaded areas to adapt to climate change.
oPlace Identity and Design: Desire to preserve Cal Ave’s unique charm while avoiding overly commercialization.
oImplementation Efficiency: Preference for early, minimally disruptive implementation to sustain local businesses.
•Low Priorities
oPublic Safety and Maintenance: Concerns about emergency access, event cleanup, and adequate lighting for safety.
Stakeholders: City staff met with representatives from Stanford Research Park and Urban Village Farmers Market Association. Stanford Research Park representatives expressed a strong desire for thriving local businesses on California Avenue. With close proximity to the Research Park’s 140 companies and 30,000 employees, there is a historic identification with California Avenue as a favored neighborhood main street destination. Employees are often at the research park Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and with fewer days on-site, they have less time and inclination to leave for lunch. The Farmers Market Association supports the closure of California Avenue and prioritized their feedback on what is needed to support market operations, vehicle access, and customer circulation.
Committees: City staff discussed California with the Retail Committee three times in 2024. Staff also attended a Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee (PABAC) meeting to discuss near- and long-term design, pedestrian and bicycle access, and improving mobility and the area’s role as a community hub.
Areas of Merchant and Community Consensus: Table 1, below, shows a strong alignment with minor differences between merchant and community interests regarding key elements of street design.
Table 1. Comparison of Merchant and Community Feedback by Design Element Design Element Areas of Agreement Areas of Divergence
- Community prefers park-like elements and
shaded public spaces.
Softscape Surfaces - Prioritize trees and natural garden plantings over planters.
- Merchants are more concerned with
maintenance and practicality.
- Community favors wine-tasting and outdoor
movie screenings.
Events and
Programming
- Support night markets, musical
events, and seasonal/cultural
programming. - Some merchants prefer health and wellness events.
- Shade is the top priority - Community prefers playful/sculptural designs. Public Seating - Agreement on the need for child-
friendly seating.
- Merchants focus on functionality and theft
prevention.
- Community focused on artistic and interactive
lighting for alleys.
Lighting - Need for high-value functional
lighting with string lights a popular
choice. - Merchants focused on streetscape and tree
lighting and need for permanent improvements.
- Community prefers colorful and mosaic paving.
- Merchants do not prioritize decorative paving.
Hardscape
Surfaces
- Importance of safety, minimizing
tripping hazards and level,
continuous paving
- Some merchants want vehicles to return for
retail visibility and accessibility
- Community prefers unique, business-specific
designs.
Outdoor Dining - Value high-quality materials and
improvements to dining areas.
- Some merchants favor pre-approved, cost-
effective designs.
- Community supports additional bike racks and
separated bicycle and pedestrian areas.
Bike Infrastructure - Shared safety concerns about bike and pedestrian interactions,
especially with e-bikes. - Some merchants prefer bike-free pedestrian area to minimize conflicts.
Staff has incorporated feedback received from the community and stakeholders into place identity, signage and wayfinding; outdoor patio guidelines; and design alternatives for the future of Car-Free California Ave. Each of these three topics, including next steps, are discussed below.
Place Identity, Signage and Wayfinding
Staff and UFS have developed a preliminary California Avenue Signage Program included as Attachment B to this report. The program directly addresses merchant and community priorities to improve wayfinding to California Avenue businesses and to affirm California Avenue’s unique place identity. The preliminary program will express an accessible, welcoming, and attractive identity supportive of local businesses and community life.
Alternatives: Merchant and community feedback on alternatives for signage are summarized in the following Table 2 below.
Table 2. Key Features of Design Alternatives and Feedback Design Theme Key Features Merchant Feedback Community Feedback Upscale Contemporary - Clean, vibrant, minimal
design to modernize and
upscale; poppy motifs; dark,
sophisticated color palette.
- Praised for simplicity;
criticized as too austere,
dark, and lacking warmth.
- Mixed opinions,
appreciate elegance and
readability, but cold,
austere, “Halloween-like;”
minimalism can have
longevity.
Artsy Saloon - Draws upon Mayfield past,
artsy, nightlife destination,
southwest color palette.
- Instagram-friendly; appeal
to younger demographics;
leans too much into
nightlife; Wild West dated;
red too Stanford.
- Divided, some like bold,
playfulness and historic
connection; others overly
western theme, kitschy
and dated.
Modern Optimism - Midcentury-inspired design;
cheerful colors; fun, pleasant
appeal people all ages.
- Broadly supported for
aligning with Cal Ave’s vibe;
like design; minor critiques
of tagline grammar, 50’s vs
21st C. modernity.
- Widely favored for its
vibrancy, warmth,
flexibility and community-
focused vibe; best aligned
with future aspirations.
Results from the community survey show a preference for Modern Optimism, valuing its vibrancy, warmth, and alignment with California Avenue's unique identity. Concerns about the tag line and details were noted and refined. Merchants favored Modern Optimism for its balance of aesthetics and functionality, emphasizing safety, flexibility, and its appeal to diverse audiences. Upscale Contemporary was also valued by merchants for its simplicity, but they felt it was less aligned with Cal Ave's local and community-centered ethos.
Staff analysis also concluded that Modern Optimism is a good choice, since it:
•Represents California Ave’s unique identity as a local, historic, and community-centric street reflecting feedback that "We want something that feels unique to Cal Ave, not generic."
•Stands the test of time and can adapt to future changes in the area reflecting feedback that "The design should be flexible enough to evolve with the area." •Address accessibility concerns with practicality ensuring readability, visibility, and durability, reflecting feedback that "Readability is key—it needs to be easy to see and understand."
•Embodies an ‘unpretentious, and vibrant’ ethos of the independent local businesses. •Is artistic, yet functional, and celebrates California Avenue’s abundant public art. •Is broadly appealing to stakeholders and will be attractive to the range of people who visit seeking shopping, dining, art, entertainment and community.
Signage Program: The signage program is comprised of “brand assets” - a logo with variants, tag line, shape motifs, typography, graphic patterns and color pallet., and a signage program - a system of modular signs, with flexibility to accommodate differing viewing distances and contexts, with guidance for signage locations. The brand assets are applied to five sign templates:
•District blade sign (at El Camino Real)
•Pedestrian directional signs
•Informational (Directory) sign
•Place identity markers (e.g., a banner with expression of place identity) •Gateway sign concepts at the intersection of El Camino Real and California Avenue to create an identifiable district visible to vehicle traffic.
Guidelines for sign type and placement are to assist pedestrians to navigate to/from side streets and parking and access businesses and activities on the street. Sign types are designed at different sizes and heights depending on the location, visibility and wayfinding need. The sign types and placement will address key merchant priorities to:
•Help drivers find parking
•Excite visitors to explore the area
•Enforce street rules
•Help events run more smoothly
•Make the streets more clean and secure
•Help pedestrians navigate from parking & transit to local businesses •Restrict vehicle access, while welcoming bikes and pedestrians This modular system and placement guidelines benefit local businesses in several ways. It ensures flexibility to adapt to various contexts, such as pedestrian versus vehicle viewing distances. Gateway signage will serve as a visual anchor, creating a sense of arrival while promoting California Avenue’s identity to passing drivers. Informational signs, strategically placed at key entry points and intersections, will guide visitors seamlessly from parking areas or transit stops to their destinations, reducing confusion and enhancing the visitor experience.
The application and installation of ‘directories’ for businesses along the street is something that has also been discussed – such an undertaking will require collaboration, engagement, ongoing maintenance and updates such that a commitment by local merchants for financial and management oversight is required to ensure it can be implemented and maintained successfully. Staff would not recommend such signage as a City responsibility, as it would typically be handled by a business association or other business collective.
Next Steps for Signage: Staff will bring the full signage plan before the Architectural Review Board for their feedback and identify next steps, including further City Council discussion. Based on commission and council input, staff can proceed to final designs, cost estimating, and an implementation schedule. Staff is currently working on the schedule for replacing the existing El Camino Real and California Avenue monument sign and develop a complementary sign to replace the Oregon Expressway sign. A request for financial support to procure and install the final plan will be needed before implementation can begin Outdoor Activation Guidelines
City Staff and UFS have made significant progress preparing preliminary Outdoor Activation Guidelines that takes advantage of the car-free context of California Avenue. The term “activation” is proposed, as potential uses including dining, retail, seating, recreational, and potentially other privately maintained activities. The California Avenue Outdoor Activation Program will enhance the commercial vibrancy of California Avenue, creating opportunities for businesses to use public sidewalks and roadway spaces for outdoor dining, retail, entertainment, and other business operations. This program will ensure these spaces are safe, equitable, and well-designed for uses including dining, retail, and live entertainment.
Commercial use of outdoor space supports local businesses, enhances customer experience, and directly contributes to a thriving community destination.
Vision for Car-Free Outdoor Activation Areas: The vision for car-free outdoor activation areas is to prioritize customer experience and invite spontaneous and meaningful social interaction. By carefully curating these spaces, the street can become a vibrant engaging atmosphere. Key elements are:
•Opportunities for Social Interaction: Outdoor activations play a pivotal role in satisfying people’s innate need for spaces for casual and serendipitous social connection. •Visual and Experiential: Inviting outdoor spaces, where residents and visitors can see each other and connect, can transform the street into a social gathering place. This can encourage walk-in and spontaneous dining, as outdoor spaces need to visually and auditorily add life, so the street feels lively and inclusive. •Enclosures Shape Public Space: Enclosures define the boundaries of outdoor dining and activation areas by using railings, planters, stanchions, or screens to ensure safety, accessibility, and privacy. These boundaries need to be carefully designed to remain low and transparent, enhancing visibility to and from the street. Sidewalls or screens that can be raised or lowered confer weather protection while minimally detracting from the openness of the street.
•Shelter for Comfort and Aesthetics: Instead of permanent constructed structures, umbrellas and awnings can serve as flexible, visually appealing solutions for weather protection. There are new fabricators and suppliers of overhead large format umbrellas and awnings that can provide shade, rain cover, and UV shielding, and space for electric heaters and lighting. This improves comfort for patrons while maintaining the openness of the street. Umbrellas and awnings are designed to align with the business aesthetic.
Collectively, umbrellas and awnings contributing to a more cohesive and colorful streetscape, rather than individual designed structures that visually obstruct views to adjacent storefronts or can be an obstacle to emergency access. •Car-Free for a Thriving Environment: A car-free street is a unique opportunity to shape public outdoor space by prioritizing pedestrians, cyclists, customers and diners to create a safe and accessible environment that promotes business success and community connection. The absence of vehicles allows the district to reimagine its public space as a living, walkable community space. If people feel a sense of membership by seeing, meeting and spending time with friends and colleagues on the street there are more likely to be frequent patrons.
These outdoor spaces are functional extensions of businesses and pivotal contributors to a welcoming and vibrant destination. The goal of developing guidelines is to provide a broad framework for businesses to work within. The actual curation and activation of many of the spaces will require investment from the business community to enliven the street.
Street Zones, Patio Locations and Setbacks: Staff and UFS recommend dividing the car-free portion of the California Avenue right-of-way into five zones, as seen in Attachment C. To ensure access to sufficient space by other uses, such as the farmers’ market, the preliminary allocations limit patios to directly in front of the operator’s storefront. Outdoor patios are permitted in three zones as shown in Attachment C.
•Frontage Zone
•Curbside/Street Furniture Zone
•Activity Zone
Attachment D includes two that span between El Camino Real and Mimosa Lane, and from Mimosa Lane to Birch Street. These maps indicate the zones for the respective segments of California Avenue.
The preliminary guidance includes restrictions for a required 8-foot pedestrian path of travel on sidewalks, emergency vehicle access, designated pedestrian paths of travel, emergency accessways, and designated bike lanes or bike racks.
Next Steps for Outdoor Activation Guidelines: Staff is working to sequence the discussion of outdoor activation guidelines with City Council immediately following necessary legislative actions to close the street. While some businesses have expressed eagerness to invest in outdoor spaces, certainty about the condition of the street closure will create a more stable environment and reduce the likelihood of further changes. Next steps include additional stakeholder engagement, leading to bringing the outdoor activation guidelines for Council approval. Staff will continue to work with Urban Field Studios to:
•Establish clear guidelines for space layouts, enclosures, and shelter elements to ensure outdoor spaces are functional, visually appealing, and cohesive with the district's character.
•Allocate public space to businesses, in a way that balances outdoor dining, retail visibility, and other community uses such as farmers markets and pedestrian zones. •Enable flexibility in use to permit spaces that have multiple uses throughout the week, such as informal dining or community gathering spaces during non-peak times and the Farmers’ Market on Sundays—to maximize the use and value of the public spaces. •Define requirements for design elements such as low and transparent enclosures, umbrellas and awnings to address comfort and visual vibrancy of the street.
Staff anticipates incorporating feedback from stakeholder engagement then bringing the guidelines before City Council to formally adopt them.
Alternative Street Designs
This section provides an update on the development of two design concepts for the transformation of California Avenue into a vibrant, permanent car-free street. The street designs will advance City Council goals for sustainability, economic, and community vitality while addressing public life, mobility, and placemaking.
To date, staff and UFS have defined and confirmed design goals, objectives, evaluation criteria, and programming. The project team has completed the assessment and mapping of existing conditions, including constraints to the multiple functions of the street, for outdoor dining, retail visibility, public life and pedestrian/bike safety.
Currently, UFS is creating two street space allocation studies for additional stakeholder engagement. Following this feedback and engagement, detailed designs and opinion of cost will be prepared for both alternatives, culminating in summary presentations and discussion with ARB, PTC and Council.
Design Alternatives: Two concepts have been developed to reflect varying levels of investment and transformation:
1.Adaptive Street: Focuses on incremental, cost-effective improvements with minimal disruption to existing infrastructure. Key features include:
oSlow two-way bike lanes at center of street.
oDesignated outdoor dining areas.
oResurfacing the street to remove travel markings.
oModifying planting areas to better serve outdoor dining. oFlexible public spaces shared with the farmers’ market. oEnhanced wayfinding and signage for restaurant and retail visibility. oWould require smaller financial investment beyond near-term improvements
2.Reimagined Street: Envisions a tree-lined pedestrian promenade for economic and community vitality, with green infrastructure for climate resilience. Key features include:
oExtensive tree canopy for shade and urban cooling.
oGreen infrastructure for stormwater management and biodiversity. oSlow two-way bike lanes meandering to maximize outdoor dining and public spaces.
oA large public space for events, markets and gatherings. oExpanded farmers’ market capacity.
oPublic art as civic design
oUrban ecosystem with native plant beds and permeable surfaces. oWould require significant financial investment beyond near-term improvements Next Steps for Alternative Street Designs: City staff and UFS will continue work with community members and merchants for input on space allocation studies, including feedback on activities (social, cultural and recreational), spatial requirements and location for public spaces. Based on community and merchant feedback, street design plans and preliminary cost estimates will be developed. Staff will bring these to the Architectural Review Board and Planning and Transportation Commission for review and input this spring before returning to City Council with refined concepts and next steps.
Partnering for California Avenue’s Success
Transforming California Avenue into a vibrant, car-free main street requires a collective effort by the City, property owners, merchants and residents. A thriving California Avenue will attract more customers and visitors, encourage longer stays, and support the success of local businesses. Each party has an essential role to play, and this vision cannot be achieved without partnership.
The City is taking the first step by developing a vision for outdoor activation and the design of California Avenue, in collaboration with merchants and the community. In addition, the City is changing zoning regulations, implementing near-term improvements, and considering longer- term investments to support economic vitality. The City is committed to support economic development through policy, regulation, outreach, visioning, and targeted investments.
Sustained success depends on active participation by property and business owners, who are key to realizing this vision. Merchants, for example, will lead the way in implementing the outdoor activation program by upgrading outdoor dining spaces to meet new standards.
Property owners can attract new tenants, promote opportunities for retail and invest in building and tenant improvements. In the longer term, elements such as the Outdoor Activation Guidelines may best be administered by a business association as a common-area partnership rather than enforced by the City as a regulatory function.
This process is an invitation to collaborate. By working together, we can create a California Avenue that reflects the best of our community and fulfills our common aspirations for a car- free, vibrant, and thriving main street.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
The Study Session does not require additional funding at this time. To date, the City Council has approved contractual costs of $264,708 for the work of Urban Field Studio and expenditures on interim improvements have been funded through operating budgets and pandemic allocations.
On December 16, 2024 the City Council increased the contract with O’Grady paving for immediate near-term improvements on California Avenue (as discussed earlier in this report).
The cost of these near-term improvements, including bollard installation, planters, stamped concrete, grinding/repaving of pavement and work at the California Ave & El Camino Real intersection is approximately $825,000. Any additional costs for project-specific investments will be further refined and discussed with the City Council as the project elements, such as implementation of the signage plan, continue to take shape.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Stakeholder engagement is discussed extensively in the background section of this report. It directly informed project outputs to date and will continue to be proactively addressed as the project continues. Staff will also be engaging Cal. Ave. community stakeholders to inform them about the study session and encourage their participation.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW As described earlier in this report, CEQA review related to amending the circulation element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan is underway and will be brought forward to the Planning and Transportation Commission and City Council as required by CEQA.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - Outreach Summary by Topic by Month
Attachment B - Preliminary Cal Ave Place Identity & Signage Plan Attachment C - Outdoor Activation Guidelines Street Zones Attachment D – Outdoor Activation Guidelines Setback Maps APPROVED BY:
Ed Shikada, City Manager