From:
To: City Council
Subject: Parklet Design Guidelines
Date: Sunday, April 02, 2023 8:58:24 PM
Dear Council Members,
I am writing regarding an item on your agenda for April 4th, about the parklet guidelines compiled by the consultants at GHD. As the chair of the Design Review Board, and a member of the Design Guidelines Subcommittee, I ask you to reject the proposed Parklet Design Guidelines. The subcommittee was tasked with reviewing the proposed guidelines and giving our feedback, and I feel that though some of our specific recommendations were heard, the overall intent is not the best approach for our City. The consultant used guidelines adopted by the cities of Healdsburg and Sonoma, which were only in place because of the Covid pandemic. The City of San Francisco on the other hand has been doing parklets for much longer, and has a very robust and creative ordinance, with very successful results.
As a member of The Core Project, we have been trying to bring parklets to the city for years, we go back to this apoch tor the specie intended to gristines the crys tow boding. to adopt.
I urge you to listen to the advice of your design guidelines subcommittee and reject the proposed guidelines before you, and adopt the San Francisco Shared Spaces Manual guidelines. This will result in a better program for our City, better parklets, and enhanced public space for Sebastopol.
Best regards,
Lars Langberg
Lars Langberg Architects