A new downtown revitalization
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What if?
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is being floated at City Hall.
A new downtown revitalization “What if?” is being floated at City Hall.
Morgan Hill Downtown Association design committee members Lesley Miles and Jerry Di Salvo want the city to seriously consider widening the Monterey Road median between Main Avenue and Third Street, if not to Dunne Avenue. This would mean narrowing the road from four lanes to two.
If this happens, proponents say businesses along Monterey on the east and west sides of the streets will be more visible and cohesive, while the downtown area will gain something residents have wanted it to have for a long while: a park.
Widening the median to 45 feet from Main to Fifth Street would create about 65,000-square-feet of romping room, for myriad activities, including an art showcase, car show, business kiosks and even bocce ball courts.
“Politically, we understand there’s going to be some problems,” Di Salvo said.
First, there’s the traffic study that is yet to be completed. The circulation element will study how busy downtown Monterey will be in coming years, at both the existing four lanes and at the potential two lanes. The circulation element will be brought before the council in early March.
The recently adopted Downtown Specific Plan does not take sides in the four- versus two-lane debate.
Di Salvo said the city has gotten a sense of what a two-lane Monterey would be like with the Third Street Promenade project.
“It’s been going on for four months, and one lane seems doable,” he said. The assumption had been that narrowing Monterey would mean widening the sidewalks in front of the businesses along Monterey. But widening the median instead would make for a better “sight line,” for business patrons on the east side of the street able to see across to west side businesses, and able to traverse the road easily as well, Di Salvo said.
And, logistically, widening the median could be easier than widening the sidewalks, since many storm drains are along the sidewalk curbs, he said.
Downtown association executive director Jorge Briones said the median idea “could be great.
“It could be a real destination. But it’s really in the brainstorming phase, and keeping it on the forefront with the city,” Briones said.
Community Development Director Kathy Molloy Previsich said that, at the behest of the council, her staff will propose a process on how to study possible alternative streetscapes for the downtown at an upcoming council meeting.
Molloy Previsich said the forthcoming circulation element is big picture, and having Monterey Road at four or two lanes downtown doesn’t make a huge difference to the rest of the roadways being studied.
“Whether or not you narrow Monterey, Santa Teresa (Boulevard) and Hale (Avenue) stays at (the same service level).” she said.
Mayor Steve Tate is skeptical that a two-lane Monterey is feasible, but is suspending his judgment until all the facts are in.
“I kind of like the median the way it is. But maybe there’s other things we can think about,” he said. “I’m not going to make a definite decision until we go through the full discussion. It just seems like it’s going to be hard to work out.”
Patrons of downtown businesses had mixed feelings about the idea.
Abet Abu Bakr, former owner of Morgan Hill Bagel Shop, said anything that would bring less traffic and more people would be good for businesses.
William Craycraft, who was in town on business, said the move’s success depended on what the city would hope to gain from it. If they wanted to make sales tax revenue by bolstering downtown businesses, then they might want to think twice. And if proponents thought it would just look nice, they might want to think twice, too, Craycraft said, pointing out the $4 million Third Street Promenade project. Projects like this are expensive, he said.
