Downtown Specific Plan
City of Watsonville
Watsonville, CA
OVERVIEW
COMMUNITY OVERVIEW
The City of Watsonville (City) is located in the Pajaro Valley, equidistant from the Cities of Monterey and Santa Cruz within Santa Cruz County. The City lies less than an hour from the City of San Jose and Silicon Valley. The City has and continues to be the economic, educational and cultural center of the Pajaro Valley, one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world.
The City has a historic central downtown core area that began development before the City was incorporated in 1868. The oldest building still standing in the downtown is the Mansion House, built in 1871. The downtown was built around the City Plaza, donated to the City by the heirs of Sebastian Rodriguez, the owner of the Mexican land grant for the Rancho Bolsa del Pajaro, a ranch that extended much further than the current 6-mile City limits.
Approximately 6 square miles in size, the City is bounded by the Pajaro River to the south and unincorporated Santa Cruz County to the east, north and west. The City's jurisdictional boundaries are restricted by an urban growth boundary (Measure U) passed by the voters in 2002 as well as airport land use restrictions in the vicinity of the Watsonville Municipal Airport. Because of these limitations on growth, the City is looking to provide additional housing and economic opportunities through higher density infill along the City's major corridors, including the downtown. Currently the downtown is designated Central Commercial in the City's General Plan, which allows a maximum FAR for commercial development of 2.75 inside the downtown parking district and a maximum residential density of 36.99 units per net acre, or 42.99 if development is SRO housing.
Main Street is a state highway (SR 152) that runs through the historic downtown core. This presents a challenge to redesigning the downtown as right of way improvements and changes to the sidewalks and street require collaboration and approval by Caltrans. However, in 2016 Caltrans circulated revised design standards for downtown main streets that will help in the development of a more pedestrian and bicycle friendly downtown that puts more emphasis on the circulation of pedestrians rather that the swift movement of vehicles.
Regionally, the City is located near the epicenter of a rail transit network currently in the planning phases. The Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail, which will utilize the rail right of way between Watsonville and the northern boundary of Santa Cruz County, envisions passenger transit along the rail line, which is owned by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission. Additionally, the recently released 2018 California State Rail Plan envisions rail service along the same line, then connecting to the Pajaro Station in North Monterey County, and eastward to Gilroy. This provides Watsonville with the opportunity to plan the appropriate location for a future transit stop along the Scenic Trail and determine appropriate land uses in the vicinity of the rail transit station. It is also important to provide a connection between the existing bus depot on Rodriguez Street and a future rail transit station.
The City has taken many steps to revitalize the Downtown since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, including several downtown plans and downtown design guidelines, as well as the development of a new Civic Plaza at 275 Main Street that is home to the South County Courthouse, City library, City Administrative offices, and City Council Chambers, and public meeting space. In 2016, the City Council approved the enhancement of a portion of Main Street that is not within Caltrans right-of-way and under City control, with the reduction in lane width and installation of landscape medians, curb bulb outs and wider sidewalks at key intersections to both slow traffic, provide safer pedestrian crossings, and opportunities for outside seating. The City is concurrently working on improvements to the downtown parking district and has recently completed a downtown parking study to modernize the on- and off-street parking provided in the downtown to attract shoppers and assist in retail business investment and opportunity.
Once a thriving and bustling downtown, the Main Street area now struggles to compete regionally with other commercial areas and has experienced high retail and commercial vacancy rates for the past decade. However, this trend is starting to shift, with development and redevelopment of infill properties in the downtown area that have been vacant and/or underutilized since the Loma Prieta earthquake, including a new mixed-use residential and commercial project representing 54 residential units and 7,000 square feet of commercial space on a 0.5± acre lot.
According to a recent downtown parking study prepared by Nelson\Nygaard, nearly all parking facilities are underutilized. Even during the busiest times of the day, approximately 47 percent of the parking supply is vacant. A few hot spots of high occupancy do exist, as some blocks of on-street parking immediately in front of the most popular attractions around City Plaza exhibit utilization rates exceeding 85 percent for much of the day, and a few lots are full or nearly full at the peak hour.
PREVIOUS VISIONING
There have been numerous studies done in an attempt to revitalize the downtown dating back to the 1960's, with incremental improvements installed over time. In addition, the City has conducted a number of visioning exercises to reach out to the community and gather their vision for downtown Watsonville. Although many things have changed over time, these studies do provide as a background for where Watsonville has been, with information and recommendations provided for consideration. Included for your reference are the following:
- Downtown Marketing Study (1995)
- Downtown Master Plan and Guidelines (1992)
- Downtown Revitalization Program (c. 1974)
The most recent vision provided for Watsonville is in the draft Watsonville Vista 2030 General Plan Update (2012). Although the City has not adopted this update to the 2005 General Plan because of litigation regarding growth areas and airport land use compatibility policies, this Plan includes policies that promote Watsonville as a livable community with a compact urban center with access to jobs and housing. The Plan encourages clustering services near housing in order to reduce car trips. The Plan promotes pedestrian and bicycle connections throughout the City and encourages citizens to use alternative modes of transportation. The Plan would have established higher density mixed-use development zones along critical corridors, including Freedom Boulevard and East Lake Avenue, and in the downtown. See the attached staff memorandum for a preliminary list of goals, policies and implementation measures that may be applicable for inclusion in the Downtown Specific Plan. Please note, however, that the City would like to explore allowing even higher densities than envisioned and/or the flexibility of using FAR instead of density standards for mixed-use projects with a residential component.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The City is looking for a qualified firm to assist in the development of a Specific Plan for downtown Watsonville. The proposed downtown area boundary has been expanded to include transitional areas between residential and industrial uses as well as the historic train depot and the bus station. It is envisioned that the City's 2005 General Plan will need to be amended to increase the permitted density and FAR limits established for Downtown, and that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) will be prepared for both the General Plan Amendments and Downtown Specific Plan. Objectives for the Specific Plan include the development of multi-story mixed use buildings through both new construction and adaptive reuse of historic buildings with market rate residential housing and commercial retail on the first floor. The plan will encourage compact development near transit to decrease automobile dependency, reduce both local and regional traffic congestion and related greenhouse gas emissions, and provide additional guidance and plans to increasing multimodal access to and from the historic Downtown area.
Another key objective of the Downtown Specific Plan is to establish development standards and design guidelines to facilitate and encourage walking, bicycling, and transit use. In addition, staff will be looking for a through discussion of implementation and financing measures necessary to carry out the Specific Plan.
PROJECT COMPLETION SCHEDULE
The project schedule should enable final adoption of the Specific Plan and EIR by January 2020. It is expected that the consultant will be able to formally begin work on the project in September 2018, with completion of the draft plan by September 2019. The project schedule must include provision for the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) process, community workshops and public hearings as outlined further in the Scope of Work. The document is to be prepared in consultation with a TAC appointed by City Council and comprised of property owners and local stakeholders. The consultant shall provide a detailed schedule of work built around these target dates and shall inform the City if schedule modifications are recommended.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
GENERAL
The consultant shall prepare amendments to the 2005 General Plan and a Specific Plan in accordance with Government Code Section 65450 et. seq. to implement the amended general plan. The proposal should address all studies, activities and disciplines necessary to complete the Plan. Consultant responsibilities are those listed below which are not exhaustive. The City encourages innovation in concept, design and implementation. It is not intended that the plan include construction level engineering and design; however, the work must be of adequate detail to evaluate needs, capacity and cost.
- Assemble and review existing information and data.
- Develop new information and data to support the Plan.
- Present background information and data, either within the plan document, or as a separate compendium. The consultant's recommendation on the most effective approach is requested. All information should be made available in electronic format suitable for display on the City's web site.
- Subcontract as needed with other consultants in specific disciplines and manage any such subcontracts including: coordination, editing and integration of sub-consultant work into the format and style of the lead consultant, management of time schedules and billing, insurance, etc. Except as otherwise noted, the City will not be responsible for separate contracts with any sub-consultants.
- Prepare all text, illustrations and maps contained in the Plan. Provide administrative draft(s) for internal City review, a screen check draft, a public review draft, and final documents reflecting all modifications directed by the City. Provide documents in sufficient quantity for review by City officials, property owners and for public circulation, and provide all materials in an electronic format suitable for publication on the City's website.
- Provide new maps and diagrams as necessary. The consultant will be required to develop all maps and exhibits in the latest version of ArcGIS or compatible form, so that all work produced by the consultant can also be manipulated and reproduced by City GIS staff without any technical or conversion problems. Refer to additional discussion below.
- Prepare an infrastructure cost analysis and a phasing plan for financing infrastructure taking into account market factors and site conditions.
- Develop CEQA alternatives including roadway improvements.
- Coordinate with the City to ensure consistency of documents and that they are mutually supportive.
SCOPE OF WORK
See the RFP at https://www.cityofwatsonville.org/DocumentCenter/View/8087 for detailed tasks and milestones.
PROPOSAL FORMAT
Proposals should be organized in the following sequence:
- Cover letter
- Statement of understanding of assignment
- Proposed tasks
- Proposed subcontracting and work scope for each sub-consultant
- Proposed public participation program with roles and responsibilities
- Project schedule/timeline by task and task sequencing (chart format)
- Cost proposal by task and total cost
- Consultant staff assignments and level of involvement of principals
- Discussion of availability of assigned staff
- Distance impacts - discussion of how distance (for consultants more than 60-miles from Watsonville) will be mitigated during project and effects on fees and project approach
- Consultant concerns or alternative approaches
- Consultant expectations of City staff
- Statement of agreement to standard city consulting contract and insurance requirements
- Firm profile