Town Centre Workshop Summary

The Town Centre Workshop was extremely successful as approximately 100 owners, residents, and stakeholders came to the Paso Robles Inn Ballroom to provide their input into the future of Uptown and the Town Centre.

The consultant team described the existing condition of the Town Centre's buildings, sidewalks, streets, parks, and landscape and recommended ways of transforming the Town Centre into pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use district (link to Town Centre Workshop PowerPoint). After the presentation, the Consultant Team elicited extremely informative and thoughtful comments from the members of the community in attendance.

Following is a summary of the community's input:

I. Comments During Public Workshop

1. Parks and Landscape:
   
   1. Currently City Park is not conducive to large events. Improvements to better accommodate large events include:
      
      1. The introduction of larger open areas that are free of trees;
      2. Moving the gazebo to a different location within the park.
   2. Transform Robbins Field into a historic ballpark with scoreboards, bleachers, urban frontage, etc. Note that the Pittsburgh Pirates had their Spring training camp at Robbins field prior to World War II.
   3. There is not a lot of water in this area: how going to address water issue?
   4. Drought-tolerant trees and plants should be used and perhaps artificial turf could be used instead of grass.
   5. Dogs should not be allowed in public parks (dog urine is a health hazard for children who play in grass).
2. Sidewalks, Street Lights, and Walkability:
   
   1. Visitors to Downtown need to be educated about what a pedestrian-friendly environment is.
   2. Pedestrian-friendly routes should be provided to all neighborhoods that are within a 3-mile radius of Downtown.
   3. A bridge should be built across the freeway at 16th Street to improve the pedestrian character of Paso Robles.
   4. There is a lot of pedestrian traffic in Downtown on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
   5. Street lights should be shielded so as to not shine up into the sky. They should also be turned off at night after businesses close (excepting what illumination needs to be provided for safety).
3. Street Improvements:
   
   1. Spring Street: With the exception of the Downtown core, Spring Street needs significant improvement.
   2. Per the existing zoning code, the portion of Spring Street south of 10th Street allows zero-setbacks. This competes with the Downtown core by diluting the sense of arrival when motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists reach the Downtown core area;
   3. Per the existing zoning code, the portion of Spring Street between 17th and 20th Streets is zoned residential and office. This has preserved the residential character of this portion of Spring Street and as such provides a refreshing anecdote to the rest of Spring Street.
   4. Would like to see introduction of bike rentals for daily use.
   5. Make southern entry into Paso Robles more "comfortable."
4. Buildings and Uses
   
   1. What incentives will be provided to encourage developers to build multi-use buildings with affordable apartments on upper floors?
   2. Paso Robles is in desperate need of a Community Cultural Facility. Would love to see in Town Centre area, but it is difficult to find a suitable site.
   3. Paso Robles is in desperate need of a conference center facility (Currently, the Paso Robles Inn Ballroom is the largest indoor venue in Paso Robles other than buildings at the Paso Robles Event Center. The conference center project could be financed and built by the private sector.
5. Housing
   
   1. Historic housing stock has been preserved in some areas, but not in others. Would like to see the introduction of a consistent and enforceable historic preservation policy.
   2. There is concern that any style guidelines that are introduced as part of the Uptown / Town Centre Specific Plan effort might be too stringent and consequently price people out of being able to afford the cost of development.
   3. Permit fees are currently too expensive.
   4. How will increased density affect individual lots?
6. Parking
   
   1. In favor of pedestrian-friendly Downtown, however where will cars be parked?
   2. On non-event days, the Paso Robles Event Center parking lot sits empty. Perhaps this can be used as offsite parking for Downtown that is connected via a shuttle bus.
   3. Do not put in parking meters.
7. Cost
   
   1. What are financial mechanisms to allow upgrading of Spring Street?
   2. Introduce commemorative brick program to help finance improvements.
8. Miscellaneous
   
   1. Would like to see the introduction of a bike rental program.
   2. Sewer and settling basins at City's water treatment plant: what can be done about the smell that these produce?
   3. Pagosa Springs, Colorado is a successful example of a town that was built next to a river and atop a sulfur spring and would serve as a great precedent for Paso Robles.

II. Comments after Public Workshop

1. Parking:
   
   1. Motorcycle parking needs to be provided in Town Centre
   2. Town Centre visitors want to park close to where they are going not at edge.
   3. Big rig trucks that currently park on 26th Street near Spring Street impede deliveries for 26th Street businesses.
2. Housing
   
   1. Would like to see housing for young people. Currently there are no incentives for young people to stay in Paso Robles