Windsor seeks input on future of Town Green

Windsor’s Town Green is the community’s proud accomplishment - the centerpiece of a new downtown that started with a parklike square, followed by a mix of surrounding homes, shops and restaurants. It long has been touted as a model of smart growth and walkability.

Despite occasional snickers about its artificial, even Disneyland-like facade, the Town Green Village has won awards and accolades. But the Town Green is incomplete in the view of town officials, especially on its northern edge and just beyond, where some civic buildings now stand.

To make the Town Green all that it can be, the Town Council this month approved a $200,000 “visioning study” intended to maximize its potential and create more of a cohesive, mixed-use downtown.

The study, by the same high-flying Philadelphia-based firm that worked on the original concept for the 4.5-acre Town Green 20 years ago, is intended to drum up ideas for potential new uses for land now occupied by Town Hall, the police station, the library and the Huerta Gymnasium.

In soliciting input from residents, developers, business owners and other stakeholders, it could help spark another renaissance of sorts for the downtown, which supplanted a ?blighted, dusty neighborhood.

“It’s time to really look at should we fully activate this northerly portion of the green, and if so, what would that look like? What would the community like to see in the future and what will it take to get there?” Town Manager Linda Kelly said.

Councilwoman Deb Fudge said it’s a proactive approach.

“We are not sitting back and letting developers propose something,” she said. “We will create our own vision and move forward with it.”

The study is advancing at the same time as the area around the Town Green continues to develop and activity is picking up. An Oliver’s Market is scheduled to open this spring and several large proposed apartment projects would add almost 800 units to the area.

But Windsor officials also want to attract other development to the green - possibly a boutique hotel, likely more housing, and perhaps a performing arts center.

The contract for the study awarded to Wallace Roberts & Todd will examine everything from parking to occupancy and vacancy of buildings, street networks, and development of a retail strategy, with the aim to maximize the potential of the Town Green.

The company, which has a branch in San Francisco, has helped breathe new life into public spaces and parks, with civic and cultural projects from Washington, D.C., to Nashville, Tenn., Philadelphia and St. Louis. It has produced master plans for large developments in international locations from Colombia to Cambodia.

Based on community feedback in the late 1990s, it came up with the concept for the Windsor Town Green, a grassy expanse crisscrossed by walkways, with trees, fountains, gazebos and benches, a children’s play area and a Windsor historical timeline walk.

“They knew how to listen to the community and put the vision into a new plan that would work,” Fudge said.

More than just an open space feature, the green - dedicated in 2001 - was programmed with a weekly farmers market, thriving summer concerts, theater events and holiday celebrations.

The consultants are now being tasked with scrutinizing the best type of uses for an area that is home to many of the civic center buildings. The site includes the Windsor Regional Library. The building is owned by the town, but the library is run by the Sonoma County Library.

“The question is, is maintaining the civic center as it is … the best use of town property?” Kelly said.

“Do we really need a gymnasium on the green, or could it likely move to Keiser Park? And what could the property be used for? A hotel or something commercial, or retail establishments?”

She emphasized that Windsor officials don’t want to prejudge or color the perception of what will happen and are seeking broad community involvement in a series of workshops and public meetings beginning next month.

The visioning exercise, expected to be completed in August, is going forward at the same time as another $150,000 study that is looking at potentially relocating Town Hall or adding new stories to the building, which occupies an oak-studded former junior high school site.

“We’re looking at the logistics of what it takes to relocate the Town Hall and what sort of space we’ll need,” said Windsor Economic Development Manager Robert Ramirez. “It could end up the Town Hall ends up being here in a different form, or is somewhere else.”

The genesis for the Town Green came around the same time another plan helped usher in shops, town homes and row houses around the public space in a collaboration with developer Orrin Thiessen.

Windsor spent $22 million in redevelopment funds for street construction, infrastructure improvements and acquiring the Town Green, the latter supplemented by county open space money.

Thiessen built about 270 residential dwellings and 100 commercial condo units for shops, restaurants and offices there before going bankrupt in 2011 when the economy tanked.

Although redevelopment programs later were dissolved by the state, Kelly, the town manager, said there could be some public-private partnerships to finance new civic facilities. Typically, private money is used to pay for upfront costs and cities lease back the facility.

Fudge is excited about the potential that could be unleashed. She sees a need for more nightlife, a 24-hour downtown with employment possibilities and startups, fueled by creative entrepreneurs and millennials.

But it won’t transform overnight.

“It’s a five- or 10-year plan. It won’t start tomorrow,” she said.

Editor’s note” The story has been updated to clarify that the Windsor library is run by the Sonoma County Library.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@clarkmas.