Healdsburg to close downtown street to support plaza businesses

Healdsburg will join Santa Rosa, Windsor and other cities across the Bay Area and nation in temporarily curbing vehicle traffic in part of its downtown to give businesses staggered by the pandemic more space to expand their operations onto sidewalks and into the street.

The City Council voted 4-0 on Monday to shut down traffic on a block and a half of Plaza Street, from Healdsburg Avenue to past Center Street, endorsing a closure that could start as soon as this weekend and span at least five weeks through the Labor Day holiday.

The decision was a compromise after an earlier, more extensive plan involving other streets garnered pushback from local retailers last month, delaying the project. The council rejected another option that would have settled on a partial closure of Plaza Street, which runs along the northern edge of the popular plaza.

“I think the full closure makes a lot of sense,” Mayor Evelyn Mitchell said Monday during the virtual meeting. “The idea of a half-closure made me nervous, thinking I’d be sitting eating dinner and having a car go right by me. Just the whole vision of that just didn’t work. So this does. It will make it really a good opportunity for everybody to enjoy the extended plaza.”

The closure stemmed from a request made by two Plaza Street restaurants — Duke’s Spirited Cocktails and The Brass Rabbit — where representatives asked the city to consider plans put in place elsewhere in the Bay Area to spur business amid the pandemic.

With the approval, the two eateries plan to introduce fenced “parklets” with chairs and tables on the sidewalk and in the roadway next to the plaza, offering patrons additional outdoor dining options. A few other nearby restaurants have already extended service into adjacent plaza parking spaces. City officials hope it all leads to more residents and visitors heading into downtown to eat, drink and also visit the nearby retail shops that are also straining to survive.

“This time of year, August to September, is historically the busiest time of year,” Arron Flores, general manager of The Brass Rabbit, said of the peak tourism season. “If people can dine out in the streets and walk around and drink in town, it will draw more people. Right now, we’re not seeing a lot of traffic and feel this might entice people to come and support the local businesses.”

The move hasn’t been popular with all business owners, however. A few retailers and an art gallery on Plaza Street each stood in opposition, believing the plan will aid the restaurants while taking away crucial parking that draws people into their stores.

A pair of Plaza Street retail shop owners, Ronnie Kemper of Rainsong Shoes and Chris Bryant of clothing outfitters One-O-One and Outlander Men’s Gear, each stated skepticism the plan would do anything other than hurt their foot traffic.

“Whenever they close the street, we don’t have business, because people can’t park and people don’t mosey on over. We lose all of our business,” Kemper said. She also voiced doubt about the prospects and safety of the city’s other move to loosen rules on open consumption of alcohol in certain public areas of downtown, including the plaza and surrounding streets and sidewalks.

“That means the restaurants will be on the street and people drinking, which defeats the purpose of the COVID thing, where now they’re gathering, and you can’t eat or drink with a mask on. It’s just kind of a combination nightmare for me,” Kemper said.

“I don’t want to be what people keep calling more European,” added Bryant. “We’re very European in this town already, and don’t want to have all this selling in the streets. Other than dining in the streets, I see no benefit to closing the streets.”

Santa Rosa in its three-block closure of Fourth Street, between B and E streets, has seen a similar split develop between restaurants and retailers after deploying the plan earlier this month. Healdsburg interim City Manager Dave Kiff on Monday said other cities he consulted noted a “generally great” experience for businesses serving food, while labeling the benefit for retailers as “uneven.”

The Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce has not weighed in with a formal position. But Tallia Hart, the group’s chief executive officer, said she supported moving ahead with the experiment to see how it plays out for the mix of businesses on the Healdsburg Plaza.

“That’s how businesses grow, by trying things,” Hart said by phone. “It’s an adjustable solution. If it’s successful, great, let’s build upon it and evolve. If not, it’s good that it’s not a permanent thing and we can go back and make adjustments to see what could be better.”

Nine residents spoke during the City Council public comment period Monday, with eight of them encouraging the concept pending some layout changes. The outlier was Janet Ciel, the local farmers market manager, who remained neutral and suggested her own plan for relocating the weekly market in the plaza while the Plaza Street closure is in effect.

“I’m actually hoping it will become permanent. I think it’s the future,” Deb Kravitz, a local attorney, said in an interview. “COVID may be the excuse for doing it, but I think there is a larger push to make Healdsburg more pedestrian- and bike-friendly, and so I think it’s sort of putting a toe in the water, testing for that.”

Councilman Ozzy Jimenez, participating in his first City Council meeting since his appointment three weeks ago to a vacant seat, opted to recuse himself from the discussion and decision, citing potential conflict as a downtown business owner. Jimenez and his partner, Christian Sullberg, own Noble Folk Ice Cream & Pie Bar and Moustache Baked Goods, both located on the Healdsburg Plaza and near Plaza Street.

Sullberg, speaking about the couple’s second Noble Folk location on Fourth Street in downtown Santa Rosa, earlier this month told The Press Democrat that he supported the city’s planned street closure through Oct. 15. “I think it’s been needed for a while,” Sullberg said.

“We have a great, walkable downtown and we want to expand that,” Councilman David Hagele said Monday. “We’re in uncharted territories with this, and with a city of our size, we have an ability to pivot quickly toward good ideas, and we have the ability to pivot quickly away from bad ideas. And I think this is one we should try.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.