Year in Review: Santa Rosa rips up downtown to restore pedestrian square

After two decades of debate, 2016 was the year that Santa Rosa decided to make Old Courthouse Square whole again.

Fifty years after knocking down its courthouse and punching four lanes of traffic through its center, the city began the painful, messy and expensive process of reunifying the two halves of the pedestrian square.

The ambitious project is behind schedule, $500,000 over budget and creating headaches for downtown drivers, pedestrians and businesses alike.

But Mayor Chris Coursey is among the many excited about the project as ever, pleased to see the progress that crews are making, and looking forward to the final product.

“I also think this will be one of the biggest stories of 2017 when it’s done,” Coursey said. “Because instead of being a story about ripping up the middle of our city, it’ll be a story about transforming the middle of our city.”

Sidelined in the 1990s by disagreement among downtown businesses and derailed again six years ago by the recession, the reunification effort resurged last year after downtown business leaders got together to advocate for a simpler, less-expensive design.

The cost of the previous design - which included several buildings, a light arbor, elaborate glass fountain and limited parking - had swelled to $17 million, and business leaders realized that it was unlikely to ever get built.

So a group called the Coalition to Restore Courthouse Square in 2015 began advocating for a project more like the successful plazas of Sonoma and Healdsburg. They envisioned a square ringed by side streets with plenty of parking, wide sidewalks, and a flexible space in the center suitable for both everyday use and special events like concerts and farmer’s markets.

They caught the City Council at just the right time.

Mayor John Sawyer, a former longtime downtown merchant and strong reunification supporter, kept his council colleagues working together collaboratively on the project. The previous mayor, architect Scott Bartley, had been closely associated with the previous square design.

The economy had also rebounded, leaving city coffers more flush than in prior years. In leaner years, city leaders had suggested private funds were the only way reunification could move forward.

And the City Council in 2015 was feeling confident in its new city manager, Sean McGlynn, who brought a fresh perspective to the project and pledged to bring it in under $10 million and in a single construction season.

Compared to previous efforts, the redesign process was quick, involving just a few public meetings.

Many members of the public were irate the new design called for the removal of 91 of the 114 trees in the square, including eight of 30 mature redwoods. When chainsaws came out in February to chop down the larger trees to prevent birds and bats from nesting in them, they were met with protesters who called the move shameful.

Others called it foolhardy for the city to sever a major artery through downtown.

Since 1966, when planners opted to extend four lanes of Mendocino Avenue through the square, the road became a primary north-south route through the city.

But officials hope diverting most of that traffic one block west onto B Street will make the square a quieter, more pedestrian friendly destination that will benefit surrounding businesses.

While critics had a hard time seeing how anything but gridlock could result from blocking off Mendocino Avenue, when it happened in August, impacts on traffic were minimal.

The project - including the removal and storage of beloved panels on the Ruth Asawa fountain - proceeded largely according to plan until the perils of digging in a downtown environment became apparent.

In mid-August, a worker using a tractor to dig a trench cut into a live power line, frying the tractor in spectacular fashion. Hours later a worker severed a gas line in front of the Empire Building, sending a plume of pungent gas into the air

The contractor, Thompson Builders Corp. of Novato, worked through the issues and tried to get back on track despite an unusually wet October.

But redesign of the square’s electrical system set the project back, as did the discovery of an aged underground heating oil tank, with about 800 gallons of black oil still inside.

The following day, the popular Flavor Bistro adjacent to the square closed its doors for good after 12 years downtown. It joined two other less-established restaurants that were shuttered downtown since the project started.

The Chamber of Commerce bit its tongue and moved its annual tree lighting to a new location. But some downtown businesses have been vocal in their critique of a project that was supposed to be finished Nov. 18 but will now extend into March.

While the delays have been frustrating, there are signs that the city’s bet is paying off. Developer Hugh Futrell stepped forward recently to turn the historic but mostly vacant Empire Building and an uninspiring neighboring structure into a 62-unit boutique hotel.

The reunification project has always had as one of its primary goals the revitalization of the downtown business environment.

So for that to be underway even before the work is finished is encouraging and a sign that the City Council made the right call, Coursey said.

“To actually see that happening is very exciting, and I think it’s just the beginning,” Coursey said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to remove the description of the former courthouse as “earthquake-damaged.” The courthouse was removed in part because of concerns about earthquake safety.