San Carlos council adopts downtown streetscape master plan after months of outreach

The San Carlos City Council adopted the Downtown Streetscape Master Plan on April 28, approving a vision that aims to remake the city’s six-block core with wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes and a flexible public plaza.

The council voted unanimously to approve a resolution adopting the plan as an appendix to a forthcoming downtown specific plan, after hearing a multi-hour presentation from staff and consultants and receiving public comment from residents, business owners and bicycle advocates.

The plan’s design team said the core change is wider walking space on Laurel and San Carlos avenues — expanding typical sidewalks from about 9½ feet to 20 feet in the 600–800 blocks and creating dedicated zones for outdoor dining, circulation and tree plantings. Consultant Jim Stickley said the redesign “goes from 9 and a half foot wide sidewalks to 20 foot wide sidewalks,” a change intended to accommodate outdoor dining, pedestrian flow and occasional festival setups while preserving emergency vehicle access.

Supporters told the council the plan would create a more pedestrian-friendly downtown and give the community new public space for concerts, markets and seasonal activities. Several residents and bicycle advocates urged strong bicycle parking and clear dismount rules for the proposed curbless 700 block, which is envisioned as the downtown’s central plaza and promenade.

Opponents and some nearby residents raised concerns about the plan’s potential to remove on-street parking and about access for older adults and people with mobility limitations. Staff responded that an inventory found spare capacity nearby, including empty spaces in the Wheeler garage during peak hours, and that the city will add or reassign required accessible on-street spaces as part of any street redesign.

Before adopting the plan, the council asked staff to make a set of clarifying edits: explicitly note that outdoor retail may use the proposed outdoor dining zones; treat the proposed Britain Avenue reconfiguration as an optional future study rather than a near-term change; correct an illustrative image referencing a channel water feature; and call out existing transit routes so the plan does not disrupt bus operations.

The council directed staff to include the plan in the downtown specific plan and to return with detailed design and implementation steps for the first-funded phase, which includes improvements around Harrington Park. Staff said funding options will include a mix of city funds, grants and potential community-benefit financing and that construction will be phased to limit business disruptions.

“Adopting the streetscape master plan does not itself approve construction,” project manager Lisa Porus told the council. “It provides a holistic guide for downtown transformation; each project will require design, engineering and further council direction before construction.”

The council’s action establishes the city’s preferred design approach and charts the work program for detailed engineering and phased projects that staff and consultants said could be implemented over many years, subject to funding availability and further public review.