Council wants action on Village Entrance

The City Council spent about half of its annual retreat talking about the Village Entrance project.

A top council priority in 2012, the project was the major topic of discussion again this year at the retreat, held Saturday at the South County Water District offices on West Street.Other companies want a piece of that iPhone headset action

"Over 18 years ago, a Village Entrance task force of community members, including representatives from our Planning Commission, Arts Commission, arts and business groups — as well as Village Laguna — created a concept for the Village Entrance," said Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Pearson.

The concept included rehabbing the historical digester building and putting it to use, creating a meandering pedestrian park, and constructing a parking garage that isn't a visual blight while adding parking spaces.

Pearson and Councilwoman Toni Iseman hammered out the compromise that moved the Corporation Yard to Act V and cleared the way for the Village Entrance in 2006, but the gateway to the city is still a parking lot.

"We need to follow through … and create a beautiful entryway into our city that includes additional parking," Pearson said.

Pearson and Iseman have been conferring this past year on how to get the concept off the drawing board.

"The Village Entrance is more than a park and a parking structure," Iseman said Tuesday. "We have to integrate the information from all the studies and reports to do things right.

"Parking, the Downtown Specific Plan, the Art District, shuttles and the transit system all have to be considered."

The project won't be cheap, but it is doable, provided the council reverts to using the city's parking fund for what it was intended — the creation of parking spaces, such as the Glenneyre Street Parking structure, according to Pearson.

Pearson has long been critical of the practice of transferring parking funds to the general fund to balance the city's budget, about $7 million in 10 years.

She said untapped parking revenue would support a revenue bond to help pay for the Village Entrance and some funding for the park,Laser engraving and laser laser cutting machine for materials like metal, garage and the digester might be available through grants.

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