Breezeways would connect parking to downtown shops
Gilroy – Main street shoppers have different names for the corridors that slice through buildings and connect them to parking – breezeways, paseos, walkways. Soon, “cure-all” may be added to the list by city leaders facing a downtown parking crunch, complaints about safety and years of anxious waiting for a public restroom.
Parking has turned into a commodity overnight as new buildings rise on Monterey Street  – in several cases on the site of former parking lots – and new businesses and residents move into the area.
City plans call for paseos as a crucial link between Monterey Street and parking lots behind buildings on both sides of the road.
“It’s a huge advantage because of the fact that one of the challenges is to have an easy pedestrian flow from the parking areas to the main street,” Community Development Director Wendie Rooney said. “You want to keep the parking lots off the main street. You don’t want to eat up that prime retail, but when you have to walk all around the block and down the street, it’s an inhibition. A direct connection is vital.”
Downtown building owner Steve Ashford has offered to carve a 15- to 19-foot-wide paseo out of his building between Fifth and Fourth streets. In addition to offering a direct connection to the parking lot behind his building, Ashford is proposing to install public restrooms and a police booth, where officers could write reports and keep a closer eye on downtown.
“The bathrooms are a given,” Ashford said. “We don’t have public restrooms downtown and a week doesn’t go by that we don’t get asked if there’s a public bathroom. It’s the No. 1 thing people wanted to see on a downtown survey.”
Ashford has offered to build the paseo if the city is willing to buy it from him. Initial estimates for the work have come in at more than $150,000 he said. City leaders have yet to say if they will finance the creation of paseos, though Mayor Al Pinheiro said he supports the idea.
Paseos could help ease the parking crunch in downtown by easing the anxiety of area workers. Female employees in particular remain leery of off-street parking, despite the city’s efforts to increase lighting along alleys and side streets and in Eigleberry Street parking lots. Instead, they take up premium storefront spots on Monterey Street.
Dieanna Pemberton, a manager at the Rickenbacker Group, a collection agency on Monterey Street that employs 60 women, was encouraged by the prospect of a direct link to parking lots.
“We’ll feel secure especially with the police presence,” Pemberton said of Ashford’s idea for a paseo. “I think that’s an excellent idea. If he’s willing to do that, I think the city should step in and finance it.”
Ashford is not the only one discussing a paseo. Downtown developer Gary Walton also plans to build a paseo on the opposite side of Monterey Street, just north of old City Hall. The Gilroy Chamber of Commerce is also considering a paseo connecting Monterey Street to a parking lot one block south of Ashford’s store. The chamber has been criticized by area businesses for refusing to keep its existing paseo open around the clock. Chamber Executive Director Susan Valenta said it was unlikely they would open the existing paseo due to security concerns – both the chamber and Garlic Festival Association have large windows facing out onto the breezeway – but she said a building renovation now being planned might include a paseo without restrictions.
“If you’re looking at the long-term, that is a very viable option,” Valenta said. “It’s just premature to say anything for sure.”
A chamber subcommittee is crafting ideas for the site and expects to issue recommendations next year. At the same time, the city plans to start crafting more specific guidelines for paseos. State building codes allow walkways as narrow as 10 feet wide. Due to fire safety codes, Rooney said a paseo would have to measure 20 feet in width to meet safety regulations.
The city expects to issue the paseo guidelines in six months.
