Last night City Council approved full street closures of Plaza Street between Healdsburg Avenue and Center Street and a portion of Plaza Street between Center Street and East Street. These closures are part of a pilot program - "Open Streets Healdsburg" - that expands public space for our community, businesses and visitors to help with physical distancing and places to stroll and sit in the downtown area.
This is a team effort requiring participation from multiple departments. As part of the preparation work our City of Healdsburg Fire Department team was out today testing the proposed street closure configuration to make sure they could access buildings should the need arise, our Healdsburg Police Department and our Public Works Department were reviewing barrier placements and other issues, and our Healdsburg Community Services team worked on the overall layout. The street closures will go into effect later this week, and the program is planned to run through September 8 when City Council will evaluate the outcomes.
We want to thank all the businesses and community members who have participated in 11 virtual meetings and one in-person meeting (physically distanced and masked) to discuss a number of different approaches to support our community including the use of sidewalks, parking spaces, parks, and streets. We will monitor the pilot program closely and make changes as needed, so stay tuned to the City’s social media and web site for updates.
For more information on the City’s work opening public spaces please visit our Marketspace web page at: cityofhealdsburg.org/987/Marketspace-Opening-Public-Spaces.