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Public Works - Construction Projects

Posted on: June 22, 2021

Mission Park - Main Street Frontage Improvements

Project Description

The Mission Park Main Street Frontage Improvement project is located along Main Street just west of Figueroa Plaza adjacent to Mission Park (Attachments A, B, and C). Historically this area of Main Street is one of the highest used parking areas in the Downtown Corridor. The paid metered area is comprised of 543 on-street spaces, of which 339 are paid. Main Street Moves removed 190 of the paid prime parking spaces on Main Street. With the addition of new restaurants and the removal of those parking spaces, the demand for additional parking is critical.

This project was ranked number one on the Downtown Parking Advisory Committee's priority list of capital projects and was vetted through the Parks and Recreation Commission and approved on June 24, 2020. This project will add nineteen (19) additional metered parking spaces (including one ADA space) to encourage short-term parking and turnover. The new parking spaces will help with the demand for additional parking to serve downtown businesses, the San Buenaventura Basilica Mission Church, and the Ventura County Museum. This project will also help activate Mission Park by providing better access to the park's resources, remove deteriorating infrastructure, and opening it up to Main Street (Attachment D,E). In coordination with Gold Coast Transit, the adjacent bus stops will be relocated to locations east of Palm Street. The approximately 9,450 sq. ft. of landscape area and the existing stairs will be removed and regraded.

The improvements will also remove the three large trees including their planters and they will be replaced by three (3) new trees along the new sidewalk. The existing trees have reached the end of their useful life and need to be removed. This was highlighted recently during a high wind event when one of the trees blew over and had to be completely removed. These changes will allow the Ventura Police Department to have better visibility into the park, and it will remove most of the obscured locations behind the large planters that have shielded illegal activities in the past.

The existing slope behind the new sidewalk will tie into Mission Park. The existing grass in this area will be removed and new plant materials consisting of drought-tolerant plants and landscaping boulders will be installed as a part of this project (Attachments F, G, and H). The landscaping boulders will be set to allow a pathway to the park or to possible future workout equipment or informational signs pertaining to Mission Park. The proposed plant material and use of boulders has been coordinated with the City of Ventura Parks Department and approved by the Parks and Recreation Commission.