Pacific Grove Lighthouse Sidewalk widening project moves forward

PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. (KION) -- The Pacific Grove Lighthouse Sidewalk widening project is moving forward.

Wednesday night Pacific Grove City Council voted 4-2 to approve the bidding portion of the construction project on Lighthouse and Fountain Avenue. The project would allow the sidewalk to extend 26 feet from the buildings.

It would require demolishing the three parklets that restaurants have on Lighthouse and Fountain Avenue. City leaders said the construction project would enhance driver and pedestrian visibility.

Something that people who live on the Central Coast couldn't agree more with.

"I almost got hit by a car here, a large truck taking a right turn." said Camuron Pryor, who lives in Monterey.

The Pacific Grove Lighthouse Sidewalk widening project has an estimated cost of around $400,000. The business owner of Aliotti's Victorian corner restaurant said she is in support of the project, but others not so much.

"What's going to hurt the business is that it may not have the amenities that we have now. it certainly 75 square feet smaller." said Liz Jacobs, owner of Wild Fish restaurant.

Pacific Grove Mayor Bill Peake said he acknowledges more projects need to be done in the city, widening the sidewalks on Lighthouse and Fountain Avenue, is one of them.

"There's many different projects that we can be doing across the city, however this one would help our downtown and sets a path forward." said Peake.

Mayor Peak said the request for proposals, the timeline of the project and other company qualifications are public. City leaders said the request for proposals will be on the city website soon.

ORIGINAL STORY

Parklet problems continue in Pacific Grove. The city is pushing back discussions to next week on the future of three parklets on a busy road in Pacific Grove. The main reason for the changes is safety.

"Safety wins over seating," said Frank Syster who lives in Pacific Grove.

"I think it's great to have a pedestrian-oriented city, and I think this just makes us more pedestrian, which is great," said Dea Greenwalt who lives in Pacific Grove.

Liz Jacobs who owns Wild Fish is devastated at the possibility of taking down her parklet and finds it unfair only certain restaurants will be impacted by the possible changes.

"If we, you know, have to be penalized for losing the financial benefit of having the parklets and the other restaurants get to enjoy the financial benefit, the financial benefit of keeping theirs. It's, you know, not fair," said Jacobs.

According to the report, she would lose 76 square feet of space, her neighbor would only lose 9.

"So we did that looking at the number of tables we would lose in this plan and we would lose hundreds of thousands," said Jacobs.

On top of losing revenue, Liz is also upset about losing some amenities like overhead shelter and heating, which are not in the blueprint.

According to city officials, the reasoning for these changes stems from safety concerns.

The proposed parklets would make visibility greater for pedestrians and shorten crossing distances.

This project will cost over $250,000. Over $13,000 have already been spent on preparing drawings and some engineering according to the mayor of Pacific Grove Bill Peake.

Even with money already laid out on the table, the change has not yet been approved.

"I can tell you that I would like when all this starts, I would like to see it happen very quickly so that the, business owners have the smallest impact," said Peake.

Before changes are made, Liz hopes to come to a workable agreement with the city.

"We're not, like opposed to change for it's, you know, for the sake of change. We're really happy to do something, but it has to be better than approved. And it has to be what, you know, in our eyes, actually looks like a workable plan," said Jacobs.

According to the stakeholder feedback, the two other restaurants impacted are not opposed to the changes. The consensus of the stakeholder group is to quote just build, and an agreement was made that the construction should occur this June.

The city plans to revisit this topic on Wednesday.