:: R Street Corridor ::

R Street Urban Design Plan Adopted by City Council After 2 ½ years of community input and technical work, the R Street Urban Design Plan was finally presented and adopted by the Sacramento City Council on Tuesday September 5, 2006. The Urban Design Plan contains policies and guidelines for both the public and private realms for R Street between 9th and 19th Streets. The most significant guidelines relate to the R Street Streetscape. New street cross sections were adopted into the Central City Community Plan. Building and other streetscape guidelines were adopted into the City’s Central City Neighborhood Design Guideline document. These new city policies and guidelines will help complete the community’s goals and vision for the R Street Corridor. Thanks to everyone who played a part in creating the urban design vision. R Street Urban Design Plan Implementation Begins The City of Sacramento recently started work on the first streetscape project to implement the R Street Urban Design Guidelines. This initial project will redevelop the street right-of-way (ROW) from 10th to 13th Streets. Currently the City’s design consultant, Mark Thomas Company, is developing initial project designs. This fall the City and CADA will be meeting with individual stakeholders to talk about the initial designs and understand the implications of the project will have on area business and property owners. The design and environmental review of the project will not be completed until Spring of 2007. After the design has been approved the City will prepare for the construction phases of the project. Construction of the project will take place in two phases. The first phase will begin reconstruction of R Street between 11th and 12th Streets in 2007 in order to support the needed improvements for Capitol Lofts Condominium Development. The City anticipates starting the second phase of the project between 10th to 11th Streets and 12th and 13th Streets, sometime in the summer 2008. This work is largely funded through a federal transportation grant secured by the late Congressman Robert Matsui in 2004. 13th and 16th Street Light Rail Station Improvements Coming Soon The long awaited Light Rail Station improvement project will begin this fall. Currently the City and Regional Transit need the funds released by the State to start the design process. Once the funding is in place, Regional Transit will select a design consultant. A series of public workshops for the project are planned to take place in early 2007. Visit the R Street website for further updates. R Street Zoning Amendments …Looking for Community Input The City of Sacramento recently proposed a number of amendments to the Special Planning District (SPD) Zoning regulations for the R Street Corridor. The amendments were proposed by the City of Sacramento Planning Division to address issues raised by developers and property owners over the strict and sometimes confusing nature of the SPD. The amendments included a number of small changes and clarifications but also include modifications to larger issues such as density and height. The Amendments were presented to the City’s Planning Commission on July 27, 2006. After listening to community concerns about the proposed amendments, the Planning Commission instructed City Staff to conduct additional public outreach. The City’s planning division is currently working on a public outreach approach that should be implemented this fall/winter. We will keep you posted. CADA R Street Area Affordable Housing Earlier in the year CADA issued a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for limited funds to assist the development of affordable housing along R Street. No proposals have been submitted as of September 12, 2006 for the $121,000 available in funding. For further information contact Tom Kigar at CADA (322-2114) or visit the CADA website at www.cadanet.org. R Street Project Updates Café Bernardo/R15 A new restaurant/bar has emerged at the former Icon Restaurant located at the corner of 15th and R Streets. On Friday, September 7th, Restaurateur Randy Paragary opened a new Café Bernardo restaurant on the 15th Street side and a new bar called R15, anchoring the corner of 15th and R Streets. The set-up is similar to the popular Monkey Bar and Café Bernardo’s combination located at the corner of 28th and Capitol Ave. The new Café Bernardo will offer the same great menu and service as its other locations in Davis and Sacramento. R15 will provide full food service and the Café Bernardo menu till 4 PM when the menu expands to include some “Modern Bar Food” choices. The food is not the only item awaiting patrons at R15. Dubbed “America’s first Barcade”, the bar fits fifteen 42-inch flatscreen TV’s on a matrix for requested programming from the establishment’s ten cable boxes. When sports or other programming have ended, R15 will be play music videos from a library of 9000 videos in 16 bit audio. Additional entertainment at R15 is provided by four pool tables and three wirleless X-box 360’s. Two smaller rooms or “living rooms” are available for lounging with their own flat screen monitor, sectional couch, coffee table, and server. The CADA R Street Project Area is generally 9th to 19th Streets and Q to S Streets. If you wish to receive this bimonthly newsletter electronically, please contact CADA at www.cadanet.org to request your name be placed on the newsletter mailing list. For further information contact Todd Leon, CADA’s R Street Development Manager, at (916) 323-1272.