Join in to plan Healdsburg's future

An 80-acre tract at Healdsburg's southern gateway will be laid out like a series of fluid Monopoly boards Tuesday, with city residents acting as players in a "futurama" visioning process.

"We want to get a sense of the desired big-picture scenario first, so that we can then go back and run through the traffic models," said architect Tim Rood, a consultant whose firm was hired to help Healdsburg develop a master plan for the 80-acre southern gateway tract. "Right now, there's a lot of moving pieces."

With eight people seated per table -- each one supplied with moveable tags, glue sticks and marking pens -- the process of gathering residents' true wishes for the future of that section of Healdsburg will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, at gymnasium, at the intersection of East and Tucker streets.

Goal of Tuesday's process is for city leaders and staff to gauge public opinion on redevelopment concepts at the 80-acre tract bounded by Russian River frontage, railroad tracks and Healdsburg Avenue south of Mill Street to the Central Healdsburg  freeway exit to Highway 101.

Details up for consideration will range from sidewalks to housing styles to intersection design, neighborhood character and freeway exits -- among many others.

"We want to get a sense of direction," Rood said. "No clear decisions will be made --- we just want to gather more information and have more analysis."

Rood, speaking at a March 1 briefing to prepare members and other leaders for Tuesday's major planning process, said that moving pieces range from the general to the specific--and everything in between.

For example, citizens will get to choose from one or more of three general ideas for the tract.

Co-consultant Jim Heid said the ideas were to "capture a bigger visiion," he said.

"We just want to get a sense of place, a gestalt," he added. "These are not meant to be mutually exclusive."

Three ideas currently on the table are:

--"Transit Neighborhood," an intergenerational area, with a mix of multifamily and smaller-unit housing, with limited retail, neighborhood parks and open space;

--"Artisan Village," an entrepreneurial, small crafts setting, with live-work studios and galleries and less structured open space;

--"Core User District," a setting based on a specific core user, such as a hospital, college, retreat center or company, with a campus-like setting.

Rood and Heid said that a majority of citizens who attended earlier meetings  seem to like  the "Artisan Village" concept. Four previous public forums were held by the project group,  known as the

However, at the March 1 briefing, committee member Ray Holley told Rood that the title "Artisan Village" should be modified to reflect more of the trades-oriented, blue collar roots of the neighborhood.

Holley said there should be an understanding that there's also going to be tradespeople such as woodcutters and ironworkers located there, not just art galleries. Rood said he would work on a new title for "Artisan Village."

Other items to be considered by residents are: Changes to the five-way intersection at Vine and Mill streets and Healdsburg Avenue; pedestrian traffic at the proposed new ; whether to relocate the Central Healdsburg exit of Highway 101 interchange; and details for how Foss Creek will  moves through that area sound of Mill Street.

After Tuesday's event, Rood said he to report back to Healdsburg City Council on April 5. By May, he and Heid expect to develop a preview of the elements preferred by the community, with a second community workshop to be set in mid-May to review the preferences.

A draft master plan for the 80-acre tract is expected by June, Rood said.

Rood, of Oakland-Based Community Design + Architecture, and Heid, of UrbanGreen of San Francisco, are part of a team of consultants under contract with the city to help study the 80-acre area in preparation for the city's creating a master plan for redevelopment.

$500,000 consultant team contract.