If you haven’t already sent an email to get native landscaping back into the Gualala Streetscape project, please do it immediately! It’ll take 3 minutes and we need your help RIGHT NOW. The County will decide this matter this week and needs to read your comments first.
Unless County Planners restore the landscaping, Downtown Gualala could become a sea of concrete and asphalt with no plants. Or the entire project may be put on hold while the California Coastal Commission reviews the case, putting millions in funding at risk.
We need this landscaping for aesthetic and economic reasons. Without it, visitors would find little reason to visit our stores, restaurants, and hotels.
A bureaucratic government squabble is the obstacle. The County already maintains roads all around Gualala, but is refusing to take responsibility for the 0.4-mile Streetscape Project downtown. Caltrans won’t install landscaping unless the county does.
The No. 1 Goal in our Town Plan – our Local Coastal Plan -- is “to better integrate future development with the natural surroundings.” The plan specifically requires for low-profile, low-maintenance, low-irrigation plants in specific areas. The community approved the plan in May 2023 only after Caltrans showed illustrations like this.
PLEASE send an email NOW to the County Planning Dept. And Please cc: Save Gualala so we can keep track of your responses. Simply say something like this (Be sure to include the CDP_2024-0040 in your subject line and/or email):
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“CDP_2024-0040 I live, work, and shop in the Gualala area and want the County and Caltrans to restore landscaping to the Streetscape project now to avoid any further delays in this much-needed project. Landscaping is required in our Coastal Plan, and it’s critical for both aesthetic and economic reasons. “
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PLEASE sign with your own name and town (Gualala, TSR, Anchor Bay, Pt. Arena, etc.). It’s OK to send one for each member of your household.
PLEASE send your email RIGHT NOW to:
pbscommissions@mendocinocounty.gov
cc: SaveGualala@gmail.com
And if you’d like to attend the meeting in Ukiah, please tell us a SaveGualala@gmail.com