Gualala's Future: Natural Wonderland or 'Sterile Strip Mall'
If you thought the great debate over the Gualala Streetscape ended with the raucous Town Hall last October, think again. Not surprisingly, the 64-foot-wide highway concept that surfaced in that meeting doesn’t fit very well into the 60-foot right-of-way. Now Caltrans is again seeking community input on what to do.
The answer to that question will define Gualala for the next half-century as either an idyllic nature-loving community for visitors and residents or what Cypress Village HOA President Will Merget called “a sterile San Jose strip mall.” While an earlier plan featured native landscaping alongside three traffic lanes, the newer concept is a barren four-lane plaza of asphalt and concrete stretching from businesses on the east to those on the west.
For the 17 years before last summer, the choice was obvious. It is spelled out in the black letter law of the Gualala Town Plan. The Plan, part of the Mendocino County building code, was developed from input from hundreds of people over a 12-year period before it was finally adopted in 2002 by the Board of Supervisors and the California Coastal Commission.
Despite its age, the document reads like it was written last week by environmentalists discussing global warming. While Sea Ranchers pride themselves for “living lightly on the land,” the Town Plan mandates similar standards for Gualala.
The primary stated goal of the plan is “to preserve and enhance the rural, coastal character of the town of Gualala, to better integrate future development with the natural surroundings, to protect and restore coast views, and to improve public access to the coast.”
By that measure alone, it’s easy to understand why many Gualalans fume at a highway proposal that would replace the current 22-foot blacktop roadway with a plaza nearly three times that width for six-tenths of a mile from Old State Highway to Ocean Drive.
Ironically, many environmentally minded residents helped to generate the mall concept in the mistaken belief that the earlier approach would immediately eliminate highway parking near the Surf Market. As we’ll explain later, it wouldn’t. But unless those people revise their comments now, their earlier positions will help pave over downtown Gualala.
The obvious compromise would be to drop one of the two lanes of parking added during last fall’s Town Hall. That would shrink the project’s width and restore other elements of the Town Plan, including the landscaping. It would also allow delivery trucks and motorhomes to pull over. Any other solution would require enormous retaining walls or eliminate more Town Plan requirements.
A Long Road
The 2002 Town Plan stated it “shall be required to help make Highway 1 a scenic element of the Gualala townscape” while enhancing safety, decreasing congestion, and encouraging people to walk around. It required native landscaping along a meandering sidewalk on both sides, a separated bike lane that is safe for anyone, one travel lane in each direction, and a center turn lane for safer access to 18 driveways along the road.
It also called for elimination of the roughly four-dozen parking spaces on the highway. Only about a dozen spaces near the Surf Market get much use now; people rarely park on the northern two-thirds of the road. Most cars and RVs park in the 600-plus off-highway spaces that are closer to businesses. And approximately 400 additional public and private spaces are likely to be added off-highway in the foreseeable future.
In 2005, the Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG), which “owns” the project, scaled back the right of way to 60 feet from 80 because of physical obstacles like “existing development,” which was allowed in the Town Plan.
In 2007, John Bower, who owns much of the land along and under the highway, started sketching plans to renovate the Surf Center and add about 90 parking spaces for the Surf Market. In 2013, Surf owner Steve May reached agreement with MCOG on an Interim Constrained Plan (ICP) that guaranteed his customers could park along the highway until Bower finished the project.
In 2018, Caltrans held a Town Hall in which residents affirmed the Town Plan’s vision, and Caltrans released two versions of the design in June 2019. The Gualala Municipal Advisory Council soon backed the version more favorable to the Surf.
Then all hell broke loose. May warned he might have to close the much-loved Surf if he lost taxpayer-provided highway parking, but he didn’t mention the ICP. Surf customers dutifully wrote comments to Caltrans and signed Surf petitions, though most probably never knew about the ICP.
Hoping to avoid division, GMAC proposed a compromise based on the ICP that allowed the entire Surf Center to continue using highway parking in the interim while Bower completed his project. GMAC also conducted a survey, finding 89% of area residents still supported the Town Plan concept when they understood there was guaranteed parking for the Surf.
Bower and May rejected GMAC’s proposal. Bower said he’d rather negotiate with Caltrans, and May publicly expressed doubt Bower would ever complete the work.
Community Leaders
Several other business and civic leaders have publicly supported the Town Plan’s vision, including Gualala Hotel owner Jim Pedersen; Breakers Hotel and Vue restaurant owner David Shahriari; and MendoVine owner Ron Das. Chamber of Commerce Chair Robert Juengling, a long-time realtor on Highway 1 who also chairs GMAC, also supports the Town Plan’s goals.
Critics of the mall concept worry it will cause irreparable harm to hotels, restaurants, and retail stores in Gualala and beyond. “Gualala’s appearance is critical to the future of eco-tourism in Mendocino County. We can’t let it look like a truck stop. We need a sense of nature and beauty from Gualala to Westport,” said Una Wirkebau, who leads Move2030, a county program focused on economic resiliency.
The shopping mall approach also draws flak from environmental circles. “Gualala will be the first town you come to in Mendocino County. To have it look simply like a commercial space would be a shame,” Charles Ivor, president, Friends of Gualala River, said during a June meeting of the GMAC Housing & Economic Development Committee (HED).
In a series of four round-table discussions, business representatives attending HED meetings agreed by broad consensus that Caltrans should “follow the Town Plan” to enhance the town’s aesthetics.
Is this plan even permitted under the Town Plan? Caltrans Project Manager Frank Demling said last year he was told by Chief Planner Julia Acker that there was enough “wiggle room” in the Town Plan to allow changes. However, Acker told me last month she had only a brief conversation about the turn lane and neither saw nor heard any details.
“I have not given any formal approval or authorization to any sort of design at this point,” Acker said. “I want to make sure they’re not running carte blanche with a conversation when I did not sign off on a final plan or anything.”
Ultimately, the decision may rest on what the community says. If you’d like to comment, you can send an email to Bonnie.Kuhn@DOT.CA.GOV .
Tom Murphy is Vice Chair of the Gualala Municipal Advisory Committee. He chairs GMAC’s Committee on Housing & Economic Development and sits with Juengling on GMAC’s Streetscape Committee. He lives in downtown Gualala. He can be reached at GMAC95445@gmail.com.
