San Carlos City Council backs street closure

Since June of 2020, San Carlos officials have experimented with various changes to Laurel Street from allowing parklets to closing and reopening portions of the road to cars. The vision for a permanent pedestrian mall developed from there and councilmembers stated their intent to close the street in August. 

That decision is now final after councilmembers voted unanimously Monday to close the 700 block of Laurel Street between Cherry and Olive streets to cars under the pedestrian mall law of 1960. 

The closure and its various iterations — including a closure of the 600 block and Cherry Street at different points — has sparked mixed reviews. While restaurants and customers have shared appreciation for the program, asserting it revitalized the area, many retailers have raised concerns about the loss of parking, arguing reduced access has cost them customers.

Councilmembers acknowledged those concerns Monday but ultimately agreed creating a pedestrian mall would be a net benefit to the community. The decision is part of the city’s overall re-envisioning of downtown. The city is spending $1 million on developing the Downtown Planning Initiative, which is expected to be complete by early 2025. 

In addition to the street closure, residents have shared support for adding more trees and shading in the area, incorporating outdoor gathering spaces like plazas and music venues and making downtown more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. 

“During the pandemic many, many people in our community just fell in love with the look and feel of a pedestrianized block of Laurel Street and I personally am very proud of the leadership of our council that held tight to this vision for our community,” Councilmember Sara McDowell said. “I know that this council and our staff are committed to ensuring that our new Downtown Plan addresses mobility issues, access for those with disabilities, parking and support for our small businesses.”  

In other business, the council gave final approval to a 188-room hotel at 501 Industrial Road. The hotel, proposed by Chao Wu with Holly Hotel Group LLC, will be developed on a 2-acre site formerly home to Bayshore Supply. 

Councilmembers approved the project despite raising concerns about future traffic impacts after agreeing the project would be a benefit to the community. Councilmembers said they also felt better about the project since visitors would be driving in and out of the site outside of typical business hours. 

Still, councilmembers shared interest in further discussing traffic impacts in the area as more development is proposed and approved in the city’s east side. 

“I do think that one of the many benefits of this project is that it’s not more life science or office space,” McDowell said. “I personally will struggle as we continue to potentially approve more projects when we know they will add to congestion without having some solutions in place to budget money towards in our budget process.”