Item 17 - Appropriation Adjustments for Bristol Improvement Project Phase 4

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The Streetscape Transforming Bristol Street from a strip -commercial thoroughfare into a verdant parkway brings to mind the great European boulevards and their alleys and trees framing along stretches of road. Using the "boulevard" as a streetscape prototype on Bristol Street satisfies a key purpose of the plan: to use the street as a strong, unifying element that gives motorists a sense of continuity and visual clarity from beginning to end. However, the open areas of the street behind its edge must act as a buffer to adjacent residential areas and provide a needed landscape amenity to pedestrians, For these reasons, the streetscape must also function like a park, allowingfor a greater diversity of trees and a more varied ground treatment that encourages strolling, gathering, or stopping. The street must also accommodate commercial uses at intersections and along several intersections of the corridor between them. Therefore, special design considerations are proposed for these areas so that they can properly function as retail or office sites without disruptingthe continuity of the streetscape. In combination, the street edge, the park areas and the commercial sites, yield the concept of a "commercial parkway". Such streetscapes are rare in this region and nonexistent in Santa Ana, Figure 5-5 and Figure 5-6 depict the three basic zones of the parkway concept: the median and street edge zone, the commercial zone, and the park zone. Median and Edge Zone The street median and the buffer strips within the public right- of-way are the primary and essential footholds in which to plant trees that can impart a strong, unifying quality to the landscape (Figure 5-7). For the median the proposed trees are Canary Island Date Palms (Phoenix Canariensis), planted 35 to 45 feet on center to establish a dramatic sight -line from one end of the corridor to the other. Should these palms not be available in the required sized and quantity at the time of installation of the median, the Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) should be used as a substitute. Whichever tree is first planted, it should remain as the sole median tree. A minimum palm size of 20 feet brown -trunk height is recommended. To frame the street in a boulevard fashion, a double, mixed row of London Plan tree (Platanus acerifolia) and Jacaranda (Jacaranda acutifolia) is proposed. The Jacarandas — also noted as the official tree for the City of Santa Ana — would be planted only in the interior or second row of the alley to add variety and color to the street edge. They should be planted in irregular spacing, at a 1:5 ratio (one Jacaranda for every five Sycamores), Medians should be designed with maintenance - access points at turn pockets. Median noses should be paved with stamped concrete paving or other decorative paving. Bristol Street Corridor Specific Plan March 2018 Commercial Area Zone Commercial development sites (which include all Neighborhood Activity Nodes) require visibility both for considerations of safety and advertisement. Palm trees are an appropriate plant for these sites, as they provide visual interest and shade without obstructing the view of storefronts and signage. They would also reinforce the nodal structure of the corridor, calling attention to the major commercial intersections (Figure 5-8). Palms other than those used in the median should be considered for these sites. Palms shall be 20 feet brown -trunk minimum. At intersections, the sidewalks coming from the park areas should be expanded to function more like plazas, with emphasis on ornamental paving, site furnishings and planters. Some of the plazas will also function as transit stops, allowing for people to comfortably gather and wait for buses. Page 149