In August 2015, a group of downtown merchants and stakeholders approached the City Council with a desire to revitalize Escondido's historic Grand Avenue. The City Council directed staff to work with the community to develop a vision for Grand Avenue. A committee of downtown merchants, property owners, residents and other key stakeholders was formed to begin the process. Concept plans were developed and a public meeting was held on October 12, 2017 to receive community input on the concepts. The City Council approved the Grand Avenue Vision Plan on February 14, 2018 and authorized staff to submit grant applications to SANDAG. The cost to implement the full Vision Plan was estimated at $15-Million.
SANDAG selected the City's Grand Avenue Vision Project - Phase I for funding in the amount of $1,443,161 to narrow Grand Avenue to one lane in each direction between Escondido and Juniper, extend the sidewalk on one side of the street between Maple and Broadway, and install diagonal parking. On February 13, 2019, the City Council approved the grant agreement and budgeted $1,100,000 as grant matching funds to implement the first phase of the Grand Avenue Vision Plan.
City Council authorized a Consulting Agreement for Design on August 21, 2019. Design was completed in July 2021 and construction is expected to begin in January 2022. The Mitigated Negative Declaration prepared for the project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act and Specific Alignment Plan, were adopted by the City Council on July 21, 2021. The documents and appendices can be found at the following links:
For previous project updates and meetings, please click on the provided links below.