Fern Street Sidewalk update
Hi folks - Please find available this notice about the new sidewalk going in at 9th and Fern. I met with Randy Wesselman from the City on Friday afternoon to walk the 9th and Fern pocket park and discuss the sidewalk improvements. Most of the sidewalk will be on the west side of Fern Street, extending where the sidewalk ends at Cambridge Court Apartments to 9th Avenue. In order to accommodate the new sidewalk the street pavement will be extended on the east side of Fern Street - If you draw a line from the stop sign on the west side of 9th and Fern to the small eucalyptus tree, west of that line is where they will clear dirt and pave the road. They will put in handicap access on the corners from west to east and extend the sidewalk to the bus shelter on 9th. The area that will be cleared on the northeast corner is a line from the stop sign to the first tree behind the bust shelter (although not all of that will be paved). The City will have a preconstruction conference with the contractor on the 19th, and optimistically the project could start the last week of February. I asked Randy to (1) move the rocks from the area to be cleared further in to be focal points for the revised garden and (2) let us know if the eucalyptus tree is going to be removed. No additional street lights are planned on that corner. I also asked about the process to get a yard water tap installed at the pocket park so we don’t have to drag a hose across the street from the apartments to water but that is for a later update (which will probably include work parties to replant the pocket park after we assess the snow damage).
~ Mark Toy, SWONA President