Graton Town Square moves forward
Graton gets its first look at drawings of the planned town square, and fundraising begins for Phase 1 of the project
Right now, the site of Graton’s future town square is just a weedy lot next to Underwood Bar & Bistro on the town’s main drag. But folks in Graton have big plans for the site, which has long been a blight on this tiny burg’s otherwise charming downtown.
Yesterday the agency behind Graton Town Square released an initial design for the town square and began fundraising for its development.
“It has been an amazing project because it seems like everyone in the community wants this to happen,” said Matt Jorgensen, who is spearheading the project for the Graton Community Services District (GCSD). “We all had been visualizing it being a town square for a long time, and so it’s just been this very magical and synchronistic process of things lining up and people stepping forward.”
The project picked up steam last fall when the Board of Supervisors gave the GCSD a $283,600 grant to help purchase the property at 9155 Graton Road, which was selling for $860,000. GCSD closed escrow on the property in February. A portion of the county grant also went to pre-development work, like surveying and community organizing around the project.
A sewer district expands its reach
The Graton Town Square is a project of the GCSD, which has historically been in charge of the city’s sewer system. This is the GCSD’s first foray into development beyond the sewer system, but Jorgensen said it’s always had a broader mandate.
“GCSD is a California special district,” Jorgensen said, “so it has a lot of flexibility to do other things beyond sewer. Actually, their initial charter contemplated potentially doing parks and recreation, but it hasn’t for 30 years.”
Creating the design
One of the first things Jorgensen did was pull together citizen working groups. They do a lot of the background planning and work and then present their plans to the GCSD board for approval.
For example, once escrow closed on the property, the project’s seven-member design committee went to work creating a design for the town square. The committee includes professionals in landscape design, architecture, civil engineering, arboriculture, permaculture, and public art.
GCSD released a survey asking Gratonians what they’d like to see in their town square. Ten percent of the town responded with their ideas, and the design committee incorporated some of these in the design.
The Design Committee got approval for their plans from the GCSD board in May and released their initial design yesterday.
It features a space for a farmers’/vendor market, a stage with lawn seating, edible gardens, a fountain, a long pergola, native pollinator gardens, and a play area for kids.
“It’s really intended as more of a multi-use square or plaza in the direction of the Sebastopol Town Square, rather than merely a park,” Jorgensen said.
Raising money for Phase 1
The release of the design kicks off the next phase of things, which is site activation and fundraising. GCSD is hoping to raise around $144,000 for the first phase of the project, which includes:
Leveling and cleanup: Create initial flat areas and pathways safe for site activation and fundraising events (concerts, events, markets)
Beautification: Low-budget improvements such as plantings (e.g. butterfly garden), string lights, and minor landscaping
Food/Commerce space: A pedestrian street for food trucks and level space for dining tables and recreation
You can donate to phase one of the project here.
Jorgensen says it’s important for people in the town to start using the site even before it’s fully developed. It’s a phase called “activation.”
“In the short term, how do we make this fun and activated and a place that the community starts to be catalyzed, even before we build anything?” he said. “So starting very soon, we’re going to just be doing some cleanup and trash removal and filling in of gopher holes, getting mulch donations and doing some sheet mulching and planting. Hopefully we can get tables donated so that we can just start to activate with some food truck nights, some movie nights and some music nights this late summer and fall.”
The big picture
Ultimately, the project is expected to cost over $2.5 million to complete the land acquisition and fully develop the site. Here’s a description of the development phases and associated fundraising goals.
Find out more about the Graton Town Square or donate here.
I didn’t find a public toilet in the concept drawing.
Very cool! It looks like a great plan and very doable.