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Sonora Community Visioning Summary Table of Contents Introduction...................................................................................................1 Vision Sonora Project About This Summary .......................................................................................................1 Community Visioning................................Process ........................................................................1 .....................................................................................1 Vision................................................................................................................4 Vision Goals ............................................................................................................................4 Strengthen Sonora’s Identity and History .....................................................5 Attract and Welcome Visitors ............................................................................6 Create Places to Enjoy ...........................................................................................8 Boost Downtown Appeal and Commerce ......................................................9 Enable Pedestrian and Bicycle Travel..........................................................10 Take Care of Locals..............................................................................................11 Next Steps..................................................................................................... 12 Appendix – Summaries and Notes Table of Contents Page i Sonora Community Visioning Summary Introduction Vision Sonora Project Funded by a grant from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Vision Sonora project was initiated to provide Sonora with a plan for a more vibrant community by directing physical improvements along the Highway 49 and Washington Street corridors. The plan may also address related programs and activities to support the community’s vision. To develop the plan, the City and project team are working in partnership with the Tuolumne County Transportation Council and members of the community. The community vision captured in this document will form Abouta foundation This for Summary the plan, which is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2013. This document is a summary of the main points made by participants in the community visioning process, through the interactive MindMixer website and Community Visioning Week activities as well as minor additions from a project Steering Committee meeting held after Community Visioning Week. These main points are organized into a set of goals and suggestions for carrying out these goals. The Appendix provides notes from the week’s activities, including original comments from individuals and groups of participants as well as facilitator notes. Community Visioning Process The Community Visioning Process began with an interactive website launch in September 2012 to allow community members to begin generating and discussing ideas before Community Visioning Week was held in January 2013. The interactive website was still running as this report was Interactivefinalized in AprilWebsite 2013. An interactive website was established at Visionsonora.info in September 2012 to provide a forum for community idea generation and feedback. Provided by vendor MindMixer, this website allowed contributors to share new ideas, “second” other people’s ideas, expand upon existing ideas, and respond to questions and polls from the project team. The website also showed which topics were generating the most discussion and which online contributors were most active on the site. Launched in December before Community Visioning Week, the website was still in use at the time this summary was created. Introduction Page 1 Sonora Community Visioning Summary Community Visioning Week Community Visioning Week provided the Sonora community with four days of opportunities to create ideas for future improvements to Sonora’s downtown and commercial corridors. From Wednesday, January 16th through Saturday, January 19th, 2013, a team of community planners and transportation engineers worked alongside the community to develop concepts for the “Vision Sonora” plan. Events during Community Visioning Week included community workshops, a Sonora Chamber of Commerce mixer, walking and trolley tours, discussion groups, and open house hours when community members could drop in at the Opera Hall where the project team was working. All told, at least 200 people participated in Community Visioning Week—not including online Communityparticipation. Workshops Community workshops represented major milestones during Community Visioning Week. Each workshop built upon the previous workshop as well as the input received Community in other Visioning Workshop Week Part activities. 1: Visions of the Future presented some of the project team’s findings about Sonora; then participants were asked to brainstorm what they felt were Sonora’s key “treasures” and “challenges” as well as their “visions” or ideas for the future. Participants then joined small groups to further develop ideas for the major themes that emergedCommunity in theWorkshop brainstorm Part activity. 2: Streets and Streetscapes presented information about how communities can encourage walking and bicycling, calm traffic, and create a sense of place. Attendees then participated in an electronic poll about desired street features, with discussions about what they liked and didn’tCommunity like in Workshop the images Part that 3:were Hands shown On . Design Workshop and Presentation began with a presentation of the key themes in what the team had heard from the community throughout Visioning Week. Participants then worked in Introduction Page 2 Sonora Community Visioning Summary groups to draw and write concepts on maps for the following topics: Pedestrians, Bicycles & Streetscape; Public Spaces & Placemaking; Parking, Signage & Transit; South Washington Gateway Corridor; and Highway 49 Gateway Youth WorkshopCorridors. The project team had a special meeting with the Sonora High School Leadership Class to hear youth perspectives on Sonora’s future. Activities were similar to those in Corridorthe first communityWalks and workshop. Trolley Talks There were hour-long “corridor walk” workshops on Stockton Street by the Fairgrounds, South Washington Street, and North Washington Street, as well as two “trolley talk” workshops that toured all three areas. During these walks and tours, participants were asked to make observations about land use and development, character and feel, public spaces, pedestrian experience, bicycle and vehicle circulation, and parking. They made comments to the group and recorded their thoughts on Discussionforms. Groups Five hour-long sessions were held at Opera Hall to provide opportunities for focused discussions on particular topics; anyone with an interest in those topics was welcome to participate. Topics were as follows: Downtown Businesses and Economic Development; Healthy Sonora; Historic Preservation; Parking and InterviewsSignage; and Visitors and Tourism. Project team members conducted interviews with Council and Planning Commission members, and with Downtown businesses, to hear their particular Parkingperspectives Intercept. Surveys Project team members conducted brief surveys with people as they walked to and from parking spaces and lots in Downtown Sonora. These surveys included questions about parking, the purpose of their visit, and what they liked and didn’t like about Downtown. Introduction Page 3 Sonora Community Visioning Summary Vision The following goals capture the main points in the comments, concerns, and ideas of participants in Community Visioning Week. On the following pages, each goal is described and lists of community suggestions are provided. Vision Goals . Strengthen Sonora’s Identity & History . Attract & Welcome Visitors . Create Places to Enjoy . Boost Downtown Appeal . Enable Pedestrian & Bicycle Travel . Take Care Of Locals “Sierra Nevada destination” “I would like Sonora to be a “Sense that our town destination that beckons is valued, cherished, through strong cultural artistic, and cared for” healthy, forward reaching, historic expressions of who and what we are here.” “A city true to “Safe, healthy, walk-friendly, its heritage” beautiful town” “Vibrant but still small time” Vision quotes from Community Workshop Part 1 Vision Page 4 Sonora Community Visioning Summary STRENGTHEN SONORA’S IDENTITY AND HISTORY Sonora, the “Queen of the Southern Mines,” is steeped in history. The Tuolumne County Museum and Historic 49 Trolley are two ways that visitors may explore Sonora’s role in the California Gold Rush and other California stories. Historic buildings such as the Red Church, the Sonora Dome, and many Downtown structures keep a sense of history alive and help to shape Sonora’s unique identity. The community’s physical identity is also shaped by other elements in the streetscape and landscape that are addressed in other sections of this summary. While community members value Sonora’s sense of history, this does not imply that the town should become a museum of its own past; rather, they suggested enhancing and calling attention to historic resources, and maintaining Communityhistoric continuitySuggestions:as the town continues to change. Preserve and rehabilitate Sonora’s historic resources . Building rehabilitation Façade• improvements . Provide lighting on buildings Also preserve “dark

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