High hope grows where the water flows
MILL CREEK: Economic development ultimate goal
| Saturday, Mar 13 2010 10:14 PM
Last Updated Monday, Mar 15 2010 12:27 PM
To view a full, color map of all the enhancements to the Mill Creek parkway, pick up a copy of Sunday's Californian.
When you look closely at a map of Bakersfield’s gorgeous new Mill Creek linear park, it’s easy to imagine that the downtown walking path is the Yellow Brick Road and Mexicali is the Emerald City.
The parkway, with its ornamental fencing, detailed landscaping and flowing water, runs directly behind the popular and well-known restaurant. Even a scarecrow without a brain can see the opportunity in that fortuitous intersection.
But Mexicali is doing its part — and then some — by investing a bundle to make sure that section of the path is pleasing to the eyes.
“If you’re going to do it, then do it right. That’s the way my family operates,” said Sonny Crews, a veteran restaurateur who runs the downtown location.
In years past, no one really had a view of the back of the restaurant, where pipes and plumbing and other fixtures were exposed. But soon, when the parkway opens to the public, the backside of Mexicali will be on full display.
That’s why Crews and family have already built a new facade about a foot behind the old wall. But that’s only the beginning. The facade will be covered in stucco in the old-fashioned Mexican style, with ceramic pieces set into the wall and a large mural painted onto the surface.
It won’t be completed for the opening of the parkway — city officials are shooting for late March — but it should be ready by late summer, Crews said.
In addition, Crews hopes to redesign the east corner of his parking lot to create an outdoor seating area visible from the adjacent parkway.
“Access would be off the bar,” Crews said. “It should make for a nice little outdoor experience.”
With few exceptions, business owners in the area are thrilled by the addition of the Mill Creek linear park. Some predict it will become one of Bakersfield’s most popular destinations.
Brenda Sharp figured it would be smart to identify her business with the new project, so she named her restaurant the Mill Creek Italian & Basque Deli.
“I am just so excited about it,” she said of the improvements at nearby Central Park and the soon-to-be-completed parkway.
“A lot of people used to be afraid of this area,” she said. “Now I would take my grandchildren to the park.”
Not only will the path be well-lit, two Bakersfield police officers will be assigned to patrolling the 1.5-mile long path, said city planners.
It’s been a tough year for many business owners. Donald and Denise Allen of All Tied Up apparel on 18th Street said they lost business when the street was closed to through traffic for several months. But they stuck it out in hopes that Mill Creek will bring an infusion of new people to downtown.
“I’m just waiting for the vision to unfold,” Mrs. Allen said.
— Staff writer Steven Mayer
Images
David Lyman, principal planner with the city, shows off the almost-completed Mill Creek path. This section runs south to California Avenue (top of photo)from the railroad tracks.
Even though the water is a little low, the reflection of a pedestrian bridge can be seen in Mill Creek just north of California Avenue. The water is down now as construction finishes up on fountains and the path that follows the creek. In the background is the Beale Library (left) and Amtrak Station (right)
Looking north towards 19th Street is the section of the path that is split level. City consrtuction inspector Leighton Muckey, left, and principal planner David Lyman, stand on section closest to the water at this point.
Chris and John Boone push their baby stroller along the meandering flagstone path, southward from 24th Street toward downtown Bakersfield's beautifully renovated Central Park.
To their right is an ornamental wrought-iron fence protecting dozens of newly planted shrubs and trees. Beyond the fence are the urban Parkview Cottages where the Boones make their home with their two young children. Pedestrian gates from the path open into the Cottages neighborhood, allowing them access to the path, even though that section is not yet officially open.
To their left is a meandering "creek" landscaped with rocks and more trees and shrubs and half-buried boulders. Attractive lighting overhangs the entire scene.
The Boones cross 21st Street at the new pedestrian-friendly crossing and follow the flow of water as it moves leisurely under a covered bridge in the center of the park.
Fountains rising from the water spray upward and outward like a blossom opening to the warm afternoon sun. The riverbed through Bakersfield may be dry, but water flows here in luxurious abundance.
The young married couple are ecstatic. The soon-to-be-completed Mill Creek linear path, the transformed park, the nearby Bakersfield Museum of Art, the private galleries that dot the surrounding streets and the newly opened Padre Hotel to the west all point to a renaissance, they say, a turning point for a city on the verge of something momentous.
Bakersfield, they predict, is becoming the kind of city it's never been before, the kind of city they wouldn't hesitate to call home.
"When you live downtown it's not for access to freeways," Chris explains, "but access to a way of life."
Turning canals into creeks
The ugly, dirt-lined Kern Island Canal existed for decades to do a simple but important job: carry snowmelt irrigation water from the Kern River to thirsty farm fields south of Bakersfield.
As city planners began looking at how to revitalize the long-neglected area around Central Park, they realized that the water in the canal could play a dual role by attracting new urban residents, businesses and visitors from all over. Slowly a vision began to emerge of a linear parkway that would extend southward about 11/2 miles from 24th Street near Golden State Highway to California Avenue near Maya Cinemas.
Through a patchwork of mostly state bonds, grants and loans, planners scraped together the $15 million needed to complete the vision. No general fund money was used.
But don't think Mill Creek is designed to simply be a pretty picture. Business and economic development underscore the entire vision.
"The value of the adjacent property will increase and the tax revenues from the surrounding area will increase as well," said David Lyman, a principal planner for the city of Bakersfield. "These improvements are not just aesthetic, they're economic."
For years, Bakersfield has been a city of sprawl, spreading outward in almost every direction. Those growth patterns have worsened the area's air pollution and traffic problems, cost taxpayers billions for road development and maintenance, spread thin police and fire services, paved over prime farmland and left much of the urban core blighted and neglected.
"This is urban in-fill," Lyman said. "This is one of the solutions we keep hearing about."
The path
On a recent Wednesday, Lyman and the project's construction supervisor, Leighton Muckey, strolled the southern leg of the pathway, pointing out the picturesque foot bridges and the three different paving surfaces on the paths that line both sides of this section of Mill Creek. Like the northern phase between 21st and 24th streets, this section of the linear park is virtually completed. But it remains locked behind cyclone fencing until the final construction phase between 17th and 18th streets is finished.
After years of careful planning, public anticipation and, yes, some frustration experienced by business owners impacted by closed streets and construction dust, the city of Bakersfield is now just weeks away from completing one of the largest urban redevelopment projects it has ever undertaken.
"David Lyman came up with the Mill Creek name," said Donna Kunz, the city's economic development director. "It's named for a flour mill that used to operate near 17th Street."
Weather permitting, Kunz and Muckey said they expect construction to be completed by the end of this month.
Of course, development of adjacent properties will take years -- and tightened lending practices by banks has not been encouraging -- but concepts and plans for urban condominiums, office buildings and retail centers are already on the drawing board or in the pipeline.
"It's given this plan an identity," Lyman said of the new name. "It was a dirt-lined ditch. Now it's a showpiece."
A destination
Not only is the old canal now lined with concrete and surfaced with river rocks, planners actually added gentle curves to the once-straight canal to make it look more like a meandering natural waterway. At the southern end, a 36-unit condo complex will be built along the eastern side of the parkway and behind that, The Courtyard will boast more than 50 units, Lyman said. To the west, a retail complex is planned that will complement the Maya Cinemas.
Along the eastern edge of the parkway between 18th and 19th streets, a new gleaming waterfront office building is planned. And directly behind that a residential complex for seniors is slated to be built.
The federal courthouse to be built on the eastern side of Central Park will bring hundreds of employees and visitors to the area. Add workers in newly developed offices and hundreds of new residents and you have a ready-made customer base for new and already established restaurants, coffee houses, specialty shops and galleries, Lyman said.
"We already find people are coming from the path at the park," said Gino Sorci, the owner of Central Park Antique Mall on 19th Street. "It's increasing foot traffic, and that's a plus for us."
Mill Creek planners were unable to make the foot path follow the entire route of the "creek" as the Hill House, Beale Memorial Library and Amtrak station presented formidable obstacles. So southbound walkers who want to traverse the entire length will need to exit the path at 17th Street and take a sidewalk route south on Q Street to rejoin the path on the south side of the railroad tracks.
Carlos Navarro, general manager of the Marriott Bakersfield, said he's thrilled by the new development, which is visible from the hotel's upper floors.
"It brings more options for our guests, more choices," Navarro said. "A lot of people will come to the hotel and say, 'Oh look, a beautiful park where I can go jogging in the morning or walking in the evening.'"
For Chris Boone and her husband, the linear parkway brings Bakersfield one step closer to an urban lifestyle that allows families and singles to leave their cars in the driveway and walk to farmers markets, entertainment venues and restaurants. It's a healthy way of life that burns calories, not fossil fuels.
"When we went away to college, this is what we became accustomed to," she said. "This is a major-city amenity and we love it."
