This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Public Workshops Seek Input for Ramona's Business Areas

A private consulting firm is in town this week to come up with ideas on how to improve Ramona's commercial district.

A few residents interested in future plans for Ramona’s commercial district participated in two meetings on Monday with representatives from PlaceMakers, a private town planning consultant group, along with the county’s Department of Planning and Land Use.

The consultants are in town until Saturday evening to meet with the Ramona Village Design Group, Design Review Board, county staff and local residents and property owners to gather ideas for improving the commercial areas in town and to assist the county in making plans and zoning changes for future businesses.

The project began several years ago but was put on hold when funds depleted. It is now up and running again with a $135,000 grant from Caltrans and another $15,000 from the county. PlaceMakers is being paid $103,000 from the grant money.

Find out what's happening in Ramonawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The project focuses on three sections of Main Street: the Old Town area, Paseo area and Colonnade area. The study includes three blocks on either side of Main Street.  

“The work that we have done here in the Paseo area, we have to look at again,” said Howard Blackson, PlaceMakers’ principal project manager for urban planning and design. He identified the Paseo area as running from Pala to 10th streets along Main Street.

Find out what's happening in Ramonawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In preparation for Monday night’s presentation to the community, Blackson and his group toured the commercial area and its surroundings earlier in the day and then drove to Julian to see a comparison between the two towns.

Nathan Norris, director of implementation advisory for PlaceMakers here from Alabama, commented on “the lack of connectivity on the roads behind Main Street.” He also pointed out that the county has too many zoning ordinances for Ramona.

“The zoning doesn’t really match with the long term,” he said.

Norris was impressed with the colonnade of eucalyptus trees leading into town in the western end of town.

“These trees were amazing to me,” Norris said. “I would do everything you can to preserve them and highlight them. You can provide a sense of enclosure with your trees.”

Blackson said the group’s favorite commercial building in Ramona noted on their tour was at 2220 Main St.

“It fronted the street properly,” Blackson said. “It had great character. It works well getting you on and off the highway. The signage was clear from the front of the building to the parking. You knew where to park. You knew where the door was.”

He compared that with having some difficulty in locating the entrance to the public library at 1275 Main St. before realizing it was off the parking lot.

“The library has front and back issues, but the building sat nicely on the street,” Blackson said.

He also mentioned the traffic noise and speed of vehicles in the downtown area.

Residents who live on Kelly and Raymond streets attended the evening meeting to talk about flooding issues. Linda and Jerry Berman said they will return to the Tuesday morning meeting with a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the problems with flooding in Ramona. Mike Eckhart discussed the severe flooding he experiences in his backyard whenever there are heavy rains in Ramona.

Representing the county on Monday night’s meeting were Joe Farace, from Department of Planning and Land Use, and Tom Fincher, from the General Services Department. Also from PlaceMakers was Geoff Dyer, master planner from Calgary.

There were about a dozen Ramona residents who attended each of the two meetings on Monday. Blackson said he will welcome walk-ins at any time during the week, from people who want to bring something to their attention, have specific questions or just want to find out what is going on. The group is set up in the building at 2102 Main St.

Additional meetings are scheduled at 10 a.m. Tuesday to meet with nearby property owners and neighborhood groups, and at 2:30 p.m. to meet with representatives from county staff, fire and sheriff’s departments, and infrastructure and utilities groups.

There will be a “Pin-up of Work in Progress” presentation at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Century 21 building where the group will discuss their findings to date. A final presentation will be made at 5 p.m. Saturday during a meeting scheduled at 434 Aqua Lane.

More information is available online at www.projectramona.com.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?