Street Closures On Palo Alto's California Avenue Likely To Remain

PALO ALTO, CA — Street closures on Palo Alto’s California Avenue will likely continue through 2023, the Palo Alto City Council decided in a meeting last week.

After several amendments on the motion, the council finally voted unanimously to direct staff to return with an item on action to extend the closure of the busy restaurant and shopping district to cars through December 2023.

Currently, California Avenue from El Camino Real to Birch Street is closed to vehicles, as the city looks to continue a policy born out of the pandemic that has generally been popular with patrons seeking to dine outdoors and have more walking space.

The council directed staff to obtain a consultant for a feasibility study on the impact of closing the portions of California Avenue. The impact study would include proposed guidelines on hours of use of public spaces and noise control, the effect of displaced traffic on residential streets and an approach to improve aesthetics and maintain open sidewalks so pedestrian traffic is near the windows.

Restaurants owners within the closed streets prefer the closures, according to city staff.

The council extended the street closures last September through June 2022 with a planned discussion in the future on permanent street closures.

Staff added that to consider the needs of businesses that may not benefit as much from street closures, the council could consider various combinations of closing portions of the streets, or maintaining some access for vehicles.