Downtown Issaquah will be getting its proposed makeover; the City Council voted unanimously to approve the city’s Downtown Streetscape plan with four added changes.

Born out of the ideas of Mayor Fred Butler’s Olde Town Vitality Task Force in 2015, the Streetscape Plan seeks to make improvements along Front Street and Sunset Way in order to increase the pedestrian-friendliness of the downtown, support local businesses, create a consistent downtown character and make Olde Town a place where people can enjoy spending time.

City staff and consultants from Seattle-based firms Nakano Associates, Framework and KPFF Consulting Engineers gathered input from community members through three open houses and two online surveys to come up with a plan that they felt represented the community’s desires.

Phase 1, estimated to cost $461,807, would make improvements to Front Street North between Sunset Way and Northeast Alder Street. These changes would include new street trees, plantings, benches, bike racks and receptacles, as well as a new section of sidewalk on the west side of the street.

At a projected cost of $1,319,616, Phase 2 would create a festival street along Northeast Alder Street and Northwest Alder Place. A festival street functions as a normal street for the majority of the time, but on special occasions can become pedestrian-only and serve as a central plaza in which community members can gather. Festive lighting, new benches and street trees would be added, as well as a raised walkway connecting the festival street to the Issaquah Senior Center.

Phase 3 would cost about $2,351,455 and would create wider sidewalks along both sides of Front Street North between Northeast Alder Street and Northwest Dogwood Street. New street trees, plantings and site furnishings would also be brought to this section of the street.

Future phases would include an all-direction crosswalk, or pedestrian scramble, at Front Street and Sunset Way. At an all-direction crosswalk, traffic in all four directions is stopped for a short period of time to allow everyone to cross in the middle of the intersection. Future phases would also see improvements along Front Street North from Northeast Dogwood Street to Northeast Gilman Boulevard.

Deputy Council President Mary Lou Pauly praised the Streetscape plan, saying it was “what the public expected.” However, she added an amendment to make four changes to the existing plan.

The first change would be to add back in the part of the design along Front Street South between Sunset Way and Southeast Bush Street. Ida Ottesen of Nakano said that this had been taken out of the plan after receiving community feedback because it would remove 23 parking spaces, and the public did not like the idea of losing parking.

According to Pauly’s amendment, this section of the design would be added back to be looked at in a future phase, and would only be implemented if parking spaces could be added back in or made up for in a different spot.

“Because it’s been designed, leave it on the plan,” she said. “We should have improvements down there, we’re going to have a future city park down there.”

Also in the amendment, a feasibility study for the all-direction crosswalk would be done in Phase 1 and the construction costs for the crosswalk would be calculated in Phase 2 if it was determined feasible. Pauly also wanted to see the timeline for the projects included in the 2018 Capital Improvement Plan.

Councilmember Bill Ramos was not sure about the plan due to its cost and the length of time needed to complete it.

“When I was originally thinking of doing a streetscape plan … I wasn’t thinking of multi-million dollars to make it more beautiful. I don’t think anyone there was thinking that level of stuff,” he said. He added, “This to me is not going to come right away at all, we’re going to live with this for a long time … it’s not what the people were expecting.”

Council President Stacy Goodman supported the Streetscape design overall, calling it an “exciting plan,” but shared Ramos’ concerns about cost and timeline.

“It’s certainly not what I expected, the price tag that comes with it … I think funding will be an issue,” she said.

Goodman continued, “The expectation was it would be done rather quickly. I think we’ll probably hear about that [from residents].”

Councilmember Paul Winterstein countered that “these things take time.”

Pauly’s amendment passed 4-1, with Ramos voting nay. The motion to approve the Streetscape plan as amended passed unanimously.

Councilmember Tola Marts and Councilmember Eileen Barber were not present for the vote.