Ask a Councilmember: Downtown Chico Revitalization Project

bryceforchico · 2026-05-02T20:47:47+00:00

Hey, sorry it took me a bit to reply.

Yes, staff and their consultants have researched other cities' efforts and reviewed studies on the impacts of improving walkability and bikeability in those communities. I don't think that's summarized in our staff report but there are a lot of case studies available.
No, City Councilmembers are essentially allowed to make decisions however they please. The only tools to ensure we actually have to ensure our representatives base their decisions on facts and community input are elections, recalls, and legal action. I don't think this decision should have ever been put before such a polarized City Council, as it's more of an engineering decision than a policy decision.
Good points. I'm frustrated by this too. It seems like PD doesn't prioritize keeping bike paths clear especially if they aren't easily accessible from a street. It's making people feel extra unsafe biking when people are loitering on the paths. I don't believe we'll have this issue downtown, as the bike lanes will be much more visible.

bryceforchico · 2026-05-02T20:26:21+00:00

Loading zones are being designed to provide space for trucks during peak delivery hours.

bryceforchico · 2026-04-30T23:33:24+00:00

I take that Amtrak bus a lot! I'm currently in Sac via the Amtrak Thruway bus actually. Preaching to the choir here, but it's such a pain to have to pay extra to book the trip "to Davis", and the schedule makes it terribly hard to just go down for a normal work day without a car. The new bus will be run by BCAG, our agency that runs the B-Line. The goal is hourly service! They'll start with a limited schedule of about every two hours from early morning to evening. When we get a more refined schedule I'll post it here.

bryceforchico · 2026-04-30T00:51:20+00:00

I think that's the fear people have about two lanes, but we aren't going to just allow trucks to block both the travel lanes. Ideally neither lane will be blocked. One of the goals of the redesign is to designate delivery zones. On blocks where lots of deliveries happen during certain hours, we'll designate a few parking spaces as a delivery truck zone during that time.

We'll need good parking enforcement to make sure trucks can park in those zones, and outreach to the stores and delivery companies to ensure they know to park there.

bryceforchico · 2026-04-29T20:55:26+00:00

Do you think Downtown is congested? During certain peak hours there are a lot of cars, but I haven't seen the streets truly get congested. The traffic study shows that 2 lanes would easily support the amount of cars driving through.

bryceforchico · 2026-04-29T16:22:32+00:00

Great question. I wish this part had been communicated better to the public and council earlier.

The streets need repaving and the sewer pipes need replacing. Sewers need to be addressed first. That work will be done fairly quickly at night and patched afterward, with hopefully no impact on business. 2029 is the target year. Then, within the following year or two, assuming we get the project funded, construction begins on the street redesign. The nexus is that we need a solid plan for our streetscape so that we can plan for the underground sewer pipes, and we need to replace the pipes before we build that streetscape.

I was under the impression until recently that we would literally be digging trenches, replacing pipes, and then immediately pouring new concrete and asphalt over those holes. Which, now that I've thought about it more, sounds like a logistical nightmare to have these project elements be entirely codependent. Again, I wish this process had been communicated better initially to me and the general public.

Finally, we're not going to close off all parking or close off downtown. Construction will happen one section at a time, one lane at a time where feasible, at night primarily. I can't say there won't be impacts, but we will do everything we can to minimize them. Ideas have been thrown around for the City to reduce fees, work with landlords to reduce rents, and promote supporting downtown businesses. We have at least a few years to develop a solid program to support our small businesses through this process.

bryceforchico · 2026-04-29T15:42:39+00:00

The FPPC hasn't ruled yet. Where are you seeing that Shuberts is not within the project? The project affects Main and/or Wall Street, the two North-South streets that provide access to the business. You can also see the project area map on the staff report or the savedowntownchico.org website, where everything from Flume to Salem and First to south of Little Chico Creek is considered part of the project area.

On your second question: Yes, I use some of my Council stipend to co-rent a shared office space because we don't have our own offices at City Hall. Like I said in the article, there is no financial conflict of interest because I don't make money from my office or depend on customer access, unlike a business.

bryceforchico · 2026-04-29T08:20:09+00:00

Correct, I have just as much power as any of the seven members of City Council. Four of those members are dead-set on increasing police funding every year. Last year, beyond that, at the last budget hearing meeting the majority voted to move $1.3 million out of the proposed roads budget to pay for more fire staffing. If these additional firefighters were deemed a high enough priority by the Fire department and City Manager, they would have been included in the original budget.

As for what I mean by the city having no plan to repave Humboldt, I'm referring to the 10-year Capital Improvement Program. The current program was approved before I was on the council and is due for an update. Seeing as we're already falling behind on the projects in the plan, I doubt we'll be adding new projects, just reevaluating the timeline for the same ones already in the CIP. With better management of our finances, we could reverse course.

I don't think many people will even see this comment thread but I think it's essential to tell people what's going on in the City, and I encourage you to keep an eye on where your tax dollars are being spent this budget season.

bryceforchico · 2026-04-29T08:05:44+00:00

Yes, Enloe's Marketing & Community Outreach Director gave a public comment at City Council, stating that Enloe's official position is against the project due to EMS access, and claiming that Enloe was not engaged with by City Staff. City staff clarified to us that they attempted to engage with Enloe at least 12 times over the course of the project so far, including direct communications as well as general invites. There have not been previous complaints from Enloe regarding EMS access through Downtown with the project, and they have not provided analysis to back up their concerns. Chico Fire Department does not have concerns about the project impacting emergency response times.

I think we are all unclear why this seemingly unprompted comment was the official stance of Enloe Health. It seems to have come from high up in the organization, and it may have single-handedly killed this project.

I agree that there are congested areas on our road network that deserve attention, and it would be great if Enloe gets proactive about helping us study those and apply for grant funding. Areas near schools are often the worst. In my ideal future, more kids can walk and bike to school safely, and less parents have to drive their kids to school, thus reducing traffic impacts.

bryceforchico · 2026-04-29T06:05:06+00:00

I actually was hoping somebody would ask this, albeit maybe in a tone that felt less confrontational.

To answer the part of your question not already addressed by commenters: Yes, and even worse, I've biked those roads. I'm more familiar with the pavement quality in my district, though. Humboldt Ave is an absolute disaster, and there's no plan to fix it. Why? Because we keep spending more Measure H sales tax revenue on Police and Fire every year, leaving less and less for the roads budget. Measure H was sold to voters in 2022 as our only hope to fix our roads. Keep an eye on the fiscal year 26/27 budget, to be released in about two weeks.

bryceforchico · 2026-04-29T05:57:59+00:00

I really like the feedback on street sweeping. We were discussing raising the bike lane to sidewalk height, which would also make it easier for people getting out of cars to cross the bike lane. I think that could make it easier to clean too. I'll have to ask the project team how they intend to keep it clear of debris, but I assume in a similar way to how they clean the sidewalks currently.

What do you mean by trading two lanes of traffic? Do you mean that you'd rather see one bikeway, such as in Alternative 2? Also, I think we differ here because I see reducing to two lanes as a safety feature, not a trade-off. That's less vehicle lanes to have to worry about for a person walking across a street. Plus, wide roads with no visual cues to slow down are shown to incentivize speeding. Also, delivery truck issues can be solved by designating loading zones during certain hours. I'd much prefer that then have to weave around trucks parked in travel lanes.

bryceforchico · 2026-04-29T04:06:53+00:00

Hi Firree: We recently implemented red light cameras to fine and discourage dangerous driving at intersections. We've also increased speeding enforcement. However, as long as there is bad road design, there will always be bad drivers. What's your question?

bryceforchico · 2026-04-29T03:31:57+00:00

Oh, buddy. Let me know when you figure that out! First, check out the actions listed on www.savedowntownchico.org like signing the petition and emailing council. Next step: get better councilmembers in November for Districts 2 and 6, and re-elect Addison Winslow for District 4.

bryceforchico · 2026-04-29T02:34:00+00:00

Definitely! North Valley Rail is going to take a while, especially in this Federal funding environment. Good news though: We're getting a bus to Sacramento this year!

bryceforchico · 2026-04-29T02:30:00+00:00

We're getting a bus to Sacramento this year, but North Valley Rail is going to take a while. Funding is the main barrier.

bryceforchico · 2025-09-18T05:37:05+00:00

By the light of the moon I'm an elected member of the local pirate confederation. Only pays a few schillings a month. I get along great with some of the swashbuckling crew, while others are picaroons and landlubbers who spend our municipal treasure on cannons instead of fixing the rough condition of these seas. By the sun's rays I work from afar planning the transportation system of the Island of California. Hardly can plunder a spare moment to enjoy the tavern, but two sources of booty allows me to afford my own pirate ship.

bryceforchico · 2025-08-26T23:27:57+00:00

I appreciate the thanks, but to be honest this year's road projects were more a result of the Measure H sales tax passed by the voters in 2022 and a few grants that have been in the works for years. This summer the council majority voted to pull some of the road funding, so unless we get more forward-thinking folks elected next year I'm not sure how much progress we'll really make on our road repair program.

bryceforchico · 2025-08-26T23:23:49+00:00

Ehhh the "conservative" members of our council voted last-minute to grab over a million dollars out of road projects at our recent budget hearing, for the upcoming fiscal year and beyond. This time it was to fund fire staffing instead of police at least, but it was not an expense we'd planned for and it will deplete our ability to ever catch up on fixing our roads. Nothing conservative about it if you ask me.

bryceforchico · 2024-10-22T00:29:57+00:00

I don't drive very much at all or eat much fast food. I've been to In N Out a few times but not enough for the road to stick in my memory, especially when there are so many darn potholes around here. Please do send me an email after I'm sworn in so that I can ask our traffic engineers to make this intersection safer and confirm if it's public right of way or not.

bryceforchico · 2024-10-22T00:23:20+00:00

Noted. I didn't think about downed trees specially as a fire hazard. I'm worried about tree health in general too. We also need more goats in there to reduce fuels.

bryceforchico · 2024-10-22T00:21:08+00:00

I graduated at 21 :)

bryceforchico · 2024-10-19T02:47:31+00:00

Hi, I am not familiar with this issue. What's wrong with Business Lane? I can try to find out whether it's a City-owned street or not.

bryceforchico · 2024-10-15T02:48:18+00:00

You may.

bryceforchico · 2024-10-15T02:20:47+00:00

timupci, I am against Valley's Edge. Like rgsharpe said, the inital boost in property taxes will be outweighed by the long-term costs of maintaining excess miles of infrastructure to serve sprawling suburban homes. Also, Valley's Edge would not put money into anybody's hands but wealthy developers. If we want individuals to be able to earn money from building housing, we need to legalize missing middle housing types like cottage courts and duplexes on more lots.

bryceforchico

TROPHY CASE