Pismo Beach keeps downtown parklet with talk of more to come

The Pismo Beach parklet will stay parked in the same place for the near future, and more mini gathering areas could be on the way for the city.

The Pismo Beach City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday night to keep its first official parklet at its current location on the corner of Cypress Street and Hinds Avenue, after a trial period of a little less than two months downtown.

The parklet will stay in the parking spaces in front of Esquire News until the council directs staff to remove or relocate it, possibly after the busier summer season.

“I think Public Works did a beautiful job on the design,” Mayor Shelly Higginbotham said. “I hope it is used more. I think it is worthy of more time in that one spot.”

The parklet — which features a surfboard-shaped table, checkerboard and benches on which downtown visitors can relax — was well-received by the public, Community Development Director Jon Biggs said at the meeting.

Of the 14 comments sent to the City Council on the parklet, six were in favor of the community gathering space, two were against it and six asked for a parklet to be built in front of the downtown restaurant Chipwrecked.

The council also directed the city Parking Advisory committee and Parks, Recreation and Beautification Commission to develop a set of “parklet design and siting standards” to bring before the council to standardize future city parklets.

The council initially set aside $30,000 to establish the parklet. Excluding staff time to construct and install it, the parklet cost $5,000, Biggs said.

Future parklets in the downtown area are expected to be privately funded, rather than city funded, according to Biggs.

This story was originally published May 19, 2015 at 10:47 PM with the headline "Pismo Beach keeps downtown parklet with talk of more to come."