Yellow brick roads, arched entranceways and parking garages were among the ideas that members of the public suggested during an open forum for the Water Street Enhancement Project, which is to be built next year.

Dozens of people showed up at the Aug. 10 forum, hosted by the City of Port Townsend, during which members of the public wrote their ideas for the project on Post-it notes and then stuck the notes on a 30-foot-long map. The forum took place at the Cotton Building.

Paul Schutt was one of those who attended. He attached a few Post-it notes himself.

I live right on Water Street where the projects going to be, he said as he pointed to the location of his home on the map.

Its going to be a good thing. Its an extension of what we did at the other end of the street, he said.

Schutt said he liked what he called the pocket park at the beach end of Tyler Street. The plans right now call for removable bollards to be installed there to block vehicles and make the area more pedestrian-friendly.

Schutt suggested that a water fountain also be built in the pocket park.

Lack of parking is a perpetual complaint, and Schutt suggested that one or two multistory parking garages could be built one of them in the lot behind The Rose Theatre.

The posted comments are to be typed into a spreadsheet and discussed by city personnel, said city engineer Laura Parsons, who was at the event to answer questions. If the person who made the suggestion also left contact information, the city is to contact that person with a response.

The $2.65 million project spans from Taylor Street to the ferry terminal. It is to feature improved sidewalks that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, remove an old buried concrete road, replace an old water main and add a new asphalt street, among other actions. Construction is planned to begin January 2018 and be completed by June 2018.

Earlier plans for the Water Street project included a island of trees to be installed in the center of Water Street near the ferry turnoff road, but updated plans shown Aug. 10 do not include that island.

Parsons said eliminating the island from the design would make it easier for vehicles to make turns.

The street is to be designed with 12-foot-wide sidewalks on each side of it. There are to be two 7-foot-wide areas of the street for parallel parking, and two 17-foot-wide traffic lanes are to be located in the center of the street.

The existing center turn lane is to be removed so that the wider traffic lanes can provide more shared use space for bicyclists and cars.

Im a big biker myself. Its totally on my radar screen, Parsons said of bicyclists concerns.

The design also includes an approximately 4-foot-wide dooring zone so that bicyclists dont have to worry as much about having the door of a parked car fly open in front of them.

Parsons said angled parking had been considered, but the idea was rejected in favor of parallel parking.

Lighting at intersections would be provided by two kitty-corner lamps. There is also to be additional lights placed at the midpoint of each block.

This stage of the design is what is called the 30 percent design stage pretty basic, Parsons said. But the 60-90 percent design stage is to include street striping, signage and elevation information, she said.

Were doing some finer tuning at this point, Parsons said.

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Tree 'islands' nixed in latest Water Street plan - Port Townsend Leader