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Safe, walkable streets. Mom-and-pop shops and local cafes. Clean sidewalks and affordable housing. A place where the community gathers and friends connect. A vibrant downtown that supports a growing community of residents who share a wave or a bite to eat, families who bike together to Community Park, and local businesses with open doors to all who enter.
The idea of creating a safer, more walkable downtown area was built into the 2010 Downtown Master Plan, a document created and built with the community in mind. The original construction was scheduled to begin in late 2018. The Camp Fire delayed those plans but they were quickly re-incorporated into the Camp Fire Long Term Recovery Plan.
Construction is currently underway to build new drainage systems, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, paths, lighting, and landscaping. Additionally, there is new roadway surfacing along Almond, Birch, Fir, Foster, and Black Olive in the downtown area. This provides the necessary infrastructure to welcome additional businesses and amenities to the downtown area.
A safe, walkable downtown will allow for new businesses to come in and multifamily units to be built. Doing so will encourage community gathering and spending on the Ridge to boost economic vitality and help sustain Town services. Expanding the walkable downtown area away from the busy Skyway will allow for the Skyway to be widened in the future and provide for additional evacuation routes.
After a series of redesigns, hazard tree removals, and undergrounding of utilities, construction began in April 2021. The project is estimated to be finished by the end of 2022.
The Paradise downtown, currently centered on busy Skyway, will be growing east to the more walkable Almond/Fir/Birch/Black Olive area. Black Olive, Elliott, Pearson, and Skyway will be the primary exterior borders.
Yes. For that expansion to happen, however, sidewalks, drainage, storm pipes, re-paving crumbling roads, landscaping, pedestrian lighting, interconnected pathways, bike lanes, and underground utilities will all need to be put in place before the vision is realized.
This project will be the town’s largest infrastructure project in decades. More officially known as the “Almond Street / Gap Closure Projects,” the project aims at filling in the “gaps” in sidewalks and other crucial infrastructure needs to allow for a flourishing downtown area. These upgrades have been in the works for over a decade.
The project is funded almost entirely by grants. This overall $8.2M effort is primarily funded by the State’s Active Transportation and Federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality using grants secured between 2015-2017.
Local company Knife River Construction, based out of Chico, and their subcontractors won a very competitive bid to work on this project.
While the sewer project is still in development stages, the general idea is that trench lines would be installed in the future and the downtown area would be restored to pre-construction conditions.
The answer to this question will be largely the result of public input and feedback and ultimate direction from Paradise Town Council.
This newsletter is designed to keep you informed of the ongoing recovery efforts as we rebuild Paradise. Each week you will receive a newsletter with events, current numbers (building permits, etc.), current topics and a weekly Q&A.
Occasionally, we may send out an extra newsletter pertaining to an upcoming event or important information.
