Workshop to bring fairgrounds’ future into focus

By Barry Eberling | Daily Republic | March 16, 2009

VALLEJO, CALIF.—Solano County wants help from the public in figuring out ways to make its 152-acre fairgrounds in Vallejo a bustling place year-round.

The site has the type of location that real estate agents so often rave about, with easy access from Interstate 80 and Highway 37. But it also has decades-old buildings and hosts few big events outside of the annual county fair.

Vallejo-based Brooks Street consultants on Wednesday will lead a community workshop to develop a vision for the future of the fairgrounds. The workshop will be 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the fairgrounds, 900 Fairgrounds Drive.

County supervisors on Feb. 24 adopted guiding principles for the fairgrounds as a starting point. The principles call for exploring retail, commercial, hospitality, recreational, residential, family and youth-oriented, educational and civic uses that can co-exist with the annual fair.

“The effort to redevelop the Solano County Fairgrounds has been a priority for a decade or more and it’s finally time to make positive progress,” Vallejo City Councilman Tom Bartee told the supervisors.

Wednesday’s meeting is the first of a series of public workshops, Brooks Street spokesman Jason Keadjian said. There will be one in Fairfield.

“We want to have unconstrained discussions,” Keadjian said. “We want to start with a blank slate. We want to really think outside the box about the potential opportunities for the fairgrounds.”

The last fairgrounds redevelopment effort ended in controversy in 2006. The county asked the Mills Corp. to create a vision and Mills proposed a layout depicting where it would develop shops, businesses and homes.

Critics said the Mills plan suited the company’s interests more than the community’s. The local Sierra Club said the plan would create a ‘mega-mall’ with too little public space and wetlands protection.

At the Feb. 24 Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Jim Spering said all that has changed this time. Brooks Street is developing Solano County’s vision instead of its owns, he added.

A county agreement with Vallejo calls for the newly formed Solano 360 Committee to oversee the fairgrounds vision development. The members are Spering, Supervisor John Vasquez, Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis and Vallejo City Council members Bartee and Stephanie Gomes.

Information about the redevelopment is available at www.solano360.org. Brooks Street project manager Wanda Chihak is available from 9 a.m. to noon Mondays at the outreach office, 401 Amador St. in Vallejo. To schedule an appointment, call 558-0222.

Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or beberling@dailyrepublic.net.

At a glance
Who: Solano 360 Committee and Brooks Street consultants
What: Workshop to get community input on fairgrounds redevelopment
When: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Solano County Fairgrounds, 900 Fairgrounds Dr., Vallejo

Info: www.solano360.org or Jennifer Hayes at 647-1600