The City of Escondido was proud to announce the opening of Maple Street Pedestrian Plaza in September of 2012. The new plaza connects City Hall, the Civic Center, Grape Day Park and the California Center for the Arts with its historic downtown and is an ideal venue for community events.

The City commissioned San Diego landscape architecture firm Schmidt Design Group, Inc. for the creation of the Maple Street Pedestrian Plaza and Downtown Pedestrian Corridor Master Plan.

The Downtown Corridor Master Plan is a nearly half mile pedestrian corridor that creates a strong link and identity between the nearby residential area, Grape Day Park, museums, City Hall, public parking lots and various activity nodes in the downtown area.

The Schmidt Design Group team has proposed a design theme called “Brushstrokes” to draw people into downtown Escondido. The Brushstrokes theme includes historic tiles, decorative mosaics, distinctive lighting, and an interactive water feature to create a unique identity for the corridor. The Maple Street Pedestrian Plaza is the transformation of an existing street to a narrow one-way street making room for a pedestrian plaza. The completed project is a “festival street” and provides an ideal location for farmers markets, crafts fairs, street festivals, and other gatherings. The wider parkway areas will have decorative pavers, trees, benches, a decorative fountain, unique custom shade trellises, historic pavers, stone seat walls, benches and game tables, and dramatic LED lighting, custom gateway signs, and art furnishings by artist Paul Hobson.

The Maple Street Pedestrian Plaza offers a destination for people of all ages to sit and relax, visit local businesses or engage with members of the community in a vibrant public space. The street has been constructed as a “festival street”, with a single, one-way traffic lane from south to north, with no curbs or on-street parking. Maple Street Pedestrian Plaza promotes walkability by providing a pedestrian-friendly connection between Grand Avenue and City Hall, the California Center for the Arts Escondido, and Grape Day Park.  The first project of its kind in the San Diego region, Maple Street serves as a great project example that promotes walkability within an existing community. Through the use of removable bollards, the street can be closed to car traffic for special events making the block a true people place.

Maple Street Plaza encourages community involvement and provides a public meeting place in the heart of the historic downtown.   It will have a positive impact on a significant number of residents and visitors by providing a safe and enjoyable pedestrian environment.  The design provides for shady seating areas, interactive play at the unique water feature, and opportunities to learn about Escondido’s rich history through the historic pavers.  The community has already embraced the plaza: groups such as “The Specter Crew”  often use the space for “Friday Night B-Boy” dancing as can be seen on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWHASL8SuIM.

The $2.5 million Maple Street Pedestrian Plaza was made possible through a $945,000 Smart Growth Grant from SANDAG as well as local funding (Transnet, Gas Tax, Public Art Fund).