SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Sunnyvale City Councilmembers unanimously approved a design for a revitalized Murphy Avenue streetscape design at their Tuesday evening (November 22) meeting. A key feature of the new design is a built-in flexibility, allowing the street and sidewalks to be easily shifted through many possible uses.

The 100 block of Murphy Avenue is an historic area filled with small shops, restaurants and outdoor dining areas. During summer months, a Wednesday evening music series takes place on Murphy Avenue, and a farmers market is held each Saturday morning in the street.

As work progresses on razing the old Town Center mall and rebuilding the new Sunnyvale downtown adjacent to Murphy Avenue, both the City Council and local merchants have expressed a desire that there be a strong visual tie between historic Murphy Avenue and the new downtown, and that the new Murphy Avenue streetscape designs be in place by the time the new downtown shops begin to open in summer 2007.

The streetscape project is set in stages. The first two stages, which will cost an estimated $3 – 4 million, will depend in part on receiving a Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) grant and will upgrade the Murphy Avenue sidewalks and breezeways that lead to the parking lots. The final phase, which is estimated to cost an additional $7 million, would dramatically change the parking lots on the east and west side of the Murphy Avenue shops, changing the parking lots to add broad pedestrian walkways along the shops and restaurants. A funding source has not yet been identified for this final phase.

Responding to previous contacts with several of the existing Murphy Avenue business owners, Council also approved an interim policy dealing with existing street furniture. Recognizing there may be an extended time period until full funding is in place to begin the new streetscape, the interim policy will allow Murphy Avenue businesses to work with the City to move or remove certain existing streetscape amenities. These may include planters and other items that are not scheduled to be used in the newly-adopted design. Removing the items now may, in some cases, open up space for additional outdoor dining tables for restaurants.