Nearly 80 percent of those who responded to a Crescent City survey said they preferred a sequence of gateway elements incorporating waves and dolphins to welcome folks to the Beachfront Park area. | Screenshot

After a community outreach campaign netted 561 survey responses and more than 100 shares on Facebook, Crescent City councilors chose a gateway that draws on its residents’ relationship with the ocean.

Seventy-six percent of those who responded to the city’s survey also supported changing Front Street’s name to Beachfront Drive, Crescent City Manager Eric Wier told the Council on Monday. But the potential name change could disadvantage local businesses, Wier said, costing them thousands of dollars.

“The hard costs are somewhere between $7,000 on the low end for the permitting, the licensing, all the changing of business cards — all those types of pieces,” he said, adding that he spoke with two business owners on Front Street. “Then if you get into search engine optimization and the actual loss of revenue if that’s done the wrong way or at the wrong time, it could be tens of thousands of dollars. Upwards of $50,000. It’s not a small item and it should be one that’s dealt with carefully and intentionally.”

Three city councilors authorized staff to move forward with the community’s preferences. According to the survey, a majority of those who responded  supported the first of two wave options. There were four designs for the community to weigh in on along with a “none-of-the-above” option.

Nearly 80 percent of those who responded also favored a sequence of gateway elements incorporating a wave, arch and dolphins rather than a single monument sign. According to the survey, those gateway elements would start at Front Street and U.S. 101 North and end at Front and K streets where the Cultural Center is.

On Monday, Inscore said the sequence would include a double wave with dolphins as the first gateway into the community, a single dolphin design with a wave will be posted at the U.S. 101 intersection with Front Street and the sequence will close with a traditional archway over K Street.

Councilors also asked staff to find out if the marketing consultant that works for the city, Lynnette Braillard, of the Bend, Oregon-based LuLish Design, would be willing to work with local businesses to minimize the impact changing Front Street’s name would have on them.

According to Mayor Blake Inscore, Crescent City set aside $30,000 in its 2024-25 budget for marketing. He suggested using some of those funds to potentially amend Braillard’s contract with the city if she’s willing.

Inscore also urged Wier to work with the design team spearheading the project to determine if part of the $2.9 million Clean California Grant the city received for the project could be used to engage with Front Street businesses.

“The bigger question really is, is this the right thing to do?” Inscore told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday.

Inscore floated the idea of changing Front Street’s name to something that’s more reflective of Crescent City at the Council’s Oct. 21 meeting. He suggested Beachfront Drive over Oceanfront Drive, pointing out that two local hotels use the phrase “oceanfront” and “we don’t want to be confused with a hotel.”

On Wednesday, the mayor said that while he and his colleagues needed to finalize a design option for the gateway project, moving forward on the Front Street name change wasn’t necessary.

“When I initially proposed the idea and threw it out there and it ended up in this survey, it was in the context of Beachfront Park being built out as an amenity and as a point of destination that we’re drawing people to,” he said. “We’re not there yet. Beachfront Park isn’t the destination that I believe it’s going to be when the amphitheater is up and running and all this stuff is built. Then it will be a destination to be marketed.”

On Monday, Councilor Isaiah Wright was absent. His colleague, Jason Greenough, attended the meeting via Zoom to approve the consent calendar, which included continuing the emergency declaration related to the Pebble Beach Drive slide repair. Greenough left the meeting early due to illness.

Crescent City received a $2.9 million Clean California Grant to create a seamless gateway from the S Curve at U.S. 101 and Front Street into the Beachfront Park and the downtown business district. The project also aims to improve access to the Cultural Center and Point-of-Honor veterans monument, establish an entry point for the Tolowa Interpretive Walk and relocate the transit hub to a safer location.

In June, the City Council contracted with Greenworks PC to spearhead the Crescent City Cultural Gateway and Beautification Project. Greenworks PC and their subcontractors, Stover Engineering and SeaReach, are also working on the Beachfront Park improvements.

According to Wier, the project’s design and permitting phase must be finished by February or March of next year so construction can be completed by October 2025. The Clean California Grant funds must be spent by June 30, 2026, according to the city’s staff report.

On Monday, Councilwoman Kelly Schellong-Feola asked about the east ende of Front Street, where the old Pizza King building — now SeaFront Bakery — stands. She asked if there will be signs pointing to businesses on that end of Front Street and suggested repositioning the smaller monument so it draws people there or to downtown businesses on 3rd and 4th streets.

Wier said the Clean California Grant only applies to the Front Street and U.S. 101 intersection, that it couldn’t be used for the downtown area. However, he said the gateway’s design could be incorporated into Downtown Crescent City, which will likely be an option for the future. Wier noted that the gateway shouldn’t be a standalone piece that doesn’t connect with the town.

He said he’s also discussed with the owners of SeaFront Bakery the possibility of turning that area into a plaza that uses the tetrapod and dolo to tell the story of Crescent City’s history with tsunamis.

“This is a wonderful plot of grass. It’s on the back side of the highway here so you can have this all be part of that history experience, that Front Street experience, talking about the tsunami and what it did to the tetrapod that moved off its base,” Wier said. “But you’re just going to have to get them off the highway.”

Schellong-Feola also noted that it’s a big ask for local businesses to weather a street name change without being willing to partner with them and supported the idea of asking Braillard to collect more data on those potential impacts.

“It would be really great to have a clear idea of what her capabilities are in providing economic impact numbers in relationship to a street name change,” Schellong-Feola said.