City, stakeholders, seek input on future of Salinas Intermodal Transportation Center

SALINAS – The future of one of the most visible areas in the center of Salinas, that is already a transportation hub and houses historic structures, will be the topic of discussion at a meeting later this month.

The Intermodal Transportation Center in Salinas, which includes the train station, is also home to the Salinas City Regional Heritage Center, the California Welcome Center, as well as Heritage Park. This month the public will have a chance to voice its opinion at a gathering on the future of the centers and help in the ongoing transformation of downtown Salinas.

“This will be the first time all stakeholders meet, on June 20,” said Craig Kaufman, Salinas Valley Tourism and Visitors Bureau executive director.

Salinas City Regional Heritage Center and California Welcome Center in Salinas will be hosting the event to gather input from the community and to discuss plans for the future of the properties in the historic heart of Salinas at Station Place. The meeting will be held to allow attendees to engage with city staff and planning consultants Harris and Associates, who will develop a Master Plan for the Intermodal Transportation Center site.

The forum dubbed “Your Input, Our Future: Heritage Park/Intermodal Transit Center Meeting” will take place at 4 p.m., at the California Welcome Center, which houses the Salinas City Heritage Center museum inside the historic Southern Pacific Freight Depot at 1 Station Place in Salinas.

Salinas Mayor Kimbley Craig said the city has a vision for the Intermodal Transportation Center and the organizations and facilities it houses.

“The Downtown Vibrancy Plan (2015) identifies the incorporation of transit-oriented development at the site. Staff has received requests from stakeholders to expand their use and to rename the site and designate it as a park,” Craig explained. “However, before any decisions are made, it’s imperative to engage with the community extensively and to establish a process. A thorough assessment of existing conditions, along with an analysis of assets, challenges and opportunities, is crucial to determine the optimal utilization of the site.”

The Intermodal Transit Center was the first piece of the Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s rail extension program which constructed improvements at the Salinas train station situated in the downtown area and will also include a Caltrain layover facility for upcoming connection to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Craig said that in April of this year, the city’s Economic Development Division executed an agreement for professional services with Harris and Associates for the development of phase 1 of the Intermodal Transportation Center Master Plan.

The Intermodal Transportation Center Master Plan aims to create a vision within the community and is anticipated to enable officials to decide stakeholder requests quickly and easily, said Craig. Phase 2, would also provide defined parameters for future development – though it’s unknown when Phase 2 will begin. The Intermodal Transportation Center Master Plan will also further the goals and vision of the Downtown Vibrancy Plan and the city’s Economic Development Element (2017) for the development of transit-oriented uses.

“This is the first of five meetings to engage site and broader community stakeholders to work collaboratively to develop a vision and conceptual plan for the potential expansion of current uses as well as new transit-oriented development,” said Craig.

Event organizers say the meeting is a way to ensure the community’s voice is heard.

Kaufman, who was instrumental in bringing the California Welcome Center to Salinas, as well as establishing the Regional Heritage Center, said he believes there are two goals to be accomplished at the upcoming meeting. The first is to approve the expansion of the remaining freight depot space, currently being used for storage, to accommodate more museum space. The second is to allow the ability to market the collection of historic properties and trains under the Heritage Park moniker.

The existing portion of the Regional Heritage Center in the Southern Pacific Freight Depot tells the story of how the Southern Pacific Company influenced and shaped the economies of early California, according to Kaufman.

The Intermodal Transportation Center, at the junction of Market and Salinas streets in downtown Salinas, currently houses the 151-year-old Southern Pacific Freight Depot, the oldest surviving commercial building in Salinas, the 156-year-old First Mayor’s House, as well as the third incarnation of the train depot at that site, which is now 82 years old. (James Herrera/Monterey Herald)

“The expansion will go back in time, covering the First Peoples in our area, Spain and Mexico, with the Juan Bautista De Anza National Historic Trail being the overarching theme,” said Kaufman. “The historic freight depot is located on this National Historic Trail.”

There are only 21 National Historic Trails and 63 National Parks in the United States. The Salinas Valley region has one of each of these national assets shared by Monterey and San Benito counties and surrounded by expansive scenic natural landscapes and historic downtowns.

Craig said the next steps will include the development of an existing conditions assessment, an analysis of site assets, challenges and opportunities, and an evaluation of stakeholder’s request for a park designation/heritage center branding.

More than a year ago, the city formally responded to and denied the California Welcome Center’s request to expand into the remainder of the Southern Pacific freight depot building and its application for the installation of banners with the name Salinas City Heritage Park to be used at the Intermodal Transportation Center.

The city said its decision to deny the Welcome Center’s request to expand the use of the freight depot building for additional exhibits is based upon a tenant’s wish to continue to use the space. The city also said it had concerns about the banners with the Salinas City Heritage Park name because it “may create confusion, as we are not certain of the efforts taken to have the area formally designated as historic or as a historic landmark.”

But the Intermodal Transportation Center, at the junction of Market and Salinas streets in downtown Salinas, currently houses the 151-year-old Southern Pacific Freight Depot the oldest surviving commercial building in Salinas, the 156-year-old First Mayor’s House, as well as the third incarnation of the train depot at that site, which is now 82 years old.

Other draws within the transportation center area include the Sophronia Harvey Education Center, the Steaming Ahead Historic Railroad Exhibit, the Monterey and Salinas Valley Railroad Museum, and the Southern Pacific Depot Annex that includes the Friends of the Salinas Public Library sales site.

Most of these structures are part of a Heritage Park, a separate entity that operates within the same area as the Heritage Center and the California Welcome Center within the Intermodal Transportation Center.

“The Heritage Park name allows our partners to share the goal of creating different points of destinations under one name within a specified area,” said Kaufman.

In the city’s response to the requests in February 2023, it said the city of Salinas planned to develop a scope of work, select a consultant and prepare a master plan for the Intermodal Transportation Center, engaging Transportation Center and community stakeholders in the planning process.

The June meeting is the first where all stakeholders will come together.

What happens next, said Kaufman, is that a report from the different meetings with the city’s planning consultants Harris and Associates and various community stakeholders will be submitted to the city of Salinas by the consultants.

According to the meeting organizers, the vision for the site’s landmark properties and transportation facility is highly valued by stakeholders and interested parties.