FAIRFIELD — Fairfield, according to City Manager David White, “is a city on the move.”
“We are moving forward in a positive way,” White told the audience at this year’s annual State of the City address.
That has been the way that the city’s leaders have long looked at Fairfield fortunes all the way back to when Clipper chip Captain Robert Waterman founded it in the 1850s.
Within the last year, Fairfield has been the recipient of strong commercial and residential development which included about 2 million square feet of commercial development “and there is more to come,” White said.
That has included expansion projects such as those at NorthBay Healthcare, which is expanding its hospital, and at Heretic Brewing, which is increasing brewery and restaurant space.
There has been what White called “abundant residential development” with 10 residential developments going up with about 750 new homes, and seven more such developments in the planning process.
Northeast Fairfield is expected to see substantial growth of between 8,000 and 10,000 homes planned for that area.
Central Fairfield will be seeing several projects to reinvigorate the downtown area.
That includes the Heart of Fairfield plan that promotes bringing new businesses such as Rustwater Kitchen and Taproom, and Saffron Indian Cuisine to Texas Street.
For West Texas Street, White said the city is planning to turn that area into a walkable, bicyclable mixed-use community.
Allan Witt Park is facing a major revitalization effort “that will take time and community partnerships to accomplish,” White said.
Plans for the park include the addition of a dog park, inclusive play area for special needs children and relocated ball fields.
The Linear Park Trail will be getting attention with plans to open it all the way from Solano Community College to the train station as well as create “nodes of activity” to bring more people to use it.
One node would be where it crosses North Texas Street with Fairfield planning to buy the site of the city’s former bowling alley and turn it into an active sports field complex.
Home to Travis Air Force Base, a Budweiser brewery and Jelly Belly Candy Company, the city wants to make downtown Fairfield one of its landmarks as well.
The Intermodal Station Project for train and bus riders, planned about a mile from Travis Air Force Base, is seen as a boon for residents and the economy.
Fairfield has long boasted of an excellent quality of life, relatively low housing costs as compared to the San Francisco Bay Area, and a good selection of retail outlets to make the community a fine place for families to live and work.
Located about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento, its leaders describe it as more than just a bedroom community for those major metropolitan areas.
They point out its strategic location, extensive transportation links and readily available properties that make it a prime location for commerce.
The city’s status as the county seat reaches back to 1858 and has helped boost growth, beginning with a doubling of the population between the late 1850s and 1880. It was incorporated in 1903.
A century later, more than 44,000 people lived in the city, a number that more than doubled by 2000 and now stands at 107,684, according to census figures. It’s average population growth is 2 percent per year.
Fairfield now covers more than 40 square miles is almost the physical size of San Francisco.
Fairfield at a glance
- City Hall: 1000 Webster St., 428-7400
- Website: www.fairfield.ca.gov
- City manager: David White. Reach at 428-7400
- Mayor: Harry Price. Elected in 1997. Term expires in 2018. Reach at 428-7395 or 422-4455 or [email protected]
- Vice Mayor: Chuck Timm. Elected in 2007. Served one term. Elected again in 2014. Term expires in 2018. Reach at 429-6298 or 428.7402 or [email protected]
- Councilwoman: Pam Bertani. Elected in 2011. Term expires in 2020. Reach at 628-6974 or [email protected]
- Councilwoman: Catherine Moy. Appointed in 2008. Elected 2009. Term expires in 2018. Reach at 480-8837 or [email protected]
- Councilman: Rick Vaccaro. Appointed in 2008. Elected 2011. Term expires in 2020. Reach at 249-3533 or [email protected]
