The Tomato Festival is getting a new home! This Downtown area, where Fairfield's century-long history began, creates an important first impression of the community and it’s where civic events like the Tomato Festival and parades are held. As the County seat, it’s also home to government services and unique retail and restaurants.

The “Heart of Fairfield” Plan will transform the Downtown and West Texas Street neighborhoods of the City. Through a Proposition 84 grant-funded project, the community has been deeply involved in prioritizing improvements for both the public and private realms, including specific Complete Streets solutions for major roadways. The Plan calls for new retail, commercial and residential uses, supported by a re-imagined West Texas Street with a reduced number of travel lanes (road diet), allowing room for cycle track, street trees and improved landscaping, enhanced pedestrian amenities and safety, and new restaurant space within the right-of-way. And a large nearby right-of-way will provide desperately needed park and open space.

The adopted plan is a form-based approach with specific use and development standards, regulatory and financial incentives, and objective design standards that create a strategic framework for the City, property owners, developers, and the community. This hybrid approach clarified development requirements and included specific development prototypes that have been economically tested in the Fairfield market. It’s resulted in the streamlining of new multifamily and mixed-use projects within the Downtown Fairfield area and close to major transit hubs.

Streamlining created a strong regulatory and financial incentive for new development projects, fueling the City’s incentives for new development that is consistent with the community’s vision.