Urbanists have
visions of the future. Visions that may
be twenty years or farther into the future, but are nonetheless in perfect
focus.
Where the
focus is often less clear is on the intervening years. The years of awkward transition between a drivable
suburban present and a walkable urban future.
A frequent
urbanist vision is of transit-oriented development (TOD). An
urbanist sees a delightful street scene with refreshed commuters disembarking
from sleek trains and walking or biking contentedly toward nearby homes. There would be abundant opportunities to make
nightly purchases in streetfront stores or to sit in neighborhood pubs, sharing
news of the day.
But even if a
TOD could be magically plopped into place tomorrow, the reality is still that the
surrounding community wouldn’t be ready to accommodate a TOD in its midst. Last
May, I wrote about new development being a rent in the fabric of the city, a wound
that takes time to heal. A TOD, no
matter how well-designed and executed, disrupts the existing day-to-day life of
a city.
Finding ways
to heal those wounds, to facilitate the transition to a TOD future, is key to a
successful TOD.
The City of
Petaluma is currently is the final stages of a master plan for the Petaluma
Station Area, a possible TOD adjoining the SMART (Sonoma-Marin Area Rail
Transit) station that will soon be built near downtown Petaluma. The draft master plan provides an example of
the transitional strategies that are required to implement a TOD. Today, I’ll begin writing about transitional parking. There are other issues, such as retail
demand, that I’ll cover in future posts.
The initial
SMART vision for Petaluma had a fully-conceived vision for commuter parking. There were to be two stations in town. One would be near the historic downtown and
would be suited for pedestrian, bicycle, and transit access. The other would be near the north end of town
and would include extensive parking. It
was a reasonable strategy.
But as often
happens, even reasonable strategies can come unwound. In this case, economic hard times reduced the
sales tax revenues that were to fund the construction of the new train. SMART had to adjust their plans. One change was the deferral of the north station. What remained was the downtown station that hadn’t
been intended to provide much parking.
That was the
challenge that faced the consulting team, headed by Opticos Design of Berkeley,
who was hired by the City of Petaluma to prepare a TOD master plan.
Before
discussing the Opticos solution, I’ll offer a quick summary of the lands
encompassed by the master plan. For
those who know Petaluma, this is information you already know. But for others, you may wish to download the final draft
master plan. An overview of the TOD
site can be seen on page 2-6.
The
potential site includes three large blocks of land. Immediately adjoining the historic train
station and the site of new train station, and further bounded by E. Washington
Street, Copeland Street, and D Street, is land owned by SMART. The land is currently being used as a staging
area for rail construction. SMART intends
to seek a developer for the land after rail construction is complete.
Next closest
to the station is the Haystack Landing site, bounded by E. Washington Street, Weller
Street, D Street, and Copeland Street. Earlier development plans for the property
failed and the land has been in a bankruptcy court action for several years. Except for a pair of metal buildings in one
corner, the site is vacant.
Furthest
away from the station, bounded by E. Washington Street, Weller Street, and the
Petaluma River, is a shopping center that was recently renamed River Plaza, but
is still commonly known as Golden Eagle.
Redevelopment of this site under the Petaluma Station Area would result
in a higher level of economic use, but will likely happen after the other two sites
because of the productive use already in place.
The concept
that Opticos proposed to address the parking concern was an incremental
development of the SMART land. If the
initial development can be limited to the areas closest to the station, E.
Washington, and D Street, much of the internal area of the parcel can be used for
parking on an interim basis. By my
calculations, it seems that 300 to 400 parking spaces could be created.
The plan on
page 2-11 shows a possible overall development of the site. To understand the interim parking thinking,
look at the parking in the middle of the two halves of the SMART site. Those two lots would be extended toward the
central street and to the street to the southwest, which is Copeland Street.
The expectation
would be that the parking areas along the street frontages would eventually be
replaced by the final buildings as the initial buildings were fully absorbed. The hope is that the north Petaluma station will
have been built by that time, reducing the need for parking at the downtown
station.
But there is
one other possibility. If there
continues to be strong demand for parking at the downtown station, one or both
of the parking areas in the middle of the building sites could be converted to parking
structures. The cost would be
significant, but would only be incurred if there was a need.
Do these parking
strategies offer a good transitional solution?
Absolutely. Does it mean that we
needn’t worry about the parking issue again?
Not even close. There are many
possibilities for the ship of good intentions to be driven onto the lee shore
of real-world issues. I’ll talk about
some of those of possibilities in my next post.
But for
today, I’d suggest that you scan the draft master plan. It’s a large document and I don’t seriously
suggest you read every word, but read as much as holds your interest.
If being a
part of bringing this vision to fruition is of interest to you, including the interim
parking concepts, you may wish to attend the final meeting of the citizens’
advisory committee. It will be held this
Thursday, February 21, at 6pm at the Community Center. Everyone is welcome to attend. The master plan will then head to the
Planning Commission and City Council, where your attendance could also be
valuable.
Moving from
today to TOD is a complex subject.
Hopefully, Petaluma can provide lessons for the other cities in the region.
As always,
your questions or comments will be appreciated.
Please comment below or email me.
And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
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