Although drivable suburban remains the
default land-use choice in much of the North Bay, there bits of good news as
2014 gets underway.
State Farm site in Rohnert Park:
Like many, I was concerned about the loss of jobs when State Farm closed their
regional office in Rohnert Park. But out
of that bad news may have a glimmer of hope for urbanism in the community.
Southern California developer Suncal,
which specializes in mixed-use projects, has acquired the property and
initiated planning, with the cautiously enthusiastic endorsement of the Press Democrat. Combined with the decision to site the Rohnert Park
SMART station adjoining the State Farm site, it’s a promising situation.
Before folks make plans for selling their
cars and moving into downtown Rohnert Park, several cautions should be
noted. First, financing is often
difficult for mixed-use projects, especially in communities where they have
little history.
Second, surprise hurdles can arise,
regardless of the past successes of the developer. One need look no further that the
difficulties that bedeviled Suncal over their proposed development in Alameda, a project
that is now apparently dead.
Third, urbanism works best when it
connects to other urbanist projects, building toward a critical mass. But the State Farm site is largely surrounded
by collectors, arterials, and low-density, single-use sites. There is enough area within the State Farm
site that a credible site plan can be developed, but single-developer, isolated
projects are far from the urbanist ideal.
The proximity of the train station mitigates the isolation of the site,
but doesn’t fully remedy it.
That’s not to argue that a
single-developer project can’t be a good place to live. But it likely won’t have the same urbanist
flavor that the Petaluma Station Area may be able to create with its short walk
to the historic downtown.
Of course, in the absence of an urban
heritage, a bootstrap project is the only hope and the State Farm site is probably
the best bootstrap site in Rohnert Park.
Copia in Napa: Almost two years ago, I wrote about the
Copia site in Napa. At the time, as shown above, the building was vacant and the
grounds were falling into disrepair, the cutting-edge concept having failed to
find a foothold. I was concerned that
the vacant site, if not truly a drag on the adjoining Oxbow Public Market and nearby downtown Napa, was inhibiting the urbanist
growth that seemed possible.
Two years later, there haven’t been many physical changes,
but there is a serious urbanist proposal under consideration. And there are elements of the community
pushing back with thinking that seems more in line with drivable suburbia.
Although I’m concerned about the pushback, I’m pleased that
the discussion is underway. The site has
sat vacant for too long.
River Front in Petaluma: Several months ago, a
representative of Basin Street Development spoke with Petaluma Urban Chat about
the proposed River Front project along the Petaluma River and near the
interchange of Highway 101 and Lakeville Boulevard.
At the time, review of the project environmental documents by
the Petaluma Planning Commission was scheduled for the following week. But the Basin Street representative advised us
that issues had arisen about the environmental documents, resulting in a hearing
delay. The project has now returned to
the Planning Commission agenda and will be heard at 7pm on Tuesday, January 14
at the Petaluma City Hall.
Although much further along in the development process,
River Front shares characteristics with the State Farm site in Rohnert
Park. As proposed, River Front is a competent
and reasonable urbanist project with a retail and multi-family core surrounded
by small lot single-family homes.
Some at Urban Chat were concerned that the project failed
to give adequate attention to the Petaluma River, but I can see the logic of
putting the higher density core closer to the access point from Lakeville
Boulevard.
But River Front, like the State Farm site, lacks the
surrounding urbanist context that would allow it to organically flow into other
urbanist neighborhoods. Instead, any need
that can’t be met within River Front will require a car trip.
Nor does River Front have the rail access of the State Farm
site. At one time, the second Petaluma
SMART station was planned to adjoin the River Front site, but the station was
long ago moved to the Corona Road site, where it still remains unfunded.
None of this is meant as a criticism of the Basin Street
proposal. Internally, it’s a good
plan. But the context issues highlight
the problem of returning urbanism to communities that have too long been built to
the drivable suburban paradigm.
Notes and Updates
Petaluma Urban Chat: Another month has flown past,
with the holidays having further shortened the weeks. Another meeting of Petaluma Urban Chat is
upon us.
We’ll meet on Tuesday, January 14. We’ll convene at 5:30 at the Aqus Cafe at 2nd
and H Streets. The discussion will begin
at 5:45. (At least a few of us,
including this writer, will move directly from the Urban Chat meeting to the
Planning Commission hearing on the River Front project.)
We’ll return to our study of “The Smart Growth Manual” by
Duany, Speck, and Lydon. All are
welcome. Even if you haven’t read the
book, you should enjoy the discussion.
East Washington Place: Three months ago, I wrote
about how a new Petaluma retail development had been completed without the bus stop that would have provided
good access for transit riders. I can
now report that service changes were put into place several days ago to serve
East Washington Place.
The solution is still interim, with further changes likely later
in the year, but it’s a move in the right direction. (Disclaimer: I serve on the Petaluma Transit
Advisory Committee, so participated in the service change decisions.)
On a less positive note, changes to the Transit Advisory
Committee authorizing resolution that would reduce the possibility of future transit
omissions haven’t proceeded as quickly as hoped. But the year is still young.
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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