4-0 vote backs transit-oriented, live-work development

By CLARK MASON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

October 11, 2007

As the clock approached midnight Tuesday, weary Santa Rosa City Council members put the finishing touches on a sweeping plan intended to foster transit-oriented development around Old Railroad Square and into downtown.

After listening to more than 50 speakers over the course of five hours, council members had little to say about the overarching significance of the plan they adopted on a 4-0 vote.

But by Wednesday, a rested Mayor Bob Blanchard described it as "a significant piece of the puzzle of the downtown area. And it's a rejuvenation."

The Downtown Station Area Specific Plan, which intensifies development around a proposed Railroad Square train station, is seen as a key to reducing traffic by locating people near jobs and transit.

Two years in the making, the product of a dozen public workshops and meetings, it is intended to stimulate construction of more housing near a train station and promote a walkable, transit-convenient lifestyle.

But the transformation could take a while.

"This is a long-range plan, looking 15, 20 years and beyond. It's not a plan that will happen overnight," said Ken MacNab, the city planner who spearheaded the creation of the document, which was paid for with a $450,000 grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

And the timing will depend on the economy.

"A large determinant of how quickly this happens is the market for this type of development in Santa Rosa," MacNab said Wednesday, adding that the city believes there is demand. He described it as "smart growth, city-centered, building up, not out."

Some condominiums and apartment projects that mix in office or commercial space already are a reality downtown and near Railroad Square. The plan approved Tuesday aims to spur those types of projects.

It also is intended to create safe, attractive and walkable environments.

Much of the public testimony Tuesday, as in past meetings, focused on affordable housing, bike lanes and environmentally friendly building methods.

A group of about two dozen bicyclists pressed the council to approve bike lanes along Wilson Street and Sixth Street, while some merchants worried that bike lanes will eliminate more than 90 parking spaces.

The council left the bike lanes in the plan, but will reconsider them next year when a bike and pedestrian master plan for the city comes back for adoption.

The council was also pressed by housing advocates to require developers in the study area to build their projects with at least 20 percent of the dwellings low income and 20 percent very low income. But council members decided that housing needs more study and will be revisited next year when the housing element of the city's General Plan is updated.

The station area plan focuses on land within a half-mile of a proposed rail station in Railroad Square, or within a 10-minute walk for train commuters, the plan's target group.

It allows for 2,460 more homes, or about 6,000 more residents beyond the current general plan's specifications.

The plan was initiated by a proposal to run commute trains along 70 miles of track between Cloverdale and Larkspur. Voters narrowly rejected a ballot measure in 2006 that would have paid for the passenger trains, but it is expected to be back on the ballot next year.

Even if passenger train service is not approved in 2008 by the two-thirds of voters needed, Santa Rosa officials say the station area plan makes sense.

"The train is the future transportation option," Blanchard said. "If you don't start planning and building for it now, it will never get here."

MacNab said the plan "is critical to making the train viable."

In essence, MacNab said, it creates housing and ridership for trains and buses serving downtown Santa Rosa, the largest city in the North Bay and the employment hub of Sonoma County.

The plan can be viewed online at www.stationareaplan.net.