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SMART seeks input on bike parking planned at train stations 

Derek Moore, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

View the report here. Input on where there should be more bike parking scan be submitted to LMeckel@SonomaMarinTrain.org.

In the not-too-distant future, the phrase “bike-to-train” will be introduced to the North Coast lexicon for the first time.
But as the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit Authority ramps up for the start of passenger service later this year, there are concerns whether the rail agency has enough parking for those who will get to and from stations on two wheels.
Under current plans, SMART will offer parking for up to 100 bikes along the entire 43-mile route extending from north Santa Rosa to downtown San Rafael. Each of the 10 train stations will have five inverted “U-racks,” with each rack accommodating two bikes, a total of 10 bikes per station.
SMART released a draft plan about 10 days ago outlining the need for additional bike parking. But some SMART board members, as well as cycling advocates, fear those proposed upgrades won’t happen in time to meet initial demand.
“We feel that it’s critically important that what’s proposed in the investment plan is on the ground at the start of train service,” said Alisha O’Loughlin, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition.
Read more at: SMART seeks input on bike parking planned at train stations | The Press Democrat

Posted on Categories Land Use, Sustainable LivingTags , , , ,

Railroad Square development draws support, questions 

Kevin McCallum, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Affordable housing and parking emerged Monday as two key issues that the developer of an $85 million Railroad Square project will need to carefully navigate to win approval from city officials and the transportation agency that owns the Santa Rosa property.
The first public hearing on the plan by Santa Clara-based ROEM Corp. to build 268 units of housing, retail shops and a public plaza on 5.4 vacant acres west of the city’s downtown rail station featured plenty of praise for the proposal.
“What you’ve put before us is what this community has been looking for for a long time,” Santa Rosa City Councilman Chris Coursey said.
But it was also clear debates that bogged down previous efforts to develop the site are already re-emerging, potentially threatening swift approval of the project.
How many units of affordable housing would be included in the project? How affordable would those units be? How much would the city or county be asked to subsidize construction of those units? All were questions raised but left unanswered during Monday morning’s well-attended presentation at City Hall.
Read more at: Railroad Square development draws support, questions | The Press Democrat

Posted on Categories Land Use, Sustainable Living, TransportationTags , , , , ,

SMART line revives plan for transit village hub in Santa Rosa

For more than a decade, the leaders of Sonoma County’s largest city have dreamed of transforming a cluster of vacant properties along the railroad tracks in downtown Santa Rosa into a vital new village filled with people opting for lower-impact urban living.
Time after time, proposals to develop the western side of Railroad Square have fallen apart, victims of political infighting, neighborhood opposition and economic slumps.
But the impending arrival of a $428 million regional rail system is breathing new life into efforts to create high-density housing around the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit platform in Railroad Square.
SMART has narrowed its search for a development partner as it prepares to start trains rolling through Santa Rosa later this year. Next month, SMART and the finalist in its quest for a development partner will present a detailed plan to build out the property.
As early as next summer, construction could get underway on a complex of market-rate and affordable apartments, retail spaces focused on food and wine, and a public plaza on a 5.4-acre site just west of the Railroad Square station.

Read more at: SMART line revives plan for transit village hub in Santa Rosa

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Construction to start on SMART bike, pedestrian path

Staff, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL
The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District, or SMART, received federal environmental clearance on April 6 for a portion of the planned bicycle and pedestrian pathway, stretching from north San Rafael to north Santa Rosa.
The 36-mile portion of the path from the San Rafael Civic Center Station to the Santa Rosa North Station near Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport cleared National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, review.
The Petaluma-based transit agency said this federal green light is one of the most significant environmental approvals to advance bicycle and pedestrian projects in the Bay Area. It also makes the approved portion of the path eligible for federal funding, the train authority said.
Read more at: Construction to start on SMART bike, pedestrian path | North Bay Business Journal

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Santa Rosa SMART Jennings Avenue Railway Crossing

Teri Shore, GREENBELT ALLIANCE
On February 1 at a public hearing in Santa Rosa, a standing room only crowd of about 100 neighbors, advocates, and elected officials came together to speak out in favor of a safe at-grade crossing over the SMART tracks at Jennings Avenue for walkers and bicyclists. No one spoke against the City of Santa Rosa’s application to build the at-grade crossing.
The hearing held at Helen Lehman School was convened by an administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which claims that a super-sized bridge over the railway is the only solution. A final decision won’t be made until later this year, perhaps too late to build the crossing before the SMART commuter service starts running in December.
The CPUC recently blocked off the historic railroad crossing at Jennings, forcing people to walk or bike an extra half mile each way along busy thoroughfares such as Guerneville Road, where “you can reach out and touch cars going by” according to Janet Barocco, a 16-year resident of Jennings Avenue.
Before it was blocked off, as many as 91 people and 25 bicyclists a day typically crossed the tracks here, according to the City of Santa Rosa. Now they must walk another 15 to 30 minutes or get into cars. The CPUC claims that some 170 elementary students who go to school nearby might cross the tracks at Jennings if the at-grade crossing is permitted.
Read more at: Santa Rosa SMART Jennings Avenue Railway Crossing

Posted on Categories Sustainable Living, TransportationTags , , ,

Congress on track to approve SMART funding for Larkspur ferry link

Derek Moore, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
The planned rail link to a Marin County ferry terminal, envisioned as a key part of a new SMART passenger rail service set to debut in 2016, appears to have secured the funding it needs to advance.
Congress is expected to approve a $1.1 trillion federal spending bill as early as Friday morning that includes $20 million for the rail link from downtown San Rafael to the Larkspur ferry terminal.Officials with the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit authority had been working with regional partners for three years to acquire the federal funding, which adds to $20 million already secured for the Larkspur project through local toll money.
“The extension from San Rafael to Larkspur is going to happen. That’s a big deal for the system,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael.
Connecting rail passengers to regional transportation hubs is a critical component of the SMART project, which initially is set to debut in late 2016 along a 42-mile segment from near the Sonoma County Airport to downtown San Rafael.
Read more at: Congress on track to approve SMART funding for | The Press Democrat

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SMART settlement paves way for bike, pedestrian path

Derek Moore, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Cycling advocates say a last-minute agreement hammered out with Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit officials will prioritize a bike and pedestrian path that voters demanded in 2008 when they approved construction of the commuter rail line.
The agreement, brokered by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, calls for establishing a list of higher priority pathway segments and identifying funding sources for those projects.
Cycling advocates had been threatening to sue SMART over a section of pathway planned in San Rafael, a dispute that more generally speaks to concerns the rail agency is failing to meet its obligations to build the promised network. The agreement, for now, appears to have addressed those concerns.
“Overall, this is a very, very positive development. It increases hope that the path will actually be built,” said Gary Helfrich, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition.
Read more at: SMART settlement paves way for bike, pedestrian path | The Press Democrat

Posted on Categories TransportationTags , , , Leave a comment on Bay Area’s disjointed public transit network inspires a call for harmony 

Bay Area’s disjointed public transit network inspires a call for harmony 

Patricia Leigh Brown, THE NEW YORK TIMES

SPUR report transit map
Source: Metropolitan Transportation Commission, SPUR Report

There is much to relish about the Bay Area, from the intoxicating landscape to the blissful lack of humidity.
One thing is not perfect, though: the daunting nature of the region’s public transportation system, a patchwork of more than 20 operators spread across nine counties and 101 municipalities that have yet to spawn a cohesive map.
As housing costs here continue to escalate, with growing numbers of people moving farther afield in search of affordability, the disjointed nature of the region’s transportation fiefs, each with its own fare structures and nomenclature, has become the topic of increasingly intense debate among transportation policy experts.
A study released this year by SPUR, a Bay Area urban planning and policy think tank, encapsulated much of the public frustration on the subject and has been widely discussed on blogs and in public forums, including one at the venerable Commonwealth Club of California.
“Ninety percent of the people in the Bay Area are essentially tourists when it comes to transit,” said Ratna Amin, SPUR’s transportation policy director. “They don’t use it.”
The study recommends a variety of changes, from better trip-planning tools to smoother transfers. But there are roughly two dozen transit agencies in the region, and each operates and plans its system independently, with its own funding sources, which makes any uniform change difficult.
Read more at: Bay Area’s Disjointed Public Transit Network Inspires a Call for Harmony – The New York Times

Posted on Categories Land Use, TransportationTags , , Leave a comment on Developer presents new vision for Rohnert Park’s urban core

Developer presents new vision for Rohnert Park’s urban core

Derek Moore, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Imagine arriving after work at a commuter rail station in Rohnert Park and walking to your condominium through Seed Farm Square. You stop at an outdoor market for something to eat, or at a pub for a pint of beer.
Such is the vision put forth this week by a Southern California developer, whose revised plans for Rohnert Park’s central core, including the site of the vacant former State Farm campus, are receiving a much warmer reception from city leaders.
“I’d say, ‘Well done. Thanks,’ ” Councilman Jake Mackenzie told representatives of SunCal during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

The Irvine-based developer’s original plans for the 30-acre State Farm site were criticized by city leaders last year for emphasizing single-family housing and not including enough retail and commercial use to attract visitors.

In response, the developer unveiled an updated plan for what it refers to as “Rohnert Crossing,” including 400 higher-density housing units, such as condominiums, and a 40,000-square-foot retail village of mixed commercial use anchored by a restaurant or pub to lure people downtown.

The plan also calls for a transit hub, dubbed Seed Farm Square by SunCal, built around the station that will be used by the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit commuter train.

Read more at: Developer presents new vision for Rohnert Park’s urban | The Press Democrat

Posted on Categories Land Use, Sustainable Living, TransportationTags , , , Leave a comment on Apartment complex near Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square OK'd

Apartment complex near Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square OK'd

Kevin McCallum, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Santa Rosa has signed off on the design of a 72-unit apartment complex near the future SMART rail station downtown, the first transit-oriented development to move forward under new zoning rules encouraging higher density housing in the area.

After years of talking about the need to build transit-oriented housing downtown, Santa Rosa may finally be close to getting some.
A developer won approval Thursday for a 72-unit apartment complex called Pullman Lofts just a few blocks north of the future Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit station in Railroad Square.
The project proposes to wedge a three-story complex on the long, narrow 2-acre site of a former lumberyard between the rail line and Wilson Street.
That kind of higher-density housing near a transportation hub is precisely the kind of project the city has tried to encourage for years, but the economy and other factors have made it tough for developers to deliver.
“The marketplace is now catching up with the Downtown Station Area plan of eight years ago,” said Bill Rose, the city’s supervising planner.
The project is the brainchild of Phoenix Development president Loren Brueggemann, who for years built urban redevelopment projects in Minneapolis but since 2010 has lived in Santa Rosa.
He said he is excited about turning a vacant eyesore into vibrant housing that will appeal to young, urban-oriented people who want to live near transit, restaurants, bars and shopping.
Read more at: 72-unit apartment complex near Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square | The Press Democrat