 |
 |
Artist's rendering of SMART station in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square.
By BOB NORBERG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
After looking at the pros and cons of where to put a northern Santa Rosa commuter rail station, North Bay transit officials Wednesday selected a site near Coddingtown Mall it believes has the potential to revitalize the area.
“As you walk around the site, you think that this is the perfect site for a station,” said Barbara Pahre of Napa, the chairwoman of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit real estate committee.
Pahre holds the seat on the SMART board representing the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District.
The station site on Guerneville Road is next to the railroad tracks and is land that now has a Kelly-Moore Paint Co. store and Sonoma Kitchen & Bath store on it. A third parcel, now vacant, also would be acquired.
The site would provide easy access for pedestrians, motorists, bicyclists and bus transit passengers and is highly visible, said John Nemeth, the SMART planning manager.
The committee rejected a site on Jennings Avenue that has been the preferred station site since it was recommended in 1997 by Berkeley urban designer Peter Calthorpe, an icon in the transit-oriented development world.
“The idea is 13 years old; things have changed,” said Debora Fudge, a Windsor councilwoman and SMART chairwoman. “Even Calthorpe would approve of this site.”
It is the final site to be selected for the 14 stations on the line, which runs 70 miles from Cloverdale to Larkspur and is scheduled to open in 2014.
The previous site, 9.8 acres, is former Northern Pacific Railroad right-of-way adjacent to a low-income housing project. It has space for 630 parking spaces and is closer to Santa Rosa Junior College, which could be a factor if the city follows through on plans for a pedestrian overcrossing of Highway 101.
However, a century of railroad use has heavily polluted the soil and groundwater and could cause problems getting the site cleaned up by the owner, Union Pacific, to the satisfaction of the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The Guerneville Road site was proposed to SMART as an alternative several months ago by Codding Enterprises, owner of the mall nearby, and by a group of Sonoma County urban designers and architects that held a design competition. Codding paid $20,000 to study the site, a report relied upon by SMART planners.
Nemeth said the preliminary estimates to buy and develop the sites were similar, $6.5 million for Jennings Avenue and $6.8 million for Guerneville Road.
The Guerneville site also has a higher density of residential and business development around it than the Jennings site, Nemeth said. However, it is also smaller, allowing about 350 parking spaces, and it is farther from the junior college, although both sites are a mile or more away.
With either site, junior college students likely would want a bus shuttle or will bicycle rather than walk that distance, said SMART committee member Madeline Kellner of Novato.
Geof Syphers, Codding Enterprises sustainability officer, said the Guerneville Road site would be a boost for the mall, but he sees it as a boon to the entire Guerneville Road corridor.
“People will be able to live, work and shop all in one area,” Syphers said.
The SMART committee instructed its staff to proceed with an environmental assessment, property appraisals and site preparation costs.
Barring surprises, the site will be recommended to the full SMART board at its June 16 meeting.
The city of Santa Rosa has a $400,000 grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for a $500,000 project to plan land development around the station.
Subscribe by Email
Follow us on Twitter
SRJC stopped the shuttle to the plaza several years ago when the parking garage was completed.
Now that the train station will be on Guerneville Road there will be no need to waste taxpayer dollars on an expensive, unnecessary pedestrian overpass.
I think this was a great decision. This new location would make the station more visible and more accessible compared to the proposed one on Jennings. There is already a stoplight and a bus stop right there. I’m sure the neighbors on Jennings are relieved now that they get to keep their quiet cul de sac.
The SRJC can easily run a shuttle to the station. They already have one that runs to the plaza downtown where they have extra parking.
I continue to hope that both campaigns refrain from misleading and irrelevant ad hominems such as vague innuendos about $500 donations. I don’t like it when such comments are made about donations to the McGuire campaign; and I don’t like it here. Please pursue our politics with more dignity. Peace!
Magda-
Fudge is way behind McGuire in fundraising, and has been since the beginning. Most of her previously biggest funders went to McGuire this time.
It’s very plausible that $500 plus hope for future support could be persuasive for someone in dire straits. Fudge has not been selective in who she’s taken money from. She has accepted donations from developers with projects currently in front of her own city council. She also took a big donation from Mr. Wasem, who killed the beloved Rialto Theater. Even if her actions are not illegal (like she claims), it is a pattern of questionable behavior and conflicts of interest.
So yes I think Fudge could be bought for $500. It wouldn’t be the first time a desperate politician has sold themselves for cheap.
The resources offered by the Coddingtown site are superior. And does anyone seriously think the Coddings bought Deb Fudge bought for $500? Really?
I, with many others in the community, have been involved with this issue from SMART’s initial communiy outreach. I asked Deborah Fudge and Jake McKensie to slow down the station process as staff was ready to go with the railroad property without considering local community input. It was to be considered at a SMART real estate subcommittee meeting in San Rafael with minimal public notice. This was over 2 years ago, probably 3 to 4. The thought was to “tie down the site” before land got more expensive. Same attitude as another local institution spending public dollars on a bond issue in our community.
It is very unfair to paint her, or anyone else, as doing this for an individual developer. Instead, the community should thank her, and her colleagues, for their service in this process. I don’t believe SMART board member are paid for their time.
While there are prons and cons to both sites, I personally feel this is the superior site and support the board’s action. Imagine the corridor our town can have with SMART and Snoopy on the west, with the JC and the county administration complex on the east, connected with a bike/ped overcrossing adjacent to Coddingtown. It could be “the shot in the arm” that Cleveland Ave/Coddingtown area need.
My question: has Debora Fudge disclosed – in the name of full transparency- that she took $500 for her supervisor campaign from the Coddings? It’s on her financial report, but did the rest of the SMART board know of her vested interest in the Codding site and conversely, does FPPC know of the cozy relationship between the Coddings and SMART board?
How is that not a conflict of interest?? Or something much worse?
See Jake Bayless’ blog on the issue here:
http://honyocker.org/2010/06/02/something-stinky-this-way-comes/
SCCA banned me from their Facebook page (and deleted all my previous comments, even ones that had nothing to do with Fudge or this race) after I asked this question there, in response to their celebratory post about this announcement. It’s sad that a nonprofit whose mission is supposedly embedded in values like transparency, accountability and the public good prefers to reflexively defend “their” candidate rather than engage in serious public debate.
Just because their candidate Debora Fudge does it (take developer money and hands out political favors) does not make it right.
Just ask the many SRJC students and bike-commuters who are going to be gravely disappointed by this decision.
Sounds good to me. Go for it.
Did anyone bother to check and see who owns the land for this proposed site?
Let’s face it, most SRJC students are smart enough to know SMART is useless as a transit means to get them to SRJC.
Gotta love the decision process. Napa and Windsor politicos, along with $20,000 from Codding, deciding what’s best.
Gee, I wonder if the new site had anything to do with the Codding’s campaign donations? So much for “”…more transparency to the Board of Supervisors’ actions.” The thing with records is that it plays the same ‘OLD’ song… Deb you seem to have a way with developer $$$… Way to Wine & Dine like a “Good Ol’ Boy” with sweetheart backroom deals… Please tell me, HOW are YOU different than Paul Kelley’s “deep-pocketed” special interests… You like to cry foul on anyone that doesn’t donate to your campaign and scream victim when McGuire finally pushes back.. it’s about time…
Close to the Schulz Museum. station can have the Peanuts characters. the trains can have their names and images. unique attraction for more ridership.
Fair criticism about the headline, Enviro Dem and Michael. I’ve updated it to make it more accurate.
For those of you who missed the initial headline, it read: “SMART picks Coddingtown, pulls plug on SRJC site.” Not my best effort. Sorry folks.
Ted
I agree that this headline is misleading. It leads the reader to believe that there was a proposal to locate a station on the SRJC campus.
This is the most misleading title. Both station sites will serve the JC and the new site is closer unless an overpass is built. Even with the overpass it is only a 400 ft difference. Good choice to put it in the more accessible location!