Meet the New Planning Commissioners

Four new Planning commissioners have been chosen by votes from the city council, bringing with them some impressive credentials. 

They include:

• Jocelyn Yeh Lin, a public finance attorney who also has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning,
• J.T. Wick, a principal at Berg Holdings in Marin County, chair of the Friends of Petaluma River and previous planning commissioner in the ‘90s,
• Jennifer Pierre, a professional planner with in-depth knowledge of water supply, ecosystems and regulations such as the California Environmental Quality Act and who recently completed her first term as planning commissioner,
• Richard Marzo, vice president of sales and marketing for Lace House Linen Supply and a Petaluma Chamber of Commerce board member.

The commissioners will decide on the proposed residential development on D and Windsor, a major residential and commercial complex off Hopper Street and Caulfield (known as the Riverfront project), among other projects.

Yeh Lin, Pierre and Marzo will serve until June 2017, while Wick will only serve through June 2014 because he is filling a vacancy created by former commissioner Alicia Kae Herries, who is moving outside city limits.

The commissioners all agree that Petaluma is a jewel of a town whose unique character should be preserved. They say they want to see more pedestrian-friendly access, connectivity between the East and West sides and more “infill” projects. But they also favor more retail development as a way to generate more revenue for city services such as roads. 

Some excerpts from their applications:

Yeh Lin: “In the short term, the best solutions to enhance economic development in Petaluma include opportunities to expand the city’s tax base and create local jobs such as projects to increase sales tax revenues through commercial retail development and incentives to attract high-tech and professional businesses to Petaluma.”

Yeh Lin says she favors mixed use and mixed income developments (for their diversity) and “would focus on maintaining and restoring buildings that preserve the city’s character," on ‘infill’ development that finds adaptive uses of old or abandoned buildings and on enhancing gateways into Petaluma to make them more visually appealing.” 

Commissioner Jennifer Pierre, first elected in 2009, also favors adaptive reuse of old buildings, but says new development is critical to the financial well-being of the city.

“Petaluma is a wonderful city with small-town charm,” she says. “However for city diversity and for purposes of providing retail within the city for convenience of the residents, careful inclusion of ‘chain’ and ‘big box’ stores is absolutely necessary. How we incorporate these businesses into the town is key.”

Pierre thinks the city should promote more density downtown while leaving green belts open from development. When homes are built, she says, they should not be standard tract homes whenever possible, but “unique looking” to add to the charm of the town.

Pierre is also a proponent of vibrant neighborhoods who says the more services are provided within walking distance from someone’s home, the greater sense of community residents feel and “the more desirable it will be for people to live close to those centers and not sprawl.”

Marzo, who handles business and marketing for Lace House Linen, a commercial laundry, is worried about jobs and says the long term health of Petaluma must not be compromised by refusing to accommodate respectable and sustainable growth.

“I believe that local businesses are the soul of the community and Petaluma should promote and encourage a wide variety of these businesses to settle here, hire well qualified local applicants and re-invest profits for future growth,” he says.

In terms of addressing Petaluma’s growing traffic, Marzo says “Rainier and Caulfield connectors must first be completed in order to make headway regarding traffic congestion. The city is already “bursting at the seams” and these improvements should have been completed years ago.”

Wick, meanwhile, brings experience of working as a conduit between the private and public sectors and helped Petaluma develop its first version of the wastewater treatment plant, Westside subdivisions and the Central Petaluma Specific Plan back in the ‘90s.

Like Pierre and Yeh Lin, he wants better connectivity between East and West sides, but he also stresses the need for more affordable housing in town, especially now that redevelopment funds have been eliminated.

In terms of sticking to the General Plan, Wick says he has no problem voting for specific land uses with which he disagrees, so long as the required findings can be made. He quotes an old planning dictum: “If you don’t like the way the law applies to the project, change the law and not the project.”

What do you think is the single biggest planning issue facing Petaluma?