Corona Road Station Delayed as SMART Approves $88 Million in Cuts

The Sonoma Marin Railroad Authority voted Wednesday to cut $88 million from the proposed rail line's budget, a move that will defer the Corona Road station and potentially install an operations and maintenance facility in the historic railroad depot on Lakeville Street between D and East Washington streets.

Despite earlier claims by SMART spokesman Chris Coursey that placing the facility downtown was a “non-starter” and “politically not viable,” the plan is still very much on the table, said Councilwoman Tiffany Renee, who, along with Mayor Dave Glass, traveled to Wednesday’s SMART board meeting in Santa Rosa.

“They are going to continue to look at that property because they already own it,” Renee said. “It’s all up in the air. We just need to wait and see how the bonding process goes and the bids for construction before we know whether SMART is still looking at it.”

The cuts are an attempt to close a $109 million funding gap, the result of reduced tax revenues.

SMART is interested in placing the maintenance facility at the rail depot site because it would be cheaper than acquiring a new property. But many are concerned that doing so would drastically alter the city’s plans for revitalization of the area.

“We are excited about the train, we want to work with you in the spirit of cooperation, but we don’t want to see this maintenance facility be built at the historic downtown site,” Glass said, who delivered a resolution and a letter to the board objecting to the proposal.

He added that the city was interested in working with SMART to locate another site within the city and attract jobs a maintenance facility would bring. These sites include the Pomeroy site on Hopper Street near the Animal Shelter, Adobe Lumber in north Petaluma and even the Corona Road station.

Several board members appeared sympathetic to Petaluma’s plight and said that other alternatives should be considered.

“To whatever degree humanly possible, we need to not make enemies of our friends,” said board member Carol Russell.

Renee also asked for the Corona Road station, which is now sixth in the list of deferred projects, to be moved up or not be deferred at all. She said that East Side residents would be unlikely to come to the West Side, especially for transit, which would affect ridership on the train.

Other deferred projects approved Wednesday include ticket vending machines, installing fiber optic cables along the lines and replacing the Novato Creek bridge.

During the meeting, several people spoke against making the $88 million cuts. They said voters approved the quarter-cent sales tax on the assumption the entire 70-mile rail line and pathway would be built. Some called for a public vote on whether the rail project should even be built. Others asked the board to postpone making the cuts and proceeding with the issuance of bonds until the district selects a new general manager and its finances improve.

"I voted for the train in 2008, but I now have voter remorse and would vote against it today," one woman wrote in a letter to the board. Another speaker called the train project "an economic disaster." She said anything less than the full 70-mile line is comparable to "bait and switch."

Despite the cuts, many board members praised the project, which has been in the works for nearly a decade.

“We are moving Sonoma County in the right direction,” said SMART boardmember Debora Fudge. “We are creating jobs and we are creating transportation alternatives that up until now have not been available to us…Our vision is becoming a reality.”

Bay City News contributed to this report.