Plan to Put SMART Maintenance Facility in Center of Petaluma Draws Criticism, Concern

Sonoma-Marin rail agency’s proposal to locate a maintenance facility in the heart of Petaluma has drawn strong criticism from several city council members, who fear that the decision will imperil the economic revitalization of downtown by fundamentally changing the makeup of the city’s core.

The idea was floated at SMART’s meeting in San Rafael on Wednesday as a way to cut the agency’s $160 million budget shortfall, caused by decreased sales tax revenue. That prompted Mayor Glass and Councilwomen Tiffany Renee and Teresa Barrett to travel to San Rafael to protest the measure, which they say would be catastrophic for the city's future.

“When all of the sudden you don’t have living, dining, shopping and office space and instead just a maintenance facility, that kills the walkability of that whole area,” Glass said. “You might as well just take a stake and drive it through our heart.”

Other cost-cutting proposals include deferring the Corona Road station, rebuilding rather than replacing the Haystack Bridge near Highway 101 and eliminating about a third of the bike-pedestrian trails. Petaluma is not the only city shouldering the cuts, which include deferring a Novato station and delaying the replacement of the Novato Creek bridge.

SMART officials said the proposal to put in a maintenance facility in the center of Petaluma is one of many currently on the table. 

“It’s an option, but not one we are taking seriously,” said David Heath, an interim general manager for SMART. “We feel bad enough because of the Corona station… It’s not politically plausible; Petaluma matters to us and we are not looking to exploit the city.”

SMART officials are meeting today to discuss options and plan on doing the same with Petaluma leaders as early as next week.

The proposed cuts are a preparation for a worst case scenario, although cost could be much lower when projects are put out to bid, said Steve Birdlebough, advocacy chair of Friends of SMART, a citizens group.

"The problem is when you go out to the bond market, all you have is the estimates engineers have developed based on earlier prices (before the recession) when everyone was charging more," Birdlebough said. "So until bonds are sold and bids are in, no one knows how much project will cost." 

Another concern is keeping the project, slated to open at the end of 2014, on target. SMART had initially planned to locate the maintenance facility—where trains would be taken off line and repaired—near Todd Road in Santa Rosa, but the idea was scrapped when the California tiger salamander, an endangered species, was found in the area.

The center of Petaluma became an option because SMART already owns the 4.5 acre parcel of land located between D and Washington streets and Lakeville and Weller.

Still, local leaders warn that doing so would be dangerous.

“As a city, we’re really in the midst of planning this area and a maintenance facility located in the depot building would not only be an impediment to the vision of the Central Petaluma Specific Plan (CPSP), but also have a negative effect on the adjacent properties,” said former mayor Pam Torliatt, who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting.

She added that one of the biggest goals was to increase SMART ridership, which in turn would boost revenues for the agency. But that would not happen if mixed use development such as shops, houses and walking trails would not be located nearby, Torliatt said.

Glass cited earlier studies that show that development must be located within 1500 feet of a public transportation in order for people to use it. The idea is that businesses would not want to locate near a maintenance facility, even one in the center of town.

Instead, Torliatt proposed two other sites, including the old water treatment plant on Hopper Street and the Pomeroy property, also on Hopper, near the Petaluma Animal Shelter.

“We embrace the fact that they would be locate the maintenance facility in Petaluma or near, but at that particular location it’s not a good idea,” Torliatt said, adding that railroad maintenance jobs—typically well-paying, union positions— would be welcomed by the city.

SMART is reportedly looking at alternative sites proposed by Torliatt and will meet next on April 6 in Santa Rosa and then again on April 20 to continue discussion. But it’s still not clear when they will make the decision about where to trim costs.

“We want to be very cautious in our deliberations,” Heath, the SMART general manager said. “This is not something we want to rush.”