Zoom link here.

Join Petaluma Mayor Kevin McDonnell and Calum Weeks, Policy Director of Generation Housing (Gen H) in a discussion of the affordability and availability of housing in Sonoma County and Petaluma. They will specifically address the potential that would have arisen from the regional bond issuance measure that had been scheduled for the November 2024 election and the implications of state ballot measure Proposition 5.

Housing starts are at the lowest rates since the 1940s…

Petaluma's Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) is up for renewal in this year's election.

Urban sprawl is one of the biggest challenges facing modern societies:

• Sprawl results in the loss of valuable agricultural land we all rely on for our food.

• Sprawl means more infrastructure for our cities to maintain. (We need to build housing and services where infrastructure already exists.)

• Sprawl is predicated on transportation via private automobile. One of the biggest factors in climate change is our transportation system. We need compact, walkable neighborhoods and alternatives to travel by private auto. 

Let's extend our UBG to 2050 to prevent sprawl and protect open space, wildlands, and farmland for all of us! 

After a dozen years of Petaluma Urban Chat educating about and advocating for better land use practices in our community, how does the Land Use Policy Framework for the upcoming General Plan update reflect our efforts? 

Does the framework put Petaluma on the path to adequate housing for community needs, non-car transportation alternatives, climate action, and sustainable municipal finances? 

Petaluma Transit going fare-free in July has raised questions about how public transportation is funded. Rachel Ede, the Transit Director of Santa Rosa City Bus, has agreed to talk with us about transit funding in California. The Petaluma Transit Manager, Jared Hall, will join her for the following Q&A.

Casual conversations, with light refreshments, will begin at 6:30pm. The forum will begin at 7:00pm. Join us in person if you can. If not, Zoom will be available starting at 7:00pm.

More information coming soon!

Join Petaluma Historian Katherine Rinehart at Crooked Goat Brewing, one of Petaluma’s newest breweries, for a presentation on how historic industrial and commercial buildings are being revitalized in cities similar in size to Petaluma in a way that harmonizes the old with the new through adaptive reuse.

San Francisco-based architects Craig Rice and Ram Subramanian will discuss specific hurdles that owners and tenants of historic buildings face when seeking new uses for their properties and how these may be addressed through design, engineering, and construction solutions and others that can be affected by elected officials and the broader community.

Arrive at 6:30 p.m. for pre-event conversation and purchase a refreshment before heading to the rear of the building, where the presentation will begin at 7:00 p.m.

MidPen Housing, already well into construction of their project at 414 Petaluma Boulevard North, at the corner of Oak Street, is also working toward a project they've named Washington Street Commons. It would be on the vacant property across E. Washington Street from the library. The project manager, Lauren Fuhry, has agreed to meet with us to talk about the status of the project and the vision.

Casual conversations, with light refreshments, will begin at 6:30pm. The forum will begin at 7:00pm. Join us in person if you can. If not, Zoom will be available starting at 7:00pm.

More information coming soon!

Most of us have presumably become aware of the improvements being made to the former bank building at 199 Petaluma Boulevard North, the southwest corner of PBN and E. Washington. Some of us have probably also stopped to read the intriguing notes about the coming “Hall of the Above”.

Daniel Castor, the new tenant of 199 Petaluma Boulevard North and the coiner of the phrase “Hall of the Above” has agreed to tell KBYG what he’s doing and what his vision is for the building.

Casual conversations, with light refreshments, will begin at 6:30pm. The forum will begin at 7:00pm. Join us in person if you can. If not, Zoom will be available starting at 7:00pm.

Join us on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, for a discussion of parklets! Parklets sprung up during Covid to enable safe, open-air dining and to keep our restaurants in business. How have they fared? What does the public think about parklets?

A spirited and insightful conversation is anticipated. If you have a favorite parklet, be sure the owner knows about this program!

Casual conversations, with light refreshments, will begin at 6:30pm. The forum will begin at 7:00pm…

Join us on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, to continue the discussion of pocket neighborhoods, small, incremental, infill projects that build community. Jim Heid and Ann Edminster ewill offer their thoughts as a developer and a resident of North Bay pocket neighborhoods, a conversation that will also lead to potential changes in Petaluma's General Plan update and zoning codes to better facilitate pocket neighborhoods.

Join us on Wednesday, June 12, 2024 for a discussion of the history of pocket neighborhoods, their applicability to today's housing crisis, and the intersection of pocket neighborhoods and 15-minute neighborhoods.

Join us in person or on Zoom.

From Los Angeles to Boston and Chicago to Miami, US cities are struggling to address the twin crises of high housing costs and household instability. Debates over the appropriate course of action have been defined by two poles: building more housing or enacting stronger tenant protections. These options are often treated as mutually exclusive, with support for one implying opposition to the other.

Shane Phillips believes that effectively tackling the housing crisis requires that cities support both tenant protections and housing abundance. He offers a number of policy recommendations, many of which are organized by what he calls the Three S’s of Supply, Stability, and Subsidy. Phillips makes a moral and economic case for why each is essential.

Join us to watch a video presentation of the key takeaways from the book followed by a discussion of the ideas presented.

In Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis, renowned urbanists Charles (Chuck) Marohn and Daniel Herriges introduce a first-of-its-kind discussion of the tension between housing as a financial product and housing as shelter.

The book offers a history of housing policy in the United States and explains how it led us to this point in time: where we face a market that is rigged against people who, only a few decades ago, could have been homeowners or stable, long-term rentals.

Join us to watch a short video introducing the book. Following the 19-minute video, we'll begin the conversation about the validity of the Strong Towns arguments and their application to Petaluma.

Think design is just for designers?

Think again!

Design impacts the way we feel and function in our homes and communities. Come learn how we can participate in making houses that work for people…

Wonder what freedom has to do with public transit? Join us for a webinar on the updated Human Transit by Dr. Jarrett Walker, followed by Q&A with the author!

Finally, nearly twelve years after the first meeting at the Aqus Café, after about 75 Know Before You Grow forums, after our first Better Cities Film Festival, after building a reputation for insightful comment on local land-use matters, and much more, Petaluma Urban Chat will have its first official annual meeting…

The Parking Reform Network, whose founder Tony Jordan spoke to KBYG in August, will host an online presentation by author Henry Grabar on THURSDAY, January 18. Grabar wrote “Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World”, currently the hottest book on parking and one that comes highly recommended by parking guru Donald Shoup…

Our first forum of 2024 returns to the subject of Tactical Urbanism! This was a hot topic at Petaluma’s 2023 Better Cities Film Festival held last September and continues to percolate in the hearts and minds of Petaluman's working on making our city a better place for everyone…

Zoom link here.

All are invited to attend this meeting to discuss critical aspects of our nonprofit management. Everyone on an Urban Chat, Know Before You Grow, or Film Festival mailing list is invited to attend!

With the increasing activity and vitality of Petaluma Urban Chat, additional structure is becoming appropriate…

How do we value our Historic Downtown? We love the way it looks, the way it makes us feel, the people we meet, and the conversations we have on our excursions through Downtown. But what role does our Downtown play in the economic vitality of Petaluma? And how can our Downtown do even better as the financial driver of Petaluma? What is a Downtown worth?

Note this forum is scheduled for a MONDAY, not our usual Wednesday forum day.

Can’t attend in person? Join us on Zoom!

Join two of the principals of Spirit Living for an introduction to the proposed Spirit Living project. The project has been proposed as a four-story, mixed-use building on Lot 5 of the Riverfront Mixed-use development.

The developers will discuss the need senior housing and residential care facilities in Petaluma and what the Spirit Living project will do to activate the Riverfront Master Plan. The total building of 73,509 square feet includes ground floor mixed-use and restaurant space, and amenities to support the Residential Care Facility for the Elderly (RCFE) proposed on the upper floors, back-of-house spaces, and parking. 36 memory care units are proposed on the second floor, and 70 senior apartments are proposed on the third floor and fourth floors with 35 apartments per floor. The senior apartments will be a mix of studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms.

Rovina Lane Apartments is a 32-unit 100% affordable development at the corner of Rovina Lane and Jacquelyn Lane in southwest Petaluma. It is intended to house families earning between 30-60% of Area Median Income.

Join Armony Companies principal, Lauren Alexander, for a walkthrough of the project site plan and renderings for a 3D visual introduction to the completed project.

Can’t attend in person? Join us on Zoom.

Some of the challenges we face with development in Petaluma are how we respect the historic ambiance of our city while still investing in housing that meets climate and mobility goals.

Join us for a discussion with Alli Thurmond Quinlan, a Fayetteville, Arkansas-based architect who specializes in traditional architecture on small lots.  Small lot development and ADU infill can be an essential element in creating fifteen-minute neighborhood cores in Petaluma. 

Join Dan Zack, former Assistant Director of Planning and Development for the City of Fresno, to learn what's happened in the decade since the film "The Fresno Miracle" was first screened. Learn how Fresno was able to sustain the early momentum of its vision to revitalize its Downtown.

Join us for an evening of short documentary films that tell inspiring stories about how people have made their cities, towns, and neighborhoods better.

Join us for an evening of short documentary films that tell inspiring stories about how people have made their cities, towns, and neighborhoods better.

For generations our policies and actions have required or encouraged building massive numbers of parking spaces in the United States alone. Conservatively, for every one of the more than 260 million automobiles registered in the USA there are at least 3 parking spaces. In some communities, Des Moines, IA for example, there are more than 19 parking spaces per household.

Why is this a problem?

Recent state law has opened new pathways for increasing density on single-family residential parcels—the type of parcels that make up the majority of Petaluma’s housing stock. Arguably, these policies collectively represent one of the more successful legislative responses to California’s housing shortage…

Our speaker for June 26 has fallen through, so our planned forum on neighborhood retail in support of 15-minute neighborhoods has been postponed.

However, this hole in our schedule has created an opportunity. Let us explain.

The Building Form Overlay event at the Petaluma Woman's Club on July 12th inspired a wealth of retrospection. A few themes and questions have emerged. We'll explore these themes at our meeting on Wednesday.

Read on for more information…

Know Before You Grow is pleased to present a community-organized forum on the Petaluma Building Form Overlay District being brought forward by Petaluma Planning.

We thank the Petaluma Woman's Club for providing valuable event assistance and for hosting the forum in its hall. We expect this forum to attract many Petalumans. Please arrive early to get a good seat.

The Building Form Overlay would increase the allowable building height, lot coverage, and floor space for fourteen blocks that include our historic downtown. Increased development in downtown has long been anticipated to accommodate community growth while staying within our Urban Growth Boundary.

Learn more here.

What if you could walk to the corner store to buy a carton of eggs or a gallon of milk and skip the drive? What would the simple act of local short trips on foot or by bike do to reduce GHG emissions? What would it be like to meet your neighbors on the way to market and have a quick chat about the latest activities in your neighborhood?

Join the local organizers of the 15-minute neighborhood effort to learn about this unique and necessary vision for our shared future. You'll also learn about the steps toward implementation, starting with the adoption of a General Plan that embraces 15-minute neighborhoods and then continuing with changes to the zoning codes and neighborhood-specific actions to nourish the changes.