June 5, 2023
Greetings & Thoughts
15-minute neighborhoods, The Appellation Petaluma downtown hotel, and more
Happy Monday! I hope everyone was able to get outside and enjoy a little sunshine over the weekend. Dave is traveling this week, so I’ve stepped in to provide the weekly calendar email.
As promised last week, there are a number of interesting activities in the hopper for June.
At the June 14 Know Before You Grow forum we’ll hear from the team that has been pushing the 15-minute neighborhood concept. 15-minute neighborhoods will be an essential element of a carbon-neutral, financially sustainable future Petaluma, so this will be a chance to learn more about the opportunities, challenges, and critical steps to implementation.
The evening will also represent the return of KBYG to in-person forums.
EKN Development, the applicant for the Appellation Petaluma Hotel at the corner of Petaluma Boulevard South and B Street, has asked for a small meeting with Urban Chat members to discuss the project. The meeting is now confirmed for June 14. This will be an opportunity to reinforce the comments Urban Chat submitted for the Historical and Cultural Preservation Committee workshop in January.
This meeting hasn’t been placed on the Urban Chat calendar because it won’t be open to the general public, but Urban Chat participants are encouraged to email Dave if they wish to attend. Dave's tentative plan is to hold our participation to ten people. If you’re interested, let Dave know as soon as possible. (Even when he’s away, he’s never really gone!)
Apropos of his ever-ready presence, Dave shares these noteworthy quotes all the way from Charlotte, NC the site of the Strong Towns National Gathering and the Conference of New Urbanism over the last week. Enjoy!
“Most houses that would have been considered starter homes by our grandparents are illegal under our current zoning codes.”
“Are we treating poverty in poor neighborhoods as a cultural attribute?””
Questions or comments? Feel free to reach out to me, Sharon Kirk, @ 707-775-5727 or to Dave Alden @ 707-338-8388.
P.S. New folks can sign up for this email and through the Urban Chat website.
Upcoming Meetings
Monday, June 5 – City Council Meeting (tonight!)
The regular session agenda includes a report out on the closed session meeting (at 5:30) regarding the Fairgrounds. The agenda also includes a workshop (item 13) to raise and discuss potential amendments to the Mobile Home Park Rent Stabilization Program (Petaluma Municipal Code Chapter 6.50). (While not strictly a land-use consideration, mobile home parks do provide some affordable housing options in Petaluma. Housing for all is one of the four pillars of Urban Chat.) The last agenda item (14) of the evening includes a review of the proposed 23-24 roads project list.
The public portion of the meeting will convene at 6:30pm. Other meeting information is provided on the Urban Chat calendar, link above.
Wednesday, June 7 – Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee
This month’s agenda includes a presentation from the 15-minute neighborhoods team. This is the presentation that will be shared at the in-person KBYG meeting on June 14. If you can’t make the KBYG meeting next week, you can learn about the team’s work at the PBAC meeting.
Wednesday, June 14 – Know Before You Grow
This KBYG forum will be about the 15-minute neighborhood effort. It will also be the return of KBYG forums to in-person venues!
The local team that wrote the grant application to the American Institute of Architects, coordinated the visit by the AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team, and is now advocating for the 15-minute neighborhood concept to be incorporated into the General Plan and associated zoning code updates will make the presentation. (Full disclosure: Dave was part of the local team. Also, the team is in the process of becoming an Urban Chat committee. You can find preliminary committee information on the Urban Chat site here.)
The team has been making this presentation to City commissions and committees. With the more open format of a KBYG forum, we are hoping for even more productive conversations. Dave will moderate the evening with speakers Veronica Olsen and Mary Dooley, all members of the local 15-minute neighborhoods team.
The forum will convene at 7pm at the Cavanagh Center at G and 8th Streets. For more information visit our Upcoming Events page here.
Thursday, June 15 – Petaluma General Plan Advisory Committee
This is the standing time for the monthly GPAC meetings. However, Planning is considering moving this meeting to a Saturday, perhaps Saturday, June 17, to allow a more robust discussion, including greater public involvement, on an important subject, sea level rise and flooding risk. The decision about changing the date will likely not be made until early June.
Further information will be provided on the Urban Chat calendar when published by the City.
Saturday, June 17 – Petaluma General Plan Advisory Committee
See the note above about the possible alternative date for the June GPAC meeting.
Saturday, June 17 – Friends of SMART
Friends of SMART, a North Bay non-profit that advocates for the success of the SMART train, has organized a Rail & Sail outing. They’ll ride SMART to the Larkspur ferry, ride the ferry to the San Francisco Ferry Building, stop for a bag lunch, walk to the Salesforce Tower where they’ll ride to the top, and then reverse their path home. The outing will begin at the County Airport SMART Station, but Petalumans can join at the Downtown Petaluma station.
RSVPs are required and may be made by emailing the trip organizer at dsheehan@sonic.net. Participants are required to bring lunch and to secure their own train and ferry tickets, but there is no other cost.
The group will pass through Petaluma southbound at 10:08am and return to Petaluma at 4:49pm. Depending on what happens with the GPAC meeting, Dave may take part.
Thursday, June 22 – Petaluma Urban Chat
The monthly meeting of Urban Chat is almost always agenda-free, allowing an enjoyable and enlightening conversation to wander freely over the urbanist landscape.
The exchange of ideas will commence at noon. Other information is provided on the Urban Chat calendar, link above.
Tuesday, June 27 – Petaluma Health Care District
The PHCD has announced that their Petaluma Blue Zones program will be rolled out on June 27. Blue Zones is a program that largely aligns with the Urban Chat mission statement on land-use and transportation issues, although it also extends into healthy personal habits.
Registration will begin at 4:00pm, with the program beginning at 4:20pm. The presentation will be held in the Carole L. Ellis Auditorium on the Petaluma campus of Santa Rosa Junior College.
Wednesday, June 28 – Know Before You Grow
The fifteen-minute neighborhood concept that will be the subject of the June 14 KBYG forum has multiple aspects that will continue to be addressed in further KBYG forums. We’ve invited a retail consultant who formerly lived in Petaluma to talk about what it will take to establish neighborhood walkable/bikeable retail. If he’s unavailable, we have backup options.
The forum will convene at 7:00pm. More information, including venue, will be provided on the Urban Chat calendar, link above, when available.
