Calendar notes for the week of April 29, 2024.

In addition to the upcoming overly-filled Wednesday I described in my last email, the entire May calendar is filling up, a typical occurrence as the summer slowdown approaches.

Circling back to the upcoming Wednesday, I highly encourage attendance at all four of the events, although it’s physically impossible to attend more than two. As reminders, at 5:00, Urban Chat will convene a Zoom conversation about the standards by which the priorities, target dates, and metrics will be established for the updated General Plan.

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Calendar notes for the week of April 22, 2024.

This will be a moderately quiet week, with the biggest urban events being tomorrow’s hearing on the deed-restricted affordable housing Rovina Lane Apartments and then the Thursday Urban Chat lunch which several new members may attend for the first time.

But next week, particularly Wednesday evening, will be remarkably well-filled. Further details are below under Upcoming Meetings, but here’s a quick summary of the May 1 calendar. Two meetings on different General Plan frameworks, the documents which lay out the structure of the upcoming General Plan update, an EIR scoping session on the proposed Downtown Overlay, and a long-awaited presentation on historic preservation in vital and economically important downtowns. It’s an embarrassment of riches so over-scheduled that no one can partake of it fully.

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Calendar notes for the week of January 8, 2024.

With the holidays vanishing into the rearview mirror, urban planning activities at City Hall and elsewhere are ramping up.

Starting with City Hall, this evening the Council, among other agenda items, will conduct a workshop on the flooding risks from sea level rise and increased riverine flooding.

Thursday afternoon and evening, the Transit Committee and Climate Commission will hold back-to-back meetings. Transit will talk about the upcoming Free-Fare and Micro-Transit programs, both of which were included in the 2023-24 City budget for the first time. Following that meeting, the Climate Commission will receive comments on the Blueprint for Carbon Neutrality.

I’ll spend much of my week at City Hall…

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Calendar notes for the week of January 1, 2024.

We’ve begun a new year. Let’s make 2024 a year of great advancement for Petaluma and for walkable urbanism.

Obviously, last week was mostly quiet for public meeting information. The only new content is the agenda for the PBAC meeting this coming Wednesday, which is further described below.

However, I should correct an omission from last week’s email. I failed to mention Friends of SMART (FoS) as a possible local participation opportunity. FoS promotes SMART and SMART’s goal to provide affordable, reliable rail transit between North Bay cities. I’ve been involved with FoS for several years and put a check in the mail to them earlier today…

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Calendar notes for the week of December 25, 2023.

The calendar email is a day early this week. It didn’t seem appropriate to email it on Christmas Day. Also, I had suggestions for Christmas gifting to yourself and to others. Lastly, I failed to include a Happy Holidays wish last week, an omission I correct below.

But first, I’ll introduce two Urban Chat events now scheduled for early 2024. On January 10, KBYG will talk about the possibility of youth-driven tactical urbanism. On January 18, we’ll listen to author Henry Grabar talk about his recent book on parking, about which more information is provided immediately below. Details on these events and more are in Upcoming Meetings further below.

For last-minute gifting to others, I propose the Grabar book “Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World”. After a comprehensive history of how parking regulation came to be, followed by a digression into parking lot corruption, Grabar finishes strongly with a review of parking reform ideas, including the theory and the real-world application. Parking guru Donald Shoup recommends the book highly.

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Calendar notes for the week of December 18, 2023.

As the holidays draw closer, we’re beginning a largely quiet two to three weeks. But there are still meetings of interest.

I’ll specifically note the Planning Commission meeting Tuesday evening. The Commission will conduct a hearing on the Spirit Living project, 106 units of senior living, on Caulfield Lane inside the River Front project.

When Spirit Lake was first brought forth, I was skeptical. I was uncertain that senior living would be sufficient to activate the Caulfield Lane roundabout that was planned as the River Front community core. Activating those community cores is an essential element of 15-minute neighborhoods, which is an Urban Chat focus.

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Calendar notes for the week of December 11, 2023.

After a decade of providing effective education and advocacy on the land-use practices of Petaluma, last Wednesday, Petaluma Urban Chat moved beyond its casual organization and adopted bylaws. Following that step, Wednesday, January 31 was picked as the date of the first annual meeting. More information about this meeting will be provided as soon as possible.

Also after bylaw adoption, the attendees had a spirited conversation about the many creative and important directions that Urban Chat might go. Anyone who wants to be part of this new momentum should put January 31 on their calendar now.

Turning toward City Hall, this will be a busy pre-holiday week with discussions about a proposed Fairgrounds Overlay, Objective Design Standards, transit bus acquisition, the Blueprint for Carbon Neutrality, and more. See Upcoming Meetings below for more details.

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Calendar notes for the week of December 4, 2023.

The big event of this week was going to be the first hearing by the City Council on the ordinance to implement the proposed Downtown Overlay. However, that hearing has been postponed to an unknown date. Obviously, Urban Chat will share all new information as soon as it becomes known.

Otherwise, the Urban Chat event of the week will be consideration of proposed bylaws. Adding an organizational structure will better position Urban Chat to continue our role of helping to lead Petaluma into the best possible future. As noted last week, draft bylaws are available for advance review by anyone on this email list. If you’d like to receive a copy, please email me.

Lastly, I’ll again note that Petaluma Planning is rebooting the Working Groups organized under the General Plan Advisory Committee. The cores of the Working Groups are GPAC members, but all Petalumans are invited to offer their expertise and effort to help the Working Groups provide effective input into the General Plan update.

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Calendar notes for the week of November 27, 2023.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. Although you’re receiving this email on the Monday after Thanksgiving, I’m writing it on Thanksgiving morning, about the time turkeys are going into the oven. I’m freeing up my schedule to be out of town for several days. (If a local urbanism story breaks over the weekend, I’ll pick it up next week.)

I expect to return refreshed and ready for the organizational tasks that will make for a productive 2024.

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Calendar notes for the week of November 20, 2023.

After an unusually full calendar last week, a three-day week will be a welcome relief. The City Council will have a meeting this evening that will include consideration of a long-term Fire/Police/Emergency Operations Center master plan. After tonight, we can all coast toward Thanksgiving.

Last week featured the more than seven-hour hearing in front of the combined Planning Commission and Historical and Cultural Preservation Committee on the proposed Downtown Overlay. Although the HCPC voted against recommending City Council approval, the Planning Commission voted 7-0 in favor of the Overlay. As further noted below under Upcoming Meetings, the City Council will take up the matter at their December 4 meeting.

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Calendar notes for the week of November 13, 2023.

The big event of the week will be the Tuesday joint meeting of the Planning Commission and Historical and Cultural Preservation Committee to consider the proposed Downtown Overlay. This won’t be the culminating meeting, with the Overlay likely proceeding to the December 4 City Council agenda, but it will move us closer to a conclusion. Further information is provided below under Upcoming Meetings.

Late yesterday, Urban Chat finalized its recommendations regarding the proposed Overlay. While we endorsed the Overlay, we also raised concerns about the Overlay public process and the further steps that should be followed if the Overlay is adopted. You can access the Urban Chat Downtown Overlay recommendations here…

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Calendar notes for the week of November 6, 2023.

The contentious downtown decisions are soon to be decided. This evening, the City Council will consider imposing a story pole requirement on the Appellation Petaluma hotel applicant.

A week from tomorrow, the combined Planning Commission and Historical and Cultural Preservation Committee will consider their recommendation on the Downtown Overlay. And then, at a date not yet scheduled, the City Council will make their decision on the Overlay. After all those steps, the hotel applicant may be positioned for their project to move forward into the entitlement steps. It could be a busy end of 2023 and beginning of 2024 at City Hall…

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Calendar notes for the week of October 30, 2023.

In response to my request of last week, several folks have raised their hands to be part of an Urban Chat team to establish a position on the Overlay. I expect us to work toward a nuanced stance with thoughts on the proposal itself, how the process has been handled, and what the next steps might be.

There’s still time to add another person or two to the policy group. Reach out to me today if you’d like to be included.

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