Petaluma workshop on design of rail stations Tuesday

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District will hold a series of community workshops to gather public input about the design of 14 passenger rail stations from Cloverdale to Larkspur.

The workshops, to be held Feb. 8-19, will take place in all 10 communities along the 70-mile SMART corridor. They are designed as information-gathering sessions at which SMART's station design consultants will present some initial concepts about stations and seek feedback from citizens regarding each community's aspirations about the stations.

The Petaluma workshop will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, at the Petaluma Community Center, 320 N. McDowell Blvd.

While historic rail depots exist in several cities along the corridor, and newer stations have been built in others, SMART will add passenger loading platforms and other amenities at all 14 stops along the route. These platforms — with benches, canopies, ticket vending machines, bike racks and in some cases, park-and-ride lots — are the focus of the workshops.

The design team will return to the 10 communities for follow-up workshops in the spring.