A look forward at local waterways

Don Bennett's April 15 column, “A look back at the 1970 River Plan,” reminded us of the debt we owe today to the river's champions of 40 years ago. These visionaries gave us direction and hope for our beloved slough. Many of their ideas, such as the marina and the Alman-Shollenberger-Ellis Creek wetland and trail network, became reality, and many more are in the process of becoming real.

The next few weeks will see the first public presentations by a task force of river stakeholders determined to carry forward the visions of the 1996 River Access and Enhancement Plan (which built on the 1970 plan). In turn, the city's Central Specific Plan and General Plan 2025 incorporate the River Access Plan (all available at the city's Web site). The River Access Plan guides development of the river as a focus of close-to-home recreation, river-dependent commerce, nature education, heritage appreciation, and environmental stewardship. Specific as the 1996 plan is about waterfront pedestrian and bicycle trails, greenways and parks, access for launching small watercraft, and so much more, it did not address how these improvements could be funded, built and maintained.

Starting in 2008, a collaboration among river advocates, city staff and the National Park Service's Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, known as the Petaluma River Access Partnership or P-RAP, has worked on developing an Implementation and Funding Strategy to build out Petaluma waterways.

P-RAP's first step was to chart improvements already planned and/or built between North Water Street and Shollenberger Park. The intriguing map that resulted can be viewed at www.cityofpetaluma.net/river. There's so much to like about what we have today: Cavanagh Landing Park, Steamer Landing Park and the River Heritage Center, Water Street improvements and fragments of waterfront trail constructed during redevelopment.

And there's so much to like about the possibilities. Consider these projects, outlined in the River Access Plan, that P-RAP's Implementation and Funding Strategy will address:

n Linking continuous land- and water-based trails to regional bicycle and pedestrian connectors as well as transit hubs and community “gateways.”

n Establishing uniform design standards for trail surface, lighting, and directional or interpretive signs, etc.

n Additional park improvements and new parks, including siting a public small craft center.

n Several new water access points for small-boat launching and picnicking, fishing, or birdwatching.

n Bathrooms, seating, and other facilities at high-traffic or vista points.

Ambitious? Of course.

Critical to the city's sustained economic, physical, cultural, social, and environmental health? Absolutely.

Difficult? No kidding. But let the visionaries of the 1970 plan inspire us today with their foresight, and let perseverance toward our updated goals be modeled by the many framers of the 1996 plan who continue their river advocacy to this day (including Mr. Bennett, as well as several P-RAP members).

When complete, the Implementation and Funding Strategy for Petaluma Waterways will catalogue more than three dozen projects potentially eligible for public and private grants, low-interest loans, in-kind gifts and volunteer sweat equity. For support, we will appeal to individuals, clubs, businesses and private foundations, in addition to federal, state, regional and local public agencies.

Members of the community can participate today in the process of creating Petaluma Waterways. The Voice of the River project, a “community book” of prose, poetry, photography, paintings and other arts, is an anthology of the public's creative expressions about what the river means to us. To find out how to contribute, go to www.cityofpetaluma.net/river/participate.html.

The Voice of the River anthology will be displayed at key Petaluma events and locations through this spring and summer. Importantly, it will also give all of us insight into our community's emotional connections to the river that runs through the heart of our city and forms the heart of our plans.

(Susan Starbird is the volunteer project coordinator for Petaluma River Access Partners, a founding member of the Petaluma Small Craft Center Coalition, a fanatic kayaker and a social-change marketer based at Foundry Wharf.)