Petaluma City Council to face big issues this fall

Medical marijuana, housing and street funding are among the hot topics on tap this autumn.|

As the weather cools off in Petaluma this fall, action in city government is set to heat up as the City Council returns from a month-long recess to the expected continuation of union negotiations, battles over funding for infrastructure and access to public lands, a call for more housing and policy issues around marijuana.

Also in the works is the hiring of a permanent fire chief, various infrastructure upgrades throughout the city and the continued hashing out of details for a potential sales tax for road improvements that could come before voters in 2016.

“We’ve got to define what it is we’re going to present to the voters in 2016,” said Mayor David Glass, who cited early talks around the potential tax as among the issues that will be top of mind as the city enters the busy fall season.

Legal battles continue

Last month the Petaluma City Council voted to continue its fight to the state Supreme Court over $11.4 million in infrastructure funding. The money came from bonds issued by the city’s former redevelopment agency, but has been held unusable in trust due to technicalities in the 2011 law that dissolved those agencies.

The funding was earmarked for uses like the planned Rainier crosstown connector and a recently revamped interchange at Old Redwood Highway. The Supreme Court is expected to inform the city whether it will take up the case in the next three months, said Councilman Mike Healy.

Other legal discussions are happening closer to home. A consultant is working with the city to analyze a challenge by Safeway over a proposed gas station near its store on South McDowell Boulevard, which focuses on a recent change to the way the city determines traffic impact fees for such projects.

The fees were formerly levied based on the square footage of a station’s small kiosk. The new approach bases traffic impact on the number of pumps, Healy said.

“It makes a lot more sense,” he said. Yet he also noted the complexity of the legal framework around the issue.

Mediation talks are also continuing between the city and property owners in the issue of public access to the 270-acre Lafferty Ranch, a city-owned property northeast of Petaluma that has long been eyed as a possible park, yet remains boxed-in by an intersection of neighboring private parcels. While closed-session talks are expected to continue, it is less clear if and when there will be a resolution in the long-running conflict.

New hires,?new contracts

Talks continue over new contracts for Petaluma’s public safety employees, which together account for 130 individuals in a 280-strong workforce.

A contract encompassing firefighters expired more than two years ago, and contracts for both police and public safety mid-managers each expired in July of 2014.

Yet as new agreements have been inked with other employee groups in recent months, Glass said the city will be seeking to continue that momentum in the fall. New contracts were ratified with a group of mid-management employees in June, followed by an agreement with a large group of employees represented by a municipal employees union in July.

“Clearly, we need to come to an understanding with our bargaining units,” Glass said. “That will help us know what our expenditures will be.”

The city is also expected to hire a permanent fire chief later this month, according to City Manager John Brown. The department has been headed by interim fire chief Leonard Thompson since April, following the retirement of seven-year chief Larry Anderson.

A tax measure?takes shape

Next summer, the city will face a deadline to put a potential road improvement tax on the 2016 ballot, but early talks are already underway as city officials contemplate the nature of a measure.

First announced in an Argus-Courier op-ed signed by Councilman Healy and council members Kathy Miller and Gabe Kearney in August, the three-quarter-cent sales tax could raise $20 million for the Rainier project and $80 million for road repair over 20 years. The measure could also raise money for other needs, like upgrades and replacements to aging fire stations.

The approach seeks to be more specific than the local and county tax measures that failed to pass in the last year. Petaluma’s Measure Q and the countywide Measure A were both criticized for being too open-ended, and both failed to pass with the lower 50 percent threshold of a general tax.

Up for debate is what would be covered by a new tax. While Glass said he was unwilling to support a measure focused on issues outside of roads, Councilman Chris Albertson, a former Petaluma fire chief, said improvements to the city’s fire and police stations were sorely needed.

He cited long-held plans to build a new fire department headquarters at 307 Petaluma Blvd. South, which would replace a current downtown headquarters built in 1938, along with upgrades to two other stations in Petaluma.

“Those plans are construction-ready,” he said. “The public, I’m hoping, will understand the need for this work.”

Public projects going forward

Work will be kicking off on various city infrastructure projects during the fall. A portion of an 18-inch water main under East Washington Street, near the intersection with McDowell Boulevard, will be replaced over the next few months. An aging recycled water line along Brown’s Lane will also be replaced, along with the roof of the Petaluma Police Department headquarters, said Larry Zimmer, the city’s capital projects manager.

Electric vehicle charging stations will be added at city hall and the Petaluma Community Center, he said, and an existing charger at the Keller Street Garage will be upgraded to accommodate two vehicles.

The Ellis Creek wastewater plant will also receive an upgrade to better handle flushable moist towelettes, which have clogged the system.

New housing looms

A handful of infill housing projects are expected to move forward in the coming months. The 144-unit Maria Drive Apartments are currently under construction, along with a 35-unit, single-family rental complex on North McDowell Boulevard, North McDowell Commons.

Hundreds more units are in the pipeline. The Petaluma Planning Commission on Sept. 8 will review a final environmental impact report for the 150-unit Altura Apartments, planned near the Lakeville Highway and Highway 101 interchange. A 282-unit project at the end of Graylawn Avenue is currently under preliminary environmental review.

Yet while those projects and others are moving along, Glass said the availability of housing in Petaluma remains grim, with rents rising amid a vacancy that hovers around 2 percent.

“It’s just not as much as the demand,” he said.

Glass acknowledged the growing call for the city to find some measure to further expand the availability and affordability of housing of all types, and that a public discussion on the topic could find its way to the council in the coming months. No specific measures are currently on the horizon, however.

Marijuana a?growing issue

With many anticipating that voters will approve a measure to legalize recreational marijuana use in California next year, the city is planning to take another look at its current policies on cannabis during a special council workshop on Sept. 28.

Among the topics expected for discussion will be potential limits on the number of plants that an individual is allowed to possess. While illegal under federal law, state law allows up to six mature marijuana plants. In unincorporated Sonoma County, an individual may possess up to 30.

Other topics may be on the table in anticipation of legalization throughout the state, Glass said, though he declined to specify whether he might support a removal of Petaluma’s current ban on walk-up dispensaries.

“We would be well-served if we were in front of the curve,” he said. “The goal is to have something that works for Petaluma.”

(Contact Eric Gneckow at eric.gneckow@arguscourier.com. On Twitter @Eric_Reports.)

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