Petaluma’s Water Street gets renewed attention
(Note: This is Part 1 of a two-part series on development along the Petaluma River.)
Before the open-air restaurant Brewsters Beer Garden began to take shape in a brick-lined alcove in downtown Petaluma, developer Mike Goebel faced a major decision - the address.
Nestled between two roadways, would Brewsters join its neighbors in laying claim to the widely known Petaluma Boulevard North? Or would the address read “Water Street,” the historically utilitarian, riverfront causeway on its opposite edge?
The question didn’t take much debate, said Goebel, a restaurateur with several successful venues already under his belt.
“That was kind of the appeal. We love the riverfront, and we think it’s such an important part of Petaluma’s history,” said Goebel, whose restaurant at 229 Water Street could open as soon as September. “The main entryway is actually on Water Street. So it kind of really adds to, and accentuates, the river.”
Amid a generational refocusing on the Petaluma River as a guiding force for city development, the cobbled and sometimes rough-and-tumble stretch known as Water Street has recently emerged as an outsize nexus of notable projects in Petaluma for both private business and public amenities.
Several in Petaluma pointed to Brewsters as a potential catalyst for moving Water Street, and particularly its grittier northern span, closer to the river-facing corridor envisioned when the city embarked on a major project to revamp parts of the roadway more than a decade ago.
Yet it is not the only notable project that stands to transform the riverfront causeway, joining a pedestrian bridge that made Water Street a new welcome mat for non-vehicular travelers and a big-ticket public art project making its way through the city’s review process.
“It certainly is a special street that not every town has,” said Tiffany Robbe, a senior planner with the city of Petaluma who worked closely on the Brewsters project.“This will be the first major, large-scale, standalone building that would use Water.”
Tucked between Petaluma Boulevard and the Petaluma River, Water Street exists for around five blocks along the waterfront in downtown Petaluma. The roadway historically served as a corridor for freight rail and a passenger trolley service, with trains rumbling along its historic wooden trestle, now gated off and in need of repair, as recently as 1992.
Times have changed since that trestle opened in 1922. In 2003, Petaluma wrapped up a $7.8 million project through its former redevelopment agency that sought to remake the portion of Water Street south of East Washington Street as a cosmopolitan frontage.
It was one of several ambitious redevelopment projects around that time to beautify downtown Petaluma, cutting parking in favor of pedestrian-friendly features, adding new lighting, burying utility lines and generally giving nearby businesses the ability to view the street less as a back-alley loading zone and more as an attractive second front.
Yet despite that work, not all of those businesses have come to embrace Water Street in the ensuing years, Robbe noted.
“The goal was that the existing buildings would become more two-sided, with tenants on the Boulevard and Water,” she said. “We see it, but we’re not there yet.”
One business that has dipped its toes in the water has been Lala’s Creamery, which owner Scott Andrew said opened a popular Water Street-facing outdoor seating area about seven years ago.
“It’s very popular on nice, sunny days, as we have shade canopies that keep everyone out of the direct sunlight,” said Andrew, in an email. “It’s also very popular for folks walking around town with their dogs, as it offers them a place to have ice cream with their furry friend.”
Others with Water Street-facing amenities include Cucina Paradiso and Water Street Bistro, along with Apple Box, whose outdoor seating area is on a pedestrian walkway along the trestle.
Robbe said some of the pedestrian-friendly elements seen along Water Street’s southern span will be coming to the north as part of the Brewsters project, and that plans are to ultimately develop sidewalks along both sides of the street.
“With the Brewsters project, we’ll have some of that street better developed,” she said, describing a planned sidewalk to be built at the restaurant as part of that project. “That might inspire the next buildings to the south to turn and open their businesses to the river.”
Long-term plans call for Water Street to extend farther north, where A.G. Spanos Companies is looking to build around 200 new units of housing as part of its North River Apartments development. Robbe said the particulars of that connection are still being hashed out, but the influx of new residents could mean more pedestrians to seek dining and recreation along the waterfront.
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