Petaluma considers urban growth boundary measure for November ballot

Though they did not hold a vote, members of the Petaluma City Council voiced their support and gave direction Monday for a possible ballot measure to maintain the city’s existing urban growth boundary, which is set to expire Dec. 31, 2025.

But a slight change to the boundary is likely. That’s because, embedded in the conversation, there is the possibility of annexing a half-mile area of land – long identified as an “expansion area” – near the city’s new Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit station off Corona Road. The annexation would require a six-sevenths City Council vote of approval in the future.

Adding those parcels off Corona Road is considered an “essential component” to creating a transit-oriented development hub close to existing infrastructure – which in turn is “seen as being optimal to bring transit, jobs, housing together as part of our regional growth framework,” said Heather Hines, special projects manager for the city, during Monday night’s meeting.

To make it all happen, city staff is proposing a November 2024 ballot measure with three parameters with regards to the urban growth boundary: 1) make no changes to the existing boundary’s borders, 2) extend the boundary’s expiration date to 2050, and 3) modify a General Plan policy to allow expansion of approximately a half-mile radius, or 2,640 feet, from a transit station to support transit area development, Hines said.

The proposed measure would not explicitly approve any annexation, which would later be voted on by City Council, but allows for “orderly development” in the vicinity of the train station, which has been considered one of four possible expansion areas since at least 1998, according to a city staff report.

It does this by modifying the current General Plan policy, which limits annexation to a 1,500-foot radius for transit area development.

“The industry standard is a half-mile radius, so that's typically what people are comfortable walking and biking from the station,” said Brian Oh, the city’s community development director.

"You see that with our downtown station planning. It's sort of this international model. That’s where the half-mile comes from.”

Last year the city received a $1.15 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to develop the area around the Corona Road station, which held its groundbreaking last November.

Hines also noted that while transit-oriented housing is desirable, “We are not depending on any annexation in order to meet our housing allocation needs for this next year cycle.”

Council member Brian Barnacle suggested staff remove the three other expansion areas from the plan.

“I’d like to use this opportunity to make a clear statement. ... No more sprawl in Petaluma,” said Barnacle, after he suggested that a possible annexation near the train station could be “a ticking time bomb” for land owners seeking annexation.

Council members Mike Healy, Janice Cader Thomspon and Mayor Kevin McDonnell also supported the removal of the other three expansion areas.

Because the north Petaluma expansion area being considered is undeveloped land, a few times throughout the evening the conversation touched on the possible need for an environmental analysis. Oh responded by saying staff will return in late spring or early summer with an “in depth” environmental analysis.

Later that evening, Healy said such an analysis “needs to be bullet proof.”

During the meeting’s public comment period a number of speakers, including leadership from the Green Belt Alliance and the Redwood Chapter of the Sierra Club, supported renewing the city’s urban growth boundary.

McDonnell asked that staff consider an “accelerated timeline” for the proposed ballot measure.

History of limiting sprawl

Going back to the 1960s, Petaluma has had “a long history of local efforts to manage growth,” largely in response to sprawling development and failing infrastructure, Hines said.

The first such limits were adopted in the city’s General Plan in 1961 and again included in the 1987 General Plan. The city’s existing urban growth boundary “is nearly identical” to one that has been in place since 1987, according to a staff report.

In 1998, the City Council placed a measure on the ballot to adopt an urban growth boundary that was set to expire in 2018 and which received 79% voter support. In 2010, Petaluma residents voted to extend the expiration to 2025 to coincide with the current General Plan adoption. But given that planning has gone longer than expected, staff recommended again placing it on this year’s November ballot, Hines said.

Objectives of the 1998 adoption “are still very relevant,” Hines said, “in terms of encouraging efficient growth patterns for protecting Petaluma’s natural setting, concentrating growth to minimize impacts on services, and allowing the city to meet housing needs.”

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Sawhney at 707-521-5346 or jennifer.sawhney@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @sawhney_media.