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Greenbelt Alliance In the News
July 16, 2006
Petaluma leads way in smart growth
Greenbelt Alliance gives city top ratings among 101 communities
Tobias Young
In one of the most green-conscious corners of the country, Petaluma has been recognized as the greenest city of them all.
For some, the smart-growth stamp of approval is an accomplishment. For others it reflects an approach that can be too stringent.
Greenbelt Alliance, an advocacy group that opposes sprawl and promotes open space in the nine Bay Area counties, gave Petaluma top billing among 101 cities in its most recent "smart growth scorecard."
"I'm proud of it," Petaluma Mayor David Glass said.
But Glass cautioned that the score is largely based on policies to influence future growth and those policies could be subject to change.
"It's a plan," he said. "It's success depends on whether we have the courage to implement it, whether we have the courage to refine it and whether we have the courage to defend it."
Petaluma, which pioneered growth control in the 1970s, was lauded for such things as having a voter-approved urban growth boundary, requiring parks near residential development and encouraging pedestrian-friendly, high-density development that combines residential and commercial uses in its urban core.
The city's blossoming Theatre District, a mix of stores and apartments anchored by a movie theater in a formerly run-down area near the Petaluma River, is one example of how the policies are influencing growth.
Greenbelt Alliance gave Petaluma the region's top score: 70 percent. It said the city could improve its score by reducing parking requirements to make more space for homes and shopping, and by creating design guidelines for areas outside downtown.
Several other Sonoma County cities ranked near the top of the scorecard, with Santa Rosa third, Windsor fifth, Rohnert Park seventh and Sebastopol 11th.
In Petaluma, developers and slow-growth advocates agreed there's room for improvement. But some want more growth controls while others want greater flexibility.
John Mills, a city planning commissioner and chairman of the architectural review board, said too many restrictions increase the cost of development and could push some developers to take business elsewhere.
"It really is burdensome on the remodeler, the small builder, and it encourages piracy," Mills said. "Layer after layer of restriction will cause people to go underground or not apply for a project in the first place."
Changing the code
Two of the biggest development players in town, Basin Street Properties and Centex Homes, are asking for changes to the central Petaluma specific plan's "smart code," which is a blueprint for growth in 400 mostly undeveloped acres in the heart of town.
Basin Street is stalled in the approval process for a 424-home mixed-use project along the river.
It wants things like the ability to leave more space between the street and the front of some of its buildings, and larger lots for its town houses.
Centex has proposed 150 condominiums and town houses near the Petaluma River Turning Basin, but wants to put residences instead of commercial space on the first floor of some buildings.
The smart code, which earned high marks from Greenbelt Alliance, would have to be amended to allow Centex to build housing instead of commercial on the ground floor.
Trece Harder, a Centex vice president, said the company thinks Petaluma can't support as much retail as its policies envision, and that the policies aren't flexible enough to deal with a changing economic environment.
"I think that's something Petaluma has to come to grips with," he said.
David Keller, a former city councilman, said he agrees the city should have a regular review of the smart code.
Valuable opportunities
But, he said, it should not worry about losing developers because its vision is making the opportunities for growth more valuable.
"Petaluma is in fact someplace special, someplace real, someplace exciting," Keller said. "It's not just a cookie-cutter image of something up the freeway."
Keller said Petaluma doesn't have to rush to approve projects if they aren't creative, top-quality developments that build on the city's historic charm and help fulfill its goals for a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly downtown.
Petaluma's "smart-growth" policies have a long history.
The city turned away a 1960s plan to replace its historic downtown with a shopping center. It enacted an urban limit line in the 1970s and adopted a limit of 500 new homes a year, a landmark policy that was successfully defended before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Petaluma voters overwhelmingly approved a growth boundary in 1998, pushing new development into the heart of the city and away from open space on its edges.
In 2003, Petaluma approved a blueprint for a high-density, pedestrian-friendly mix of residential and commercial development in the greater downtown area that has spurred the trendy new Theatre District.
But not everyone is satisfied.
Some residents are rebelling against developments sprouting on the scenic hillsides around town, and critics fear new shopping centers along Highway 101 could harm the viability of downtown.
Blocked views
City Hall also gets complaints about buildings blocking views of the hills, increased traffic and fewer parking spaces downtown.
However, city officials say the green label endorses the kind of policies that have been adopted.
"It is a validation of the decisions that have been made the past few years," said Mike Moore, the city's development director. "It really does get down to political will and the kind of development the community wants to see."
