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Please take a few minutes to take action on a very important local issue.
On January 27 th the Petaluma City Council will hear an appeal from a Southern California developer who wants to sandwich 110 single-family homes into the corner of Corona Street and North McDowell Blvd – the site that will become our East Side SMART Station.
The project allocates the bare minimum to affordable housing; the cheapest “market-rate” unit starts at $600,000; and retail services are not included. Every time a resident needs something, they will need to drive a car, adding to traffic congestion and increasing GHG emissions.
Instead, this project should embrace transit-oriented development (TOD). It should reduce emissions. It should help low-income people access the regional job market. But, it will actually accelerate Petaluma’s largest source of emissions (transportation) and do little to help the residents who need it most, those who cannot afford a car. The proposed project is completely out of alignment with the City’s emergency climate resolution.
Unless the community speaks up, the City Council is likely to approve this project.
Please join 350 Petaluma to actively oppose this terrible project!
- Email the City Council asking them to reject the proposed project.
- Copy the City Clerk and Argus-Courier (email addresses below).
- Attend the City Council meeting on January 27th at 7:00 PM at City Hall and voice your disapproval.
- Share this email with others in your network who could express their disapproval.
We have included a sample email below; feel free to use or edit it, including other talking points if you choose.
See you on January 27 th at 7:00 PM at City Hall!
Thank you,
350 Petaluma
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Email
To: tbar...@cityofpetaluma.org; dk...@cityofpetaluma.org; dfis...@cityofpetaluma.org; mhe...@cityofpetaluma.org; gkea...@cityofpetaluma.org; kmcdo...@cityofpetaluma.org; kmi...@cityofpetaluma.org
CC: matt....@arguscourier.com; city...@ci.petaluma.ca.us
Subject: Reject Lomas Partners’ Corona Proposal
I urge the City Council to reject Lomas Partners’ Corona proposal. The proposed project will increase our transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is out of alignment with and undermines our City's emergency climate resolution. This is unacceptable.
I urge you to engage with the Climate Action Commission and the community to design a transit-oriented foundational project for our East Side, and a project that will help the overall success of SMART.
Best regards,
<name>
Member, 350 Petaluma (if applicable)
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Talking Points - consider adding to your email:
- Transportation is Petaluma’s largest source of GHGs; despite our City’s goal to reduce GHGs, they continue to increase.
- Transportation emissions are driven in large part by local land use policies; the connection between land use and transportation was a foundational aspect of SB 375
- Last year, the City adopted a climate emergency resolution and formed a Climate Action Commission (CAC) to assist the City in taking swift action.
- Rather than narrowly addressing emissions, Petaluma wisely included equity in the CAC’s charter.
- In December of 2019, the CAC had a special weekend meeting to engage the community and define a set of priorities: they determined that land use should be the City’s top priority and stated that the City’s auto-oriented suburban land use model has been a major contributor to our climate and housing crisis.
- Sadly, the Corona project’s reliance on automobiles is a continuation of that model.
- While we need the East Side SMART station, and we need housing on the SMART parcel in downtown (via the land swap), it is critically important that the City implement transit-oriented development (TOD) best practices or these projects will only accelerate our climate emergency.
- The community provided this feedback to the developer in February 2019 at a community meeting; the developer ignored our input.
- We reiterated our point of view at two planning commission meetings in November 2019 and January 2020
- Final comments to the City Council
- The proposed project before you will only accelerate our climate emergency. It will not build community on the site, make SMART successful, increase the diversity of available housing, calm the traffic, or create a safe streetscape for pedestrians.
- I urge you to reject the currently proposed Corona project. I urge you to engage with the Climate Action Commission and the community to design a transit-oriented foundational project for our East Side and a project that will help the overall success of SMART.
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