Board Packet 01 18 06 - Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit - Home Page

The SMART Board of Directors has directed staff to negotiate an access easement with the Santa Rosa
Canners LLC (the Cannery Project developers), and these negotiations are currently underway. Providing
this access to the Cannery Project, on the adjacent parcel to the west fronting 3 rd Street, is a vital
consideration in the development of the SMART site. The Cannery Project has two primary issues that
drive the circulation concept and the location of potential buildings on the SMART site:
1. The City of Santa Rosa requires a 28-foot wide clear area to provide emergency vehicle access
from 3 rd Street along the frontage of the Cannery building. This 28-foot wide clear area can also
provide pedestrian and bicycle access to the SMART site. The Santa Rosa Fire Department
prefers a through connection from 3 rd Street to 6 th Street that is straight and direct. Beyond the
Cannery building, provisions will be necessary for circulation of emergency vehicles as well.
2. The Cannery Project requires a setback of 40 feet – 1 inch from its building face to any building
face on the western side of the SMART property in order to meet building code requirements for
allowable building area of the Cannery Project. Development teams can consult with the Santa
Rosa Building Department to confirm this interpretation of the local building code.
Preferred Circulation Concept
To meet the circulation demands of the site, SMART has developed, in close cooperation with the City of
Santa Rosa, an overall “Preferred Circulation Concept” for the site, provided as an attachment in
Appendix C. The Preferred Circulation Concept satisfies vehicular, emergency, and transit access needs,
along with local traffic engineering requirements. It represents the current, consensus approach to
circulation on the site, but is not a mandatory component of development proposals. Respondents to the
RFP are free to deviate from this suggested scheme, so long as they are able to satisfy basic SMART
objectives, including transit access, provision of an easement along the Cannery Project, and City
requirements relating to circulation and access.
The Circulation diagram shows a 28-foot wide emergency vehicle access along the western edge of the
property for the length of the Cannery Project. Some form of access accommodating emergency vehicles,
possibly incorporating a small street, is shown continuing to 6 th Street. The character of this connection is
subject to the determination of the development teams and SMART.
In addition, the Concept calls for a two-way public access through-street beginning at 3 rd Street, generally
paralleling the SMART right-of-way and intersecting 6 th Street aligned with Adams Street. This is where
access to the rail station would occur, with space made available for buses, shuttles, and “kiss-and-ride”
drop-offs. The design of this street would involve bus and shuttle bays that parallel the curb. This allows
for flexibility, as curb space could be used in the near term for on-street parking and adjusted accordingly
in the future with striping and signage as access needs change and evolve. While the diagram shows an
east-west connection within the site aligned with 4 th Street, east-west connections on the site have not
been established in the preferred circulation concept. The character and function of any east-west
connection is subject to the determination of the developer.
Parking Considerations
There is no minimum number of automobile parking spaces being required for the purposes of serving
SMART’s passenger rail service. The only auto parking spaces required are those needed to serve the
development and comply with local development regulations. It is SMART’s policy to encourage low
parking ratios in order to accomplish a pedestrian and transit-oriented design. SMART also strongly
prefers that surface parking not be a prominent feature of the project, aside from on-street parking for new
roadways. Parking can be located underground, in a structure interior to the development, or possibly
accommodated in an off-site structure.
Request for Proposals for Joint Development at Railroad Square -11-