The Foley Family Community Pavilion gets another workout this Friday, May 8, when SMART holds a Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Healdsburg Extension Project. The event, from 1 to 3pm, will include complimentary refreshments, commemorative T-shirts and other swag, according to a press release from the transportation agency.
“The Healdsburg Extension Project underscores our commitment to sustainable and green transportation solutions,” stated the agency in the press release. “The addition of a new train station, along with the SMART Pathway/Great Redwood Trail, will strengthen regional connectivity across Sonoma and Marin counties and allow riders to travel from Healdsburg to Larkspur, where they can connect to San Francisco, and beyond.”
The agency requests that potential visitors click here to let them know how many people plan to attend.
The addition of Healdsburg as the northernmost stop in the still-growing SMART rail system has always been planned for the commuter rail, as has the even-farther-north city of Cloverdale. Building that last extension will be impossible if Measure B does not pass.
Don’t be surprised if the SMART voices on hand urge a yes vote on Measure B, to extend for another 30 years the quarter-cent sales tax that funds the rail system. Without that extension, taxpayer support would end in 2029.
Friday’s event is not the official opening of the route, despite its active title. The SMART passenger platform will be built not downtown but on Hudson Street, near the historic depot. So there’s unlikely to be a “golden spike” such as that which marked the union of two railroad lines at Promontory Point, Utah, that connected the transcontinental rail link.
The Healdsburg SMART station will probably not open until the end of 2028 at the earliest. But between that point and now, the tracks and its accompanying pathway must cross the Russian River, just a few hundred yards south from the depot station. The bridge at that crossing, built in 1921, must be entirely replaced with a newer construction. The design phase of the project will continue until December, with construction to begin thereafter.
SMART’s plan for the bridge was reviewed by residents at a community workshop in March. While a final design was not selected, one possibility would include Warren Truss construction that supports about half of the current span. Perhaps an exhibit will be available at the May 8 “groundbreaking.”
Look Out Below
The plan to demolish and construct the Russian River bridge is troubling to one business just downstream of the river crossing, River’s Edge Kayak and Canoe. This venerable business, long owned by W.C. Trowbridge, is now located on the beach on the right of the Memorial Bridge. Its customers end their river journey here, after starting as far away as Alexander Valley.
A question the owners have is not if their customers will be impacted by a two-year construction schedule, but to what extent. And why, if SMART went through the appropriate CEQA process, the impact of the construction on people was not considered.
“First, why did their analysis fail to meaningfully analyze people who use the river?” asked Kim Lockhart, co-owner of River’s Edge. Those people include not only the customers of the boating company, all of whom end their trips on the small beach just below the railroad bridge.
It also includes by default the Memorial Bridge Regional Park, which during the summer is usually dammed to provide deeper water for recreation. Would construction on the railroad bridge affect those people as well?
“River use here is not hypothetical,” said Lockhard. “River’s Edge launches about 4,000 people each summer, all of whom pass beneath the bridge. Sonoma County Regional Parks reports roughly 65,000 visitors to Veterans Memorial Beach during peak season. Together, that’s nearly 69,000 people using this stretch of river every year.”
Here’s the petition Lockhard has on Change.org.
CAC Named
In the meantime, the city of Healdsburg recently appointed a 15-person Community Advisory Committee to examine proposed development for the circum-station area, known as the SMART Station Area Specific Plan. It would include both a half-mile radius around the projected SMART platform, and to the city’s southern border in what is known as the South Entry.
At their April 20 meeting, the City Council named 15 members from 29 applicants. They are: Paul Bialla, Sonia Byck-Barwick, Ronald Dobley, Matthew Dobrowolski, Catherine Dolph, James Gentry, Mark Horne, Noah Jeppson, Mathew Lopez, Conor McKay, Mark McMullen, Jim Morris, Skyler Osborn, Oded Shakked and Dalene Whitlock. Planning director Scott Duiven will be the staff lead.
The committee has not yet been officially named, but its members will operate under the guidelines of the Brown Act, including meeting notices, agenda posting, etc. They will select a chair and any other officers at the first meeting, to be announced.
Follow at healdsburg.gov/1202/Healdsburg-Station-Area-Specific-Plan.
