Passenger Trains > Healdsburg decides future SMART station location

Healdsburg decides future SMART station location

JENNIFER SAWHNEY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
February 23, 2024, 1:32PM

As the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit’s Windsor to Healdsburg extension gains momentum, the Healdsburg City Council has decided the location for its future rail station.
Council members opted for the Hudson Street location, the site long-considered for the station and the former train depot, at the Tuesday night meeting.

This comes as the regional transportation district continues to expand passenger rail service north to Cloverdale. In July, SMART received funding to finish the extension to Windsor, and as of September, 65% of the $160.5 million Windsor-Healdsburg extension had been financed.

This was part of a discussion item and no vote was cast. Staff requested that council direct staff to either proceed with the Hudson Street location — previously referred to as the Harmon Street site — or provide more information on the alternative site.

 “Community feedback indicates a strong preference for the current planned location on Hudson, there is not clear motivation for relocating the station based on currently available information and analysis,” according to a staff report.

The Hudson Street location on the south side of the city already has 48 parking spaces in anticipation for what has been designated a multimodal transportation hub since 1997.

“At Hudson Street we have some space to accommodate a station and all the new activity that it will bring,” Council Member Chris Herrod said.
Though Vice Mayor Evelyn Mitchell also signaled support for an alternative site, “to me it just feels like the future is (Hudson Street) and it feels more appropriate at this point in time.”

Previously, two sites close to downtown were also being considered.

One site that was still up for consideration Tuesday evening is located on Vine Street, near the West Plaza parking lot. However, staff did not have adequate information to recommend that location, according to the Tuesday presentation.

One site at Grove Street across from the Healdsburg City Hall parking lot was no longer being considered. It would have resulted in “negative impacts to adjacent properties and be located further from available parking and the center of the downtown area,” according to a staff report.

SMART currently operates 12 stations in the North Bay from Larkspur to the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport. A 12-member board governs the regional transportation district for the passenger train service and corridor maintenance from Larkspur to Cloverdale.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/24 01:12 by GenePoon.

This choice is the correct place for the SMART station. The old depot is there with parking.  It is a pleasant very short few block walk to the main downtown square. 

The alternate sites are a much shorter walk to the downtown area but space is restricted:  there is little space for parking, and streets restrict the ability to build SMART's high platforms.

But also another consideration: at least some land closer to downtown would have to be purchased or acquired by eminent domain.  The proposed site is already SMART property; there is lots of land there that SMART owns.  Most is the former NWP yard, across the tracks.

I'm happy to see SMART expanding, but sad that I am not living in Sonoma County to see it! When I arrived in Santa Rosa in 1971, it seemed like Healdsburg was a sleepy agricultural town. No more, of course. Passenger service on the NWP had just ended around that time. 50 years later, it's back.