The Vacancy Project continues to gain traction in Petaluma with new subscribers signing up every week. It’s been great to see and a little overwhelming. Residents want progress on leasing or developing the vacant properties blighting our downtown core. But that progress has become harder as inflation drives up construction costs and interest rates make construction and development loans less affordable. In times like these, we must remove uncertainty in our policies and processes so long-vacant spaces can come to life.
What you’ll find in this update:
- Don’t miss this: An evening on downtowns and climate action
- Zoning code changes to align with General Plan 2050
- Changes to the Vacancy Map
- Fire sprinkler retrofits: The 11th-Hour surprise
- Developer survey update: Help us learn from the people who build Petaluma
Don’t miss this! An evening on downtowns and climate action
Join us next Monday, October 26, at the Polly Klaas Community Center for a conversation with historic preservationist and environmental architect Carl Elefante.
Elefante has long argued that revitalizing and building on vacant land in our downtowns is one of the fastest paths to climate action, because downtown residents live close to the shops, services and jobs they rely on.
After his presentation, Elefante will join Mayor McDonnell and a third panelist, for a moderated panel discussion.
Seats are limited, so buy your ticket today!
Zoning code changes to align with General Plan 2050
As a first step toward reducing uncertainty, the Planning Department is updating our zoning code to align with the recently adopted General Plan. The first phase of that work is scheduled to go before the City Council on November 9*. To prepare for phases two and three, which will put the new land use designations into code, the Economic Development and Planning Departments partnered to host a stakeholder meeting to identify additional zoning barriers that should be removed. The Vacancy Project published a perspective on these zoning challenges here.
Please reach out to share your thoughts. We’d love to hear from you.
* The email version of this update erroneously stated phase 1 zoning changes went to council on October 5. This was rescheduled to November 9.
Changes to the Vacancy Map
We’ve updated our map!
Thanks to our fantastic web developer, Chris Grim, you can now quickly identify this update’s “Featured Property”, and see which properties have been updated with new information. Just click the “Recently updated” button to filter the map to sites that have changed recently.
In addition to updating existing vacancies, we’ve added two new properties to the map:
- Our Featured Property, the former Starbucks on Petaluma Blvd North next to Putnam Plaza has been vacant for over a year. A detailed plan exists to bring the site back to life, but improvement permits have not yet been issued.
- The former Water Street Bistro at Petaluma Blvd North and Western Avenue has been vacant for over six months. Permits have been issued and work is underway, though it’s unclear whether a new lease has been signed.
Fire sprinkler retrofits: The 11th-Hour surprise
The biggest surprise of the past two months has been the flood of unsolicited stories about the last-minute delays and costs of retrofitting buildings with fire sprinklers.
Since 2004 (Ordinance 2194 NCS), Petaluma has required sprinkler retrofits in the Historic Downtown Business District, roughly bounded by Kentucky Street, Washington Street, the Petaluma River and B Street. Today the rule lives in Fire Code Section 903.6.5, re-adopted in 2025. Every remaining downtown building must be sprinklered by December 31, 2029, and sooner if it changes occupancy, expands, or undergoes a “substantial remodel.” Remodel triggers apply to commercial buildings citywide, too.
No one we’ve heard from opposes fire safety. The concern is predictability. The code defines a substantial remodel (an addition of 10% or more, or work affecting half the floor area within three years), but the requirement itself points to a Fire Prevention Bureau policy that isn’t published in the code. Owners tell us the answer to “Do I need sprinklers, and when?” can vary from one project to the next.
The Vacancy Project is investigating how these decisions get made. We’ll share what we find in December.
Developer survey update: Help us learn from the people who build Petaluma
Our developer survey is ready for prime time!
Pilot testing has gone well, and only a few small tweaks are needed to fine-tune the final survey.
Next, we’ll use the survey to interview vacant property owners and developers about what it actually takes to bring a project to life in Petaluma, including the kind of costly, last-minute surprises described above. Every interview will be confidential to ensure participants are comfortable speaking freely. In addition, the survey has been designed to be used over time to measure our improvements and ongoing challenges. We’ll analyze the results and present them to city staff and the City Council, giving decision-makers real-world evidence about which barriers are keeping properties vacant.
Just one step stands between the survey and the field: funding. We’ve budgeted $6,000 to conduct the interviews and analyze the results. If you’d like to help make this happen, donate today! Contributions of any size help.
Want to learn more? Drop us a line and we’ll set up a time to talk.
That covers our October update. Enjoy the evening sunlight while it lasts! Daylight savings time ends November 1, which means one extra hour of sleep…just in time to recover from Halloween.
The Vacancy Project team
(You can find our August update here.)