Fate of North Novato SMART Station to be Decided Wednesday

The Novato City Council recently passed a resolution to protest a possible  construction delay of a long-planned commuter train station on the city’s north side. But that vote might not influence the board of directors for the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit authority Wednesday when it looks to pare back plans due to budget constraints.

The North Novato station was part of a plan approved by voters in 2008 for the passenger train system that was scheduled to run between Cloverdale in northern Sonoma County to Larkspur. But because of a massive funding shortfall, SMART is looking to defer construction of some projects until “such a time as the corridor housing threshold units for the project become available or alternative funding becomes available,” according to the minutes of the April 6 SMART board meeting.

Holding off on the North Novato station — planned for a sliver of land between North Redwood Boulevard and Highway 101 just north of Atherton Avenue — would save an estimated $5.3 million. The board is also weighing, among other things, a deferment of a $5 million replacement of a bridge over Novato Creek, an $11.5 million station at Corona Road in Petaluma and a $14 million portion of a multiuse path that would run alongside the tracks.

In all, the board is looking at $88.25 million in cuts from the original plans. The SMART staff is recommending approval of all the proposed deferments, which would allow it to start awarding construction contracts on projects that are higher on the priority list. A train station in Hamilton, Novato's only other station, is among those scheduled to survive the cut.

Housing requirements have been a sticky issue pertaining to the station locations. According to a SMART staff report, the housing element for commuter rail services state that the requirement is a corridor average of 2,200 housing units within a half mile radius of each station. The housing can include existing units, approved units in the planning stages “pipeline,” and an estimate of future units for vacant or underutilized parcels based on current zoning.

The meeting starts at 1:30 p.m. in the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors chambers at 575 Administration Drive (Room 100A) in downtown Santa Rosa.