City Inches Closer to Relocating North Rohnert Park SMART Station to "Downtown"

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit Planning Manager John Nemeth said Aug. 18 that rail district officials are about a month away from completing the environmental review process to relocate Rohnert Park's SMART station site from Roberts Lake Road to the vicinity of State Farm — what some are calling the "."

The relocation,  City Council meeting, will cost between $500,000 and $1 million, Nemeth said.

That extra million isn't included in SMART's , which were accepted Aug. 15. The final San Rafael to Santa Rosa segment is now expected to cost $360.2 million and be completed in 2015, according to SMART. The Press Democrat reported Wednesday that figure will balloon to $400 million.

Either way, the cost to move Rohnert Park's station wasn't factored in.

"We'd have to find extra savings to move forward with the Rohnert Park site," Nemeth said.

In addition, the Environmental Impact Report's cost is in the ballpark of $30,000 to $50,000, according to SMART officials. The lengthy, expensive review — required by the California Environmental Quality Act — studies everything from potential impact on endangered species and environmental degradation, to noise disruption and traffic patterns.

Rohnert Park is paying $25,000 for the report, Codding Enterprises, who owns the nearby Raley's Town Centre is contributing $10,000 and SMART will pay for the remaining cost, Nemeth said.

"So far the environmental review hasn't found anything to cause serious concern," Nemeth said. "But the work is ongoing."

"As far as I'm concerned, the relocation is a done deal," said Vice Mayor Jake Mackenzie, who is Rohnert Park's representative on the SMART board.

The City Council said in February, when members asked SMART to study the cost of moving the , that they saw the benefits of having a train station "downtown," but also said they were reluctant to pay more during the budget crisis.

“We’re trying to build a downtown,” Belforte said in February. “You’ve got to start somewhere.”

Councilmember Joe Callinan said in February he saw both sides, but said he's against it if the price tag keeps getting higher.

"I’m still against it if it’s going to cost city more money," Callinan said Thursday. "And, we have no idea what's going in to the ."

"Until we know who is going to buy it and what they're going to do with it, it's ludicrous to put a SMART station there," Callinan added. "Besides, there was nothing wrong with the station at the north end." 

Callian echoed other critics of moving the station, who have said it's too close to the the East Cotati Avenue station, which is less than a mile away.

Mayor Gina Belforte and councilmember Amy Ahanotu said they still support the relocation.

"I strongly feel that it should be in the center of Rohnert Park," Belforte said. "There’s so much that's going to be happening with the Green Music Center and we’d love to see State Farm get built out and make that train depot a significant part of town."

"I'm very much for it," she said.

“I absolutely think it’s the right decision to move the station to a more central location,” Ahanotu said. “When I ran for city council that is one thing I said Rohnert Park needed … especially with everything going on around State Farm.”