Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Grant

History

The Sebastopol Downtown Plan was first created in 1990. State Route (SR) 116 and SR 12 have always been a core part of the Downtown area. As development has blossomed, freight has grown, commuting became a part of our everyday lives, and the City now sees a lot more traffic through their downtown area. For many years, there has been a longing to re-envision Sebastopol’s Downtown.

In 2022, the City applied for the Caltrans Sustainable Communities Grant to reevaluate the downtown segments of SR 116 and SR 12 to address multimodal transportation, safety, sustainability, accessibility, and economic development.

Downtown Sebastopol is a compact mixed-use area with the City’s largest concentration of job opportunities, a wide range of goods and services, and local and regional bus routes. Given Sebastopol’s small size and short trip distances, there is tremendous potential for people to shift transportation modes if conditions can be improved to create safer, more comfortable places to walk or bike. However, because of Sebastopol’s location as a gateway to west Sonoma County, local circulation projects can have broader impacts. As a result, the City will partner with Caltrans, the County of Sonoma, Sonoma County Transportation Authority (SCTA), and City of Santa Rosa to explore potential improvements to the roadway network outside the City limits that complement recommended projects Downtown.

Project Objectives

Enhance multimodal safety, accessibility, and comfort to help make Downtown Sebastopol a more desirable place to walk, bike, or use transit.
Encourage mode shift to reduce vehicle travel and increase the use of alternative transportation modes to support the City’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Reduce the negative impacts of regional through traffic on Downtown Sebastopol, including truck traffic.
Engage with the Downtown business community to identify mobility and design enhancements that would help to revitalize the area and create a more inviting place to do business.
Develop consensus with Caltrans, County of Sonoma, and City of Santa Rosa regarding recommended improvements to enhance regional circulation on selected roadways in the vicinity of Sebastopol and supports the preferred alternative for Downtown.
Engage disadvantaged residents in the planning process to identify and address their mobility priorities.
Identify a preferred alternative to improve active transportation while maintaining adequate vehicle circulation to, within, and through Downtown.
Develop urban design and streetscape concepts to enhance the sense of place in Downtown and contribute to establishing the Downtown area as more of a destination.
Develop a set of concept-level design plans for Downtown multimodal mobility enhancements that can be used to pursue grant funding to complete design and construction

We need your input to re-envision and transform our downtown into a safer, more accessible, and vibrant place for everyone. This survey will help the project team to ensure that our plans reflect the needs of the whole community.

The survey includes some socio-demographic questions to make sure we’re reaching all voices in the community. If you decide to answer this portion of the survey, you will be entered into a raffle to win a gift card to a local business downtown!

Click the link below to view the survey.

https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=S8p9CMdJxkKnZkmj8p_D9A-6MTNbKOJMmdBPn0PNoNlUNFJZUVg2Q1RVOURNQkc0UEJSNkQxREhDVC4u&route=shorturl

Timeline
Meetings
Presentations
Minutes
Helpful Links

Timeline

August 31, 2023

The City of Sebastopol was awarded a Sustainable Transportation Grant from the California Department of Transportation titled Sebastopol Main Street State Highways Subregional Planning and Core Redesign. The grant awarded amount was $230,178, with a local match of $29,822, for a total of $260,000.

July 1, 2024

Kick-off meeting with consultant Fehr & Peers and various stakeholders which included members of the public, local business owners, and a variety of designers. This meeting was not recorded.

July 16, 2024

Second kick-off meeting with consultant Fehr & Peers and various stakeholders which included members of the public, local business owners, and a variety of designers. This meeting was not recorded.

November 14, 2024

Workshop and open house

Meetings

Planning Commission (July 25, 2023)

The Planning Commission heard a presentation from the consultant that reviewed Vehicle-Miles Traveled (VMT) and how it could provide guidance on potential mitigations that could be applied to projects.

Planning Commission Meeting July 25, 2023

Planning Commission (October 22nd, 2024)

The Planning Commission will hear a presentation from the Project Team, covering an overview of the project, the grant’s goals, and existing conditions. Public participation and comments are encouraged.