Cotati City presents schematic designs to expand public access at Cotati Ranch

Cotati City staff presented schematic designs for the city-owned ranch property at a public workshop, describing a multipurpose barn, expanded public programming and access changes while noting limits imposed by a conservation easement.

City Manager Danny (last name not specified) told attendees that the property was purchased with assistance from the Open Space District and placed under a conservation easement that restricts the site to agricultural, recreation and related historical and educational uses. He said the easement limits where new structures may be sited and sets a maximum building height of 24 feet, which corresponds roughly to the existing water tower on the site.

The proposed concept centers new constructed elements near the farmhouse and clusters buildings rather than spreading structures across pasture. The design team described a two-story multipurpose barn with roll-up glass doors and sliding barn doors, a small commercial-style demonstration kitchen, meeting rooms, a flex space of roughly 1,300 square feet (about 300 square feet smaller than the city's 1,600-square-foot community room), and a smaller barn intended for animal interaction and demonstrations.

Staff said the site already hosts youth and regional programs (ages roughly 3 to 12), after-school field trips, summer camps, environmental education courses, livestock care activities, a pilot small-scale crop production/CSA-style box program and a monthly free-compost distribution. Bryce (role described in the meeting as managing that program) was cited as the staff member who handles the compost program.

Design features discussed to improve access included a new 12-foot access lane off the street identified in the plans as School Street, a small number of ADA parking spaces adjacent to the proposed farm-stand and dispersed low-barrier paths through the property designed to be compacted and flat rather than concrete to improve wheelchair access. Staff said that if meeting rooms on the second floor are used by people with mobility needs, priority would be given to reserving accessible ground-floor rooms; the presenters said that with appropriately graded ramps and accessible facilities at the back of the building, an elevator may not be required under applicable accessibility approaches discussed at the workshop.

Parking for typical public access and events was described as largely being provided at City Hall and the community center across the street; staff said limited on-site parking might be used for larger events if animals and circulation allowed. Staff said the interior historic buildings are not currently fully accessible and that phased work and temporary measures (for example, fencing for animal and construction safety) would be used during construction.

Staff emphasized that the conservation easement constrains both siting and the total "developed footprint" (staff noted that even small ancillary structures such as greenhouses or tool sheds count toward that footprint). They said any new structures must remain near the farmhouse cluster rather than out on existing pasture.

On timing and next steps, staff described this session as the final public workshop at the schematic-concept stage. They said the team will revise the schematic designs based on public feedback, produce 3-D renders and cost estimates, and begin fundraising and design-for-construction work in parallel so that construction can proceed once sufficient funds are available. Staff said fundraising and additional design work will begin in the fiscal year that begins July 1 "this year" (as stated at the workshop), and the actual construction start date remains unknown and contingent on securing construction funding.

Attendees raised questions about maintenance requirements for new buildings, the proposed size and event capacity of the larger multipurpose barn (staff estimated a rough capacity range rather than providing an exact figure, suggesting it might accommodate roughly 75'to'100 people depending on layout), signage limits (staff said exterior signage has some limitations but that program signage would generally be allowable), and whether the central open area should remain grass for events (staff explained that the measured developed footprint would be the same whether that central area is grass or compacted surface).

No formal votes or council actions took place at the workshop. Staff asked for public comments to be recorded and said they will incorporate feedback into the final schematic package used for fundraising and later design phases. The project team listed on the record included staff from Cotati City, the architect team Archilogix (Mitch and Gunnar), and Quadriga (Brett) as the landscape architect.

The presentation and discussion closed with staff distributing draft plans and asking attendees to provide additional written comments on the display boards before the design team finalizes schematic documents.