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Petaluma OKs $1.19M grant-funded master plan for Fairgrounds, seeks broad community input
Summary
The council authorized a contract with David Baker Architects to produce a Petaluma Fairgrounds master plan and a conceptual community resilience center after staff won a $1,190,000 grant from the state. Council stressed protecting agricultural uses and debated whether future housing should be considered.
The Petaluma City Council voted unanimously May 4 to authorize a contract with David Baker Architects to prepare a comprehensive master plan for the Petaluma Fairgrounds, funded by a $1,190,000 grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
The contract directs the consultant team to produce a master plan, a conceptual design for a roughly 10,000-square-foot community resilience center (CRC), an infrastructure layout and a set of special studies to assess feasibility, costs and phasing. Senior planner Ella Stevie told the council the award also covers consultant time and staff reimbursement; the DBA contract amount is up to about $885,000 with the balance to reimburse staff effort.
Supporters said the site’s history and multiuse functions guided the team’s approach. Chelsea Johnson, principal at David Baker Architects, said the firm will emphasize "resilience and cultural continuity," build on earlier Healthy Democracy work and design a plan meant to be economically feasible and implementable. Her team includes local consultants who have worked on nearby River Park projects.
Opponents and some residents said they worry the master plan could be used to justify housing or other development inconsistent with the community’s vision. Several council members and public speakers urged the city to protect agricultural uses, year‑round markets, animal evacuation capacity and community space. Director Brian Oh and other staff noted the grant’s scope and the city’s guiding principles, and several council members repeatedly said they oppose housing on the Fairgrounds.
DBA’s initial scope calls for three public workshops and a robust outreach plan to reach hard‑to‑reach groups, plus economic modeling to frame community tradeoffs. Staff emphasized that project milestones will return to council for direction and that the plan will include explicit trade‑off analysis tied to implementation and funding strategies.
The contract passed 7–0. Staff said work will begin immediately, with major public engagement planned through 2026 and the draft plan scheduled for council review before the end of 2027. The city will use the master plan to pursue additional implementation grants and to define next steps for the CRC and site infrastructure.
