Share Your Feedback: Please help us to Reimagine Sebastopol's Downtown Core!

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!

The survey will be open until December 31, 2024. Find the survey HERE!

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, and commuting has become a part of our everyday lives, the City sees a lot more traffic through their downtown area. For many years, there has been a longing to re-envision Sebastopol's Downtown.

In 2013, community members spearheaded a grant-funded effort to have the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Sustainable Design Assessment Team visit Sebastopol and make recommendations for improvements. Since then, over 10 years have passed, and the way we think about the downtown space may have changed - there is a renewed focus on safety for people walking and biking, and creating areas that are comfortable and connected.

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.

The Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant program is intended to encourage communities to plan for climate-related projects that includes zero emissions vehicles planning, sea level rise studies, evacuation studies, heat resiliency studies, sustainable transit studies, vision zero and safety studies, vehicle miles traveled (VMT)/greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction studies, complete streets, and managed lanes.

This project fell under the Sustainable Community Grant, which encourages communities to support the state goals identified in the Regional Transportation Plan's (RTP) Sustainable Communities Strategies (SCS), and to ultimately achieve the State's GHG reduction target of 40 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and 2050, respectively.

The grant's objectives for this project include:

• Enhancing Multimodal Safety, Accessibility, and Comfort
• Encouraging Mode Shift and Support Greenhouse Gas Reductions Goals
• Mitigating Negative Impacts of Regional Through Traffic
• Engaging Downtown Business Community for Revitalization

A series of maps was developed to show the existing multimodal infrastructure and services within the study area, including walking, biking, key destinations, transit facilities, parking locations, and crash history. This section also includes key plans and guidance documents that will help to guide the development of recommendations for this study.

A list of figures you'll find linked here include:

• Project Area
• Land Use Context
• Vehicular Access & Circulation
• Roadway Lane Configurations & Traffic Controls
• Bicycle Access & Circulation Facilities
• Pedestrian Access & Circulation
• Transit Service & Facilities
• Parking Facilities
• Crash History & High Injury Network

A list of plans and guidance documents include:

• Caltrans DIB 94 (2024, Caltrans)
• Sebastopol Connect (2013, American Institute of Architects (AIA) Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT))
• City of Sebastopol SR 116 Safety Study (2021, W-Trans)
• Local Road Safety Plan (2022, GHD)
• Sonoma County Active Transportation Plan | Draft Plan (2024, Fehr & Peers)
• Transportation Concept Report: SR 116 (2016, Caltrans)

The City and consultant team (Project Team) will hold meetings and workshops throughout the course of the Project. Please see the dates and times below to join the next event!

The Project Team is also engaging with a group of community members that include business owners, residents, and City committee members.

Meeting minutes from previous stakeholder meetings are linked here.

What is the purpose of this project?

The Reimagining the Core project (“the project” or “the study”) seeks to develop a comprehensive vision for the downtown segments of State Route 116 (SR-116) and SR-12 that will make the area more welcoming to people walking, biking, and using transit through multimodal transportation improvements. The study seeks to re-envision and transform downtown Sebastopol into a safer, more accessible, and vibrant place for everyone. Key project goals include:

• Enhancing multimodal safety, accessibility, and comfort

• Encouraging mode shift to support greenhouse gas reduction goals

• Mitigating negative impacts of regional through traffic

• Engaging downtown business community for revitalization

What is the study area?

The project study area generally comprises Main Street and Petaluma Street between Wilton Avenue and Willow Street, McKinley Street, and Bodega Avenue/Sebastopol Avenue between Main Street and Barnes Avenue.

How is this project funded?

This study is funded through a grant from Caltrans (California Department of Transportation). 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.

What is the time horizon for this study?

The study will focus on improvements that can be made within a 5–10-year horizon.

What work will be done as part of this project?

The project includes the following tasks:

• Data Review & Existing Conditions: Understanding baseline conditions and existing context. Collection of traffic counts at key downtown intersections and along key roadway segments.

• Community Engagement: Stakeholder meetings, outreach to community groups, agency working group, and community workshops.

• Vision, Alternatives, and Analysis: Developing a draft vision for the corridor, identifying potential alternatives, and analyzing alternatives. Leveraging industry standards and the right tools to inform decision-making.

• Regional Circulation Assessment: Understanding regional infrastructure effects to the study area, including a potential bypass outside of city limits.

• Identify Preferred Alternative: Identify future preferred plan for downtown.

• Cost Estimating and Implementation Plan: Developing a road map and plan for construction and implementation.

Does the project include construction and implementation? How will future changes on downtown streets be funded and constructed?

The project will develop an implementation plan for the ultimate preferred alternative. This plan will identify outside grants (i.e., state, regional, federal funding) that the City can pursue to construct and implement desired improvements.

Will this project study assess specific alternatives?

The Caltrans grant stipulates that the project must study at least one alternative that benefits pedestrians and bicyclists without worsening the current level of service (i.e., vehicle delay) at various intersections in the Downtown area. Additionally, at least one option should include a two-way street concept for the existing SR-116 one-way couplet.