NORTH BAY DESTINATIONS | ROHNERT PARK
Other cities have found success with what is known as the mixed-use concept, the city manager says. “You want to make sure you are creating a community space,” she says. “Not only a retail hub, but also restaurants and entertainment, so you are bringing people in—and you also have housing.” Piedra notes that other North Bay cities—such as Santa Rosa, Novato and San Rafael—were built before the SMART train existed, so their downtown designs didn’t make the most of having a train station. It’s the other way around with Rohnert Park. “We’re going to have a hotel there so people can take SMART to Rohnert Park and stay at the hotel,” another way to draw folks to the downtown and the city, she says. However, the most important thing is the wants and needs of Rohnert Park residents, stresses Piedra. “And being able to start from scratch with their input will go a long way. “At the end of the day, it’s what your community wants and what your community can support,” Piedra says. As for the challenges, while none are insurmountable, the city manager mentions: “How are we going to address the parking needs? How will we address traffic conditions? How do we ensure that people will come?” Another challenge: The previous developer of the parcel removed healthy trees, and now the community is concerned that it could happen again, Piedra says. “We want to make sure we preserve those trees—that they are part of the design of the site,” she says. Financing is also a concern, the city manager says, something Sanborn had noted, saying, “Cost is the greatest challenge we face.” Robert Eyler, a professor of economics at Sonoma State University, seems to agree. Like Sanborn, the economist gave the costs of construction as a challenge.
The benefits of creating a downtown from scratch are that “you can shape it in the city’s image, or the way the city wants it to be nestled among the city’s other assets,” Eyler says. “It’s how it presents an augmented sense of Rohnert Park as a city and a destination.” The downtown will have a significant effect on the Rohnert Park business community and the North Bay in general, the professor says. “For Rohnert Park, the hope is that it will provide more foot traffic for merchants in the city, and a destination—another defined space like the golf course,” Eyler says. “The living spaces downtown are a big deal, expanding the indigenous market,” Eyler says. It’s only natural that people will walk from their homes to the various shops, restaurants and other venues in the downtown, he says. As for the overall area, “For Sonoma County, it’s another place to talk about that people can visit,” he says. With that in mind, choosing the businesses to inhabit the mixed-use buildings will be important, Eyler says. “Calistoga is known for its spas, Sonoma for its wine tasting. One of the things downtown will need is some differentiator that suggests, ‘This is why someone should come to Rohnert Park rather than some other place,’” he says. Regarding Eyler’s comment about Rohnert Park finding a unique draw, Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Lisa Orloff immediately ticked off a series of the city’s venues for families and children. “There’s Scandia with its mini-golf, arcade games and go-cart track, Rebounderz with indoor trampolines, Double Decker Lanes bowling alley, Cal Skate skating rink, Fundemonium, a hub for children’s activities like radio-controlled cars, Nitro City Racing and the Reed Between the Lines escape room,” she says. Rather than spas or wine, Rohnert Park is a family destination, the chief executive says. Rohnert Park City Councilmember Samantha Rodriguez envisions the
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