whatever the developer walks in the door with

Monday night will be the final decision by the City Council for the Corona Train Station development. Snuck into this decision will also be a contractual nod of approval for the 5 story development contemplated for the empty lot at the downtown train station. If I understand correctly, some of the City Council members (possibly a majority) will waive the requirement for inclusionary affordable housing rules at both locations which will be very good for the developer but not good for anyone else. Probably, Corona Station will become a 110 unit single family housing subdivision. To accomplish this, the City Council will have to give the developer another “deal” and downzone the property from mixed use to single family. Again, this will be very good for the developer. Having been an observer of Petaluma land use development for 5 solid years now, it appears to me that most often whatever a developer walks in the door with is what gets built in Petaluma. But I’m open to hearing otherwise. When the general public is ready to take over the steering wheel in our town, we will realize that the days of building new single family houses and adding more cars to our streets are over. Time to build affordable housing near transit for people who will use transit.