Sonoma County meetings offer first look at SMART station designs

Preliminary designs for commute rail stations will be unveiled over the next few weeks by the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit agency.

The designs, however, will deal mostly with the layout — how to fit a 300-foot long, 48-inch high boarding platform into the station site — and less with the architectural elements, which could come later.

"A lot of the design is how you make them work," said SMART spokesman Chris Coursey. "It doesn't have a lot to do with the aesthetics as it does with function."

SMART is building 14 stations along the 70-mile line, some utilizing existing and historic structures and others in areas where there is now nothing.

The stations will commonly have some shelter from the wind, rain and sun, plus vending machines and racks, lockers and storage for bicycles.

"One of the challenges is coming up with a design that reflects the individuality of each place but ties into the whole system," Coursey said. "The philosophy is that station platforms and what is on them are part of the rail project, but once you get off the platform, that is for the community."

In Railroad Square in Santa Rosa, the platform will serve two tracks, so it is designed to be between them rather than abutting the historic, basalt depot.

In Windsor and Cloverdale there are existing stations, while in Rohnert Park the station will be on a site adjacent to Highway 101 that now holds a Caltrans park-and-ride lot.

SMART has not made a final decision on where a northern Santa Rosa station will be, either at Jennings Avenue or on Guerneville Road.

The designer is ZGF of Portland, Oregon, which has also designed stations for Portland's light rail system, the Portland International Airport, Seattle Streetcar and San Diego State University.

Meetings will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Healdsburg Community Center at Foss Creek School, 2 p.m. Friday at Santa Rosa City Hall, and 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Cloverdale Senior Center.

Next week, there will be meetings at 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 27, at the Cotati Community Center; 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 27, at the Regional Library in Windsor; and 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 28, at the Petaluma Community Center.