Petaluma hotel developer, neighbors at odds over parking

A Petaluma developer finally may have found a parking solution for the guests at his planned downtown boutique hotel. The only hitch is that his proposed parking garage is located in a quaint westside neighborhood dotted with historic homes, and some residents are not thrilled by the prospect of extra cars and noisy mechanical lifts in their backyard.

For several years, Ross Jones has tried to advance plans for the 54-room hotel, to be called The Petaluman, on a piece of land across from the city’s theater district. The land, which has been in the Jones family since 1963, has been vacant since the Chevron gas station on the site at Petaluma Boulevard South and B Street closed six years ago.

The proposed modern hotel, the first in the city’s downtown, would anchor what is now a blighted street corner and help attract tourists to downtown shops and restaurants. But meeting a city requirement to provide parking for hotel guests has been a big hurdle of the development.

There is no space for on-site parking, and dedicating space at a nearby parking garage was not an option. Instead, Jones has leased land two blocks away, accessible from Fifth Street. He plans to build two parking sheds that are large enough to hold 58 cars on mechanical lifts.

“I’ve explored it as much as I could,” Jones said. “It’s the last viable option.”

But residents on the block, whose fences would border the car park between A and B streets, say it is not an appropriate land use for a neighborhood designated as “historic.” They are worried that the cars, to be parked by valets, would add unwanted traffic. They say the car lifts would disrupt their quiet mornings.

“We don’t think it fits the district,” said Alan DeWitt, a consulting winemaker who, with his wife and son, moved into a 105-year old home on the block last year. “We’re trying to preserve the character of the neighborhood. There are some beautiful old homes.”

Jones said he has reached out to the neighbors to try and assuage their fears. The lifts, which will cost a total of $300,000, are about as loud as a residential garage door, he said. The parking sheds will be made of concrete blocks to further muffle the sound, and he plans on designing them to fit in with other buildings in the neighborhood.

“We don’t want the place to look like a parking garage,” he said. “We will be improving the property,” which is currently an unused lot that neighbors have complained attracts transients and illegal activity.

Jones, an architect, first gained attention when he proposed building the hotel with a working model farm on the roof. He has since scaled back those plans, but still intends to keep beehives and grow crops on a portion of the rooftop terrace.

The $23 million hotel will eventually employ 24 full-time workers and will add between $250,000 and $300,000 in hotel tax to the city’s coffers. Room rates will average $260 a night. Jones said he plans to break ground in October and open the doors on Jan. 1, 2017. But first, he needs more city approvals, including the Planning Commission to sign off on the parking solution.

Neighbors say they plan to oppose the parking proposal when it comes before the commission, likely in April. Jim Hancock, who has lived in a 1906 Victorian on A Street for the past 30 years, said the noise and car exhaust would spoil the neighborhood. Though the plan calls for parking cars in the evening and moving them the following morning, Hancock is worried that hotel guests could arrive and leave at all hours of the day and night.

“I’m very apprehensive about all the noise it’s going to make,” he said. “(Jones) can’t stop when people want to come and go. It’s a historic area. It’s not really appropriate for the neighborhood. I think (Jones) is barking up the wrong tree as far as where the parking is going to be.”

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Brown at 521-5206 or matt.brown@pressdemo?crat.com. On Twitter @MattBrownPD.