Santa Rosa seeks SMART quiet zones

Santa Rosa took its first steps Tuesday toward establishing a quiet zone along the SMART train line, a move that could make life more peaceful for the thousands of residents and businesses along the commuter rail line and beyond.

The City Council unanimously authorized staff to formally request a 24-hour quiet zone be established from Bellevue Avenue at the southern edge of the city to San Miguel Avenue in the northwest corner. If approved by federal and state rail authorities, the zones would exempt train engineers from the current requirement that they blow their loud horns - two long, one short, and one long sounding blast - as they approach and pass through all intersections.

Instead, quiet zones would leave it up to the discretion of the engineers when their horns were needed.

“I know (quiet zones) are not a perfect solution, and they will not satisfy everyone concerned about the noise, but it’s as far as we can go,” Mayor John Sawyer said.

The city has already received complaints from residents about the horns, city traffic engineer Rob Sprinkle said. The horns, which operate at between 96 and 110 decibels, are being sounded regularly by trains undergoing tests in preparation for the beginning of paid service, which is expected to start by the end of the year.

“It’s affecting their quality of life along the rail, and businesses and hotels in the downtown voiced some concerns,” ?Sprinkle said.

Complaints have come from neighborhoods as far away as Rincon Valley, he said. While the Courtyard by Marriott hotel is excited about the train and its potential to boost tourism, numerous guests have complained about the blasts, said Max Childs, general manager of the hotel located immediately next to the rail line at Third Street.

“It’s affecting our bottom line and our guest service satisfaction scores,” he said.

He read several negative reviews by guests, including one from a vacationing couple disappointed to have been rudely jolted awake at 7:45 a.m., and another whose baby girl was awoken several times by the blasts.

With 16 crossings in the city - ?14 roads and two pending pedestrian crossings - and the trains required to blow their horns four times per crossing, the train blasts add up, said Councilman Chris Coursey, who once worked for SMART as a spokesman.

“If there’s 32 trains a day, that’s more than 2,000 horn blasts that we’re inflicting on our community,” Coursey said.

While they may be annoying, regulators still consider them an effective way to alert drivers and pedestrians to approaching trains, Sprinkle said. For this reason, a community must show that its intersections will be even safer than normal before regulators will approve quiet zones.

A typical safety enhancement is one that makes it even more difficult to drive around the lowered flashing gates, Sprinkle said.

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit Authority has already installed crossings in Santa Rosa and in other communities along the 42-mile initial operating segment that are designed to help communities meet the quiet zone requirements.

The city’s analysis showed its intersections would be plenty safe even without the horns, Sprinkle said.

San Rafael and Novato are well on the path toward establishing quiet zones in their communities, but Santa Rosa is the first city in Sonoma County to take the formal step toward applying.

The application to the Federal Railroad Administration will be followed by a 60-day comment period, followed by 21 days of noticing before the zone can take effect, Sprinkle said. If all goes well, the zone should be in place by the time service begins.

But SMART officials have said trains will continue their blast patterns through the testing period even if quiet zones are established before service begins, Sprinkle said.

While officials in some cities, including Petaluma, have expressed concern that liability could shift to them if they set up quiet zones and an accident occurs, the city doesn’t view that as an issue, said Jason Nutt, the city’s director of transportation and public works.

The name “quiet zone,” however, might prove to be a bit of a misnomer. Several council members pointed out that trains will still have a way of making their presence known.

Trains will still have to blow their horns whenever leaving a station. And there will still be the ding-ding-ding sound of the flashing crossing signals, as well as the discretionary blasts by the engineers as needed.

“It doesn’t mean things are going to be quiet,” Coursey said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.