The commission's decision and the consultant's recommendation arrived at the same place from different directions. Both drew on parts of the plan preferred by the public.
The last couple weeks have been a turning point for Sebastopol—and not a good one.
In a single vote, four members of our City Council approved allowing anyone to place a manufactured home in their driveway and rent it or make it a condo and sell it for profit, promoting it as “affordable housing” and “generational wealth.” Nothing prevents corporations from buying up properties, putting a mobile home on the driveway and flipping it. They chose not to discuss permitted design standards that might maintain the character of our city.
In that same meeting, they chose not to discuss but voted to approve Low Barrier Navigation Centers in single family residential areas, including near the high school and downtown. The Piazza Hotel lot could become a homeless shelter with trailers, tents, or container units housing residents that by law can be active substance abusers or have criminal backgrounds.
An agenda item on the Sebastopol Commons continued the troubling trend. What began as a new library has evolved into a health services center for underserved populations—despite data showing those populations largely do not live in Sebastopol. These decisions are steadily turning our town into a regional homeless services hub for Sonoma County.
Meanwhile, the Planning Commission has dismissed years of community input and consultant work by approving the idea of two-way streets downtown. While the stated goal—creating a place where people want to gather, shop, and live—is admirable, nearly half of survey respondents recognize the traffic problems this would create.
Those of us who rely on Highway 116 already face daily gridlock. Getting out of our neighborhood often requires playing chicken to join the flow of traffic. Going to town is often impossible. Maybe people who would like to shop locally, shop elsewhere or detour to Santa Rosa.
All of this is happening while our police department has to deal with more crime, street conditions are the poorest in the county, and the city’s financial challenges remain unaddressed. Pedestrian safety is cited as the core concern, yet it’s hard to see how confusing two-way streets and increasingly frustrated drivers will make anyone safer.
A small group is making big decisions, and they are getting them wrong. Sebastopol’s character has changed — worse traffic, more homelessness, and declining infrastructure all at the same time we pay the highest sales tax and water rates. Residents deserve better planning, clearer priorities, and leadership that listens.
Not to mention what's going on in our schools. Increased violence, lowered academic standards, dwindling resources. I have no idea where our gargantuan taxes are going but it's certainly not the roads or the schools. Those in power who are corrupt are manipulating those in power who are weak and can be lead to make emotionally-based decisions.
This makes me so angry. Why do they even do a survey if they have no intention of listening to us?!! They need to work with Caltrans to reroute 116 and 12. Once that happens it would be reasonable to add bike lanes, create more parking, add parklets to their hearts content. Until that happens they need to Stop adding bike lanes. Cars and trucks make up the vast majority of the traffic, cyclists do not. Adding bike lanes, removing vehicle lanes and parking places are just making the already horrible traffic worse and worse and more dangerous. Why would a commuter stop to shop or dine when they can't find a place to park and the majority of their focus is just trying to get through town? The bike coloration is loud and pushy but that is no reason they should be allowed to bully everybody and everything to suit them.
Why are so many important decisions like this that affect everyone in West County left to 4 or 5 people on the town council? Tens of thousands of us live in West County and must shop and drive through Sebastopol every day, not just the 7500+/- who live within city limits. We support the businesses, pay the local sales taxes, and use the roads but never get a say in anything that has to do with Sebastopol planning or politics.
All this concern for making Sebastopol a "more livable place" rather than realistically dealing with increasing traffic problems speaks to the selfishness of people who seem to think that Sebastopol operates like a NYC borough. It's a small town in the middle of a much larger rural community and it needs to function for everyone in that wider sphere, not just the people who live in town. Quit trying to make it a town for just healthy, agile, young people who can ride bikes and walk everywhere. Get real - people in rural communities need their cars so quit pretending all we need are yet more bike lanes and sidewalks.
As for any involvement by CalTrans - ha, good luck with that one. I tried to get CalTrans to replace the very faded, mostly unreadable street signs on Hwy 116 Northbound, between Mill Station Road and Occidental Road, and all I got was a bunch of excuse-making and finger-pointing between CalTrans and the City of Sebastopol, each blaming the other for the poor signage due to a "maintenance agreement" supposedly entered into a long time ago by both.
I have to take exception to the statement that the planning commission 'recommendation flies in the face of public survey results and the consultant's advice.' In the review of all 4 alternatives it was clear to me that they all had positive and negative features. In my view, the planning commission selected most of Alternative 3, Walkable One Way, but asked for a Totally Two Way version. So we blended two of the presented options.
Like many people in the survey, I find a lot to like about the Walkable One Way plan, except the one way part. The wider sidewalks, parking on both sides of Main Street, shorter pedestrian crossings, fewer lanes on Main Street, protected bike lanes are all great. I've given this issue a tremendous amount of thought and have heard from many people on both sides of the one-way versus two-way debate and at the end of the day I used my best judgement to determine that the two way system will offer important benefits to the community. The consultant basically recommended this same approach, but suggested slow-walking the transition to two-way. I can't speak for the entire commission, but in my mind, I want the two-way street concept to be codified in this process. Kicking the can down the road is not going to make the decision any easier. I do not believe we ignored anyone. This is a complex problem and I don't think the planning commissioners took their job lightly. We all believe that this will be in the best interest of our community.
I truly believe the two-way streets will be safer for pedestrians and cyclists. As the consultant noted in the presentation, Sebastopol has a really poor safety record when compared to similarly sized cities across the state. So obviously, the status quo is not great. Two way streets will slow cars down which some people may interpret as congestion, but I see it as safety. We've all seen cars driving the wrong way downtown. And I do believe it will be better for emergency services to be able to access all downtown properties in a more direct manner.
The two way streets also provide many opportunities for community-building events in the streets that simply cannot happen in a one-way system. We can close Main Street, or the streets around the plaza and have public events, like many small towns are able to do on a regular basis. I think this is very important feature that can be used to support our downtown businesses and the vitality of our community.
I think the interest and participation of the community is to be commended. We all care about this place. If we are able to get this done and actually implement the changes, I truly believe Sebastopol will be a more thriving community.
Have you discussed this with Caltrans? My understanding is that they won't do two way without a bypass. The County Supervisors removed bypass from their priorities so no bypass. The best idea they had when it was a priority affected the Laguna and that is a no go with the environmentalists. If you go two way then this project goes the way of the Reimagining project 10 years ago. Put it on the shelf. Accept the waste of taxpayer money for the study.
This grant funding came from Caltrans, and a Caltrans representative is part of the stakeholder group. According to the consultant team, all of the proposed alternatives are acceptable to Caltrans.
Any idea where we can get the full study? No references provided in the presentation. The fatal injury and accident data was cherry picked from a particularly bad year and ignored the dramatic declines in rates since 2021. This feels like we are being sold someone's vision rather than combining current realities (traffic has to keep moving) but still identifying ways to make downtown more attractive. It has just kept going down-hill for the 15 years I have been here. That in spite of the Reimagining downtown project done 10 years ago.
No matter what anyone wants two highways go through town. The vast majority of cars are driven by people who just want to get through town. They don’t want to stop and shop. They don’t want to stay and play. They just want to get home or to work.
Also, what happens at the south end of Petaluma Ave. where it meets Main Street? Two two way streets collide there.
I've lived here for 9 years now, just outside of town. I still regret the downtown walking/driving experience. I came from a big city, Brooklyn, where you had more of a sense of your neighborhood, particularly when walking and shopping, than Sebastopol's downtown's confusing experience.
I'm surprised more local businesses aren't pushing for a two way main street. Parking always can be improved. A freeway through town can't. It needs to be made two way.
Love this, “I think we need to focus on making downtown a better place to walk, to do business and to shop,” Badiner said. “We should worry less about throughput, which is not the most important thing, I think, as we look to the vitality of Sebastopol.”
Loose an extra bike lane that’s already not being used and add more parking in the new two way design. Easier parking will draw more folks downtown to shop. Turning to a two way system will definitely increase traffic on Pleasant Hill Ave. North as a faster way to commute around downtown. We’ll all see unwanted increased traffic in our neighborhood’s.
I attended the meeting and think the Planning Commission came to the best conclusion taking the best parts of Option 3 (better Main Street pedestrian experience) and combining it with a two way solution. Two way streets will slow traffic and make walking safer and more pleasant. The consultant stated that Sebastopol is one of the least safe cities in the state for pedestrians. One way streets are obviously not safe. The consultant’s data from previous presentations also states that two way streets will actually REDUCE travel time and miles driven. Win-win.
Your subheading "flies in the face" seems a tad inflammatory. I would welcome a little more balanced approach to reporting. We have enough inflammatory news sources already.
So when we fill our surveys, why do we bother if they don’t listen to us or the consultants anyhow? Seems like showing up to a meeting is the only way you get heard? Interesting, and frustrating. These surveys and plans are a lot to disgust and those that did put time into looking at it all did so with the idea that they were investing energy to be listened to. The similarities of federal politics right now showing up in our local politics…the views of the powerful few, overpowering the many.
Years actually decades ago there was a proposal to reroute 116 at Llano. Run it across the Laguna and back to the current 116 but at Occidental Road. That idea got killed mostly out of concern for the Laguna. Looks more viable now.
What things do you think should be eminent domain-ed away from being what they are now? I like round-abouts but I can't think of a place to put one that wouldn't mean tearing down some businesses.
Having driven through many villages like Sebastopol in Europe, the two areas with sufficient area are the intersections adjacent to Mimi’s ice cream and the Rite-Aid/smog station. Those locations could direct traffic with smooth continuous flow coming and going through the village center. The intersection at Main and Bodega is a poor reality, however.
Frustrating that the planning commission just wants to make things more of a bottleneck, with two intersecting highways and a huge population just trying to get through to the rest of the west county! The study was a joke, most of my neighbors never knew about it, and it was done online, so that eliminates a huge part of Seb's population. So, there were sampling deficiencies, study poll access problems. Then, they, the consultants, used a bar graph to show the results, which is one step above a pie graph, but still inaccurate and very grade-school . And, we paid for that study??????
The only thing Caltrans could do to relieve the pass-through traffic from the rest of West County would be to build one or two new highways that go around it. That is not going to happen, and nobody would like it if it did. This traffic consultant has been around for long enough to know this story well. 60 percent of the people who responded to the survey thought sticking with our one way system was preferable. People who were here before the one-way system remember the problem of traffic on our local residential streets, trying to find ways to avoid the two-way mess downtown. I hope that when it finally does come to the Council they will make the right decision.
We are turning out onto 2 way streets with cars that don't slow down one way and the other way is gridlock. So, if you are lucky to get by the fast cars, the gridlock greets you on the other side. We have lived here over 20 years and I long for the days when this was a wonderful, small town with no traffic.
The last couple weeks have been a turning point for Sebastopol—and not a good one.
In a single vote, four members of our City Council approved allowing anyone to place a manufactured home in their driveway and rent it or make it a condo and sell it for profit, promoting it as “affordable housing” and “generational wealth.” Nothing prevents corporations from buying up properties, putting a mobile home on the driveway and flipping it. They chose not to discuss permitted design standards that might maintain the character of our city.
In that same meeting, they chose not to discuss but voted to approve Low Barrier Navigation Centers in single family residential areas, including near the high school and downtown. The Piazza Hotel lot could become a homeless shelter with trailers, tents, or container units housing residents that by law can be active substance abusers or have criminal backgrounds.
An agenda item on the Sebastopol Commons continued the troubling trend. What began as a new library has evolved into a health services center for underserved populations—despite data showing those populations largely do not live in Sebastopol. These decisions are steadily turning our town into a regional homeless services hub for Sonoma County.
Meanwhile, the Planning Commission has dismissed years of community input and consultant work by approving the idea of two-way streets downtown. While the stated goal—creating a place where people want to gather, shop, and live—is admirable, nearly half of survey respondents recognize the traffic problems this would create.
Those of us who rely on Highway 116 already face daily gridlock. Getting out of our neighborhood often requires playing chicken to join the flow of traffic. Going to town is often impossible. Maybe people who would like to shop locally, shop elsewhere or detour to Santa Rosa.
All of this is happening while our police department has to deal with more crime, street conditions are the poorest in the county, and the city’s financial challenges remain unaddressed. Pedestrian safety is cited as the core concern, yet it’s hard to see how confusing two-way streets and increasingly frustrated drivers will make anyone safer.
A small group is making big decisions, and they are getting them wrong. Sebastopol’s character has changed — worse traffic, more homelessness, and declining infrastructure all at the same time we pay the highest sales tax and water rates. Residents deserve better planning, clearer priorities, and leadership that listens.
Not to mention what's going on in our schools. Increased violence, lowered academic standards, dwindling resources. I have no idea where our gargantuan taxes are going but it's certainly not the roads or the schools. Those in power who are corrupt are manipulating those in power who are weak and can be lead to make emotionally-based decisions.
This makes me so angry. Why do they even do a survey if they have no intention of listening to us?!! They need to work with Caltrans to reroute 116 and 12. Once that happens it would be reasonable to add bike lanes, create more parking, add parklets to their hearts content. Until that happens they need to Stop adding bike lanes. Cars and trucks make up the vast majority of the traffic, cyclists do not. Adding bike lanes, removing vehicle lanes and parking places are just making the already horrible traffic worse and worse and more dangerous. Why would a commuter stop to shop or dine when they can't find a place to park and the majority of their focus is just trying to get through town? The bike coloration is loud and pushy but that is no reason they should be allowed to bully everybody and everything to suit them.
Why are so many important decisions like this that affect everyone in West County left to 4 or 5 people on the town council? Tens of thousands of us live in West County and must shop and drive through Sebastopol every day, not just the 7500+/- who live within city limits. We support the businesses, pay the local sales taxes, and use the roads but never get a say in anything that has to do with Sebastopol planning or politics.
All this concern for making Sebastopol a "more livable place" rather than realistically dealing with increasing traffic problems speaks to the selfishness of people who seem to think that Sebastopol operates like a NYC borough. It's a small town in the middle of a much larger rural community and it needs to function for everyone in that wider sphere, not just the people who live in town. Quit trying to make it a town for just healthy, agile, young people who can ride bikes and walk everywhere. Get real - people in rural communities need their cars so quit pretending all we need are yet more bike lanes and sidewalks.
As for any involvement by CalTrans - ha, good luck with that one. I tried to get CalTrans to replace the very faded, mostly unreadable street signs on Hwy 116 Northbound, between Mill Station Road and Occidental Road, and all I got was a bunch of excuse-making and finger-pointing between CalTrans and the City of Sebastopol, each blaming the other for the poor signage due to a "maintenance agreement" supposedly entered into a long time ago by both.
I have to take exception to the statement that the planning commission 'recommendation flies in the face of public survey results and the consultant's advice.' In the review of all 4 alternatives it was clear to me that they all had positive and negative features. In my view, the planning commission selected most of Alternative 3, Walkable One Way, but asked for a Totally Two Way version. So we blended two of the presented options.
Like many people in the survey, I find a lot to like about the Walkable One Way plan, except the one way part. The wider sidewalks, parking on both sides of Main Street, shorter pedestrian crossings, fewer lanes on Main Street, protected bike lanes are all great. I've given this issue a tremendous amount of thought and have heard from many people on both sides of the one-way versus two-way debate and at the end of the day I used my best judgement to determine that the two way system will offer important benefits to the community. The consultant basically recommended this same approach, but suggested slow-walking the transition to two-way. I can't speak for the entire commission, but in my mind, I want the two-way street concept to be codified in this process. Kicking the can down the road is not going to make the decision any easier. I do not believe we ignored anyone. This is a complex problem and I don't think the planning commissioners took their job lightly. We all believe that this will be in the best interest of our community.
I truly believe the two-way streets will be safer for pedestrians and cyclists. As the consultant noted in the presentation, Sebastopol has a really poor safety record when compared to similarly sized cities across the state. So obviously, the status quo is not great. Two way streets will slow cars down which some people may interpret as congestion, but I see it as safety. We've all seen cars driving the wrong way downtown. And I do believe it will be better for emergency services to be able to access all downtown properties in a more direct manner.
The two way streets also provide many opportunities for community-building events in the streets that simply cannot happen in a one-way system. We can close Main Street, or the streets around the plaza and have public events, like many small towns are able to do on a regular basis. I think this is very important feature that can be used to support our downtown businesses and the vitality of our community.
I think the interest and participation of the community is to be commended. We all care about this place. If we are able to get this done and actually implement the changes, I truly believe Sebastopol will be a more thriving community.
Many interesting points! Many of which I will be addressing in part two of this article as promised.
Have you discussed this with Caltrans? My understanding is that they won't do two way without a bypass. The County Supervisors removed bypass from their priorities so no bypass. The best idea they had when it was a priority affected the Laguna and that is a no go with the environmentalists. If you go two way then this project goes the way of the Reimagining project 10 years ago. Put it on the shelf. Accept the waste of taxpayer money for the study.
This grant funding came from Caltrans, and a Caltrans representative is part of the stakeholder group. According to the consultant team, all of the proposed alternatives are acceptable to Caltrans.
Will there be a traffic study?
They did some early traffic modeling on the different one-way and two-way options. Pretty investing results. Two way flows better and results in less miles travelled. https://www.cityofsebastopol.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/PlanningCommission_2025-05-13_final-Presentation.pdf
Any idea where we can get the full study? No references provided in the presentation. The fatal injury and accident data was cherry picked from a particularly bad year and ignored the dramatic declines in rates since 2021. This feels like we are being sold someone's vision rather than combining current realities (traffic has to keep moving) but still identifying ways to make downtown more attractive. It has just kept going down-hill for the 15 years I have been here. That in spite of the Reimagining downtown project done 10 years ago.
No matter what anyone wants two highways go through town. The vast majority of cars are driven by people who just want to get through town. They don’t want to stop and shop. They don’t want to stay and play. They just want to get home or to work.
Also, what happens at the south end of Petaluma Ave. where it meets Main Street? Two two way streets collide there.
I've lived here for 9 years now, just outside of town. I still regret the downtown walking/driving experience. I came from a big city, Brooklyn, where you had more of a sense of your neighborhood, particularly when walking and shopping, than Sebastopol's downtown's confusing experience.
I'm surprised more local businesses aren't pushing for a two way main street. Parking always can be improved. A freeway through town can't. It needs to be made two way.
Love this, “I think we need to focus on making downtown a better place to walk, to do business and to shop,” Badiner said. “We should worry less about throughput, which is not the most important thing, I think, as we look to the vitality of Sebastopol.”
Amen!
Let’s also bring back Diagonal Parking and the train down Main. Good grief!
sounds fantastic - where do I sign up!?
Loose an extra bike lane that’s already not being used and add more parking in the new two way design. Easier parking will draw more folks downtown to shop. Turning to a two way system will definitely increase traffic on Pleasant Hill Ave. North as a faster way to commute around downtown. We’ll all see unwanted increased traffic in our neighborhood’s.
I attended the meeting and think the Planning Commission came to the best conclusion taking the best parts of Option 3 (better Main Street pedestrian experience) and combining it with a two way solution. Two way streets will slow traffic and make walking safer and more pleasant. The consultant stated that Sebastopol is one of the least safe cities in the state for pedestrians. One way streets are obviously not safe. The consultant’s data from previous presentations also states that two way streets will actually REDUCE travel time and miles driven. Win-win.
Your subheading "flies in the face" seems a tad inflammatory. I would welcome a little more balanced approach to reporting. We have enough inflammatory news sources already.
So when we fill our surveys, why do we bother if they don’t listen to us or the consultants anyhow? Seems like showing up to a meeting is the only way you get heard? Interesting, and frustrating. These surveys and plans are a lot to disgust and those that did put time into looking at it all did so with the idea that they were investing energy to be listened to. The similarities of federal politics right now showing up in our local politics…the views of the powerful few, overpowering the many.
*a lot to digest
Years actually decades ago there was a proposal to reroute 116 at Llano. Run it across the Laguna and back to the current 116 but at Occidental Road. That idea got killed mostly out of concern for the Laguna. Looks more viable now.
Who put the all knowing Trump on the commission. I guess everyone but the
commission are idiots. Why did we even go through this lengthy process.
Seems like turning across traffic leads to congestion and accidents.
Too bad eminent domain and then building traffic circles is impossible.
What things do you think should be eminent domain-ed away from being what they are now? I like round-abouts but I can't think of a place to put one that wouldn't mean tearing down some businesses.
Having driven through many villages like Sebastopol in Europe, the two areas with sufficient area are the intersections adjacent to Mimi’s ice cream and the Rite-Aid/smog station. Those locations could direct traffic with smooth continuous flow coming and going through the village center. The intersection at Main and Bodega is a poor reality, however.
Frustrating that the planning commission just wants to make things more of a bottleneck, with two intersecting highways and a huge population just trying to get through to the rest of the west county! The study was a joke, most of my neighbors never knew about it, and it was done online, so that eliminates a huge part of Seb's population. So, there were sampling deficiencies, study poll access problems. Then, they, the consultants, used a bar graph to show the results, which is one step above a pie graph, but still inaccurate and very grade-school . And, we paid for that study??????
The only thing Caltrans could do to relieve the pass-through traffic from the rest of West County would be to build one or two new highways that go around it. That is not going to happen, and nobody would like it if it did. This traffic consultant has been around for long enough to know this story well. 60 percent of the people who responded to the survey thought sticking with our one way system was preferable. People who were here before the one-way system remember the problem of traffic on our local residential streets, trying to find ways to avoid the two-way mess downtown. I hope that when it finally does come to the Council they will make the right decision.
We are turning out onto 2 way streets with cars that don't slow down one way and the other way is gridlock. So, if you are lucky to get by the fast cars, the gridlock greets you on the other side. We have lived here over 20 years and I long for the days when this was a wonderful, small town with no traffic.