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Trestle History Page 4

A Timeline of the Many and Varied Attempts to

Restore the Petaluma Trestle

Date	Event or Document	Image or PDF
11/30/07	The HSR prepared by P A S T Consultants, LLC, reports that the Trestle is recognized as a contributing structure to the Petaluma Historic Commercial District and would be eligible for the National Register District once restored. From page 25: 1. "The Petaluma Trestle appears eligible for the California Register for its association with Petaluma's time of greatest growth as the "World's Egg Basket," under the themes of agriculture, industry, commerce and transportation." 2. "The Petaluma Trestle is eligible for the California Register for its association with George P. McNear, who is indelibly linked to the development of the Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railroad Company and the subsequent construction of the West Petaluma Spur and associated Trestle." 3. "the Petaluma Trestle appears eligible for listing as a contributing structure, to the local Petaluma Historic Commercial District and/or the National Register District.” 4. “Simply put, the first alternative, rehabilitation for pedestrian load, will result in greater retention of historic fabric, as wholesale replacement of piles and stringers (which are very significant, character-defining features) would not be necessary. In addition, most of the piles could likely be retained, but they would have to be wrapped with newer material (polyethylene and/or concrete) to increase capacity and/or prevent further deterioration.”
1/7/08	Agenda Bill - Presentation of the Railroad Trestle Historic Structure Report to the Community Development Commission (CDC) Introduces a summary of the completed HSR (11-30-07) and includes 2 attachments: 1. the Memo of 6-6-07 (see above) 2. the 10 page Executive Summary from the HSR itself
1/10/08	Pam Torliatt shares a letter from Paul Siri, of the State Coastal Conservancy, with Chris and other stakeholders. This includes Paul's idea for a State Coastal Conservancy Trestle grant "I'd like to suggest we have a chat about initiating a conversation with the State Coastal Conservancy to replace the railroad structure as part of their urban water front program. They don't get many proposals in this area. A year ago when Kate and I hosted the senior SCC staff... we gave them a tour of the completed Water Street redevelopment which is a direct result (after considerable time) and success of the river master plan funded by the Conservancy."
1/30/08	Argus-Courier runs poll asking the public whether Trestle should be restored. Respondents voted 90.4% in favor of renovating the Trestle
2/21/08	Diana J. Painter of Painter Preservation & Planning writes to Diane Ramirez about historic significance of the Trestle in the context of the Commercial Historic District. She is enthusiastic about the Trestle as an historic resource, and quotes from a letter from Cassandra Chattan of Archaeological Resource Service from 3/1/03 (see above). “The river and the railroad spurred the economic development of the city and were the reasons for its existence and success as a port city. They also established the pattern of physical development that the city would take from that point to the present.” “There are few resources left - the trestle and a handful of warehouses - that show us how this worked and why the city developed the way it did. This makes preservation of the trestle and remaining warehouses all the more important.” “I support PAST Consultants' recommendation that the trestle is eligible for listing on the National Register under Criterion A (association with local history) and Criterion B (association with persons important to our history)” “John Fitzgerald's November 12, 2007 letter on the Historic Structure Report, which documented the importance of public use of the trestle with many photographs of people observing the Petaluma River Festival from the trestle, as well as enjoying the waterfront in general, prior to the trestle's closure in 2003.”
7/24/08	Chris contacts office of City Manager John Brown to set up a meeting to address a list of specific questions pertaining to Trestle restoration, grants for funding, and dealing with SMART. Around this time the surface of the Trestle was fenced off for safety reasons. 1. ...I have multiple sources for funding grant research showing ways to pay for saving the trestle" 2. A letter from the city was sent to SMART regarding the trestle, early this year. 3. What is meant by 'enforcement' in "I need to contact SMART and talk with them directly, as a letter didn't work, and I'm not in favor of initiating enforcement until we've talked informally." 4. An issue regarding the trestle fencing came up last week, due to a citizen complaint.
9/15/08	Writing to Jane Hamilton Chris sends the same list of advantages of a restored Trestle that he sent to the City Council 1/2/02 (see above)
Early 2009	City Council and stakeholders establish goals for grant and application. Pamela Torliatt leads City Council to pursue grant from State Coastal Conservancy for Trestle restoration. She introduces Chris Stevick to Paul Siri who works for State Coastal Conservancy (see 1/10/08 above) Paul Siri, consultant for the State Coastal Conservancy, lets Pam Torliatt know the Conservancy execs are pleased with the way Petaluma spent SCC grant money developing the Theater District on the river, and thinks a further grant for preserving the Trestle would be very likely to be approved.
4/13/09	First meeting with representatives of the State Coastal Conservancy considering a grant for Trestle restoration at the Applebox Cafe. Chris Stevick, Paul Siri, and others attend.

Date	Event or Document	Image or PDF
4/20/09	Chris Stevick tells the City Council that the State Coastal Conservancy will fund the planning and design of the Trestle rehabilitation. At the end of the meeting the Council resolves to apply for the Grant "APPROVING APPLICATION TO THE COASTAL CONSERVANCY FOR A SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA CONSERVANCY PROGRAM GRANT TO REHABILITATE THE DOWNTOWN TRESTLE" "NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Petaluma City Council hereby: 1. Approves the filing of a grant application to the Coastal Conservancy for a San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy grant for the Downtown Trestle 2. Authorizes the City Manager to sign the grant application."
4/22/09	Email from Pamela Torliatt - announces that the MTC planning grant of $80,000 for Trolley and Trestle has been approved. "It was an $80,000 scope of work, cash $4,743, in kind $4,433 and the grant amount was $70,824"
7/8/09	Letter to Vincent Marengo, Director, Department of Public Works, from Chris Stevick, Vice-President of the Trolley Group, requesting to be included as the City puts RFPs together, like the application for Feasibility Grant and the State Coastal Conservancy Grant to re-build the Trestle.
7/14/09	Letter to Chris Stevick from Larry Zimmer, Capital Improvements Division Manager, says now is not a good time for State Coastal Conservancy grant application. File it later. "Christopher, As previously discussed the State Coastal Conservancy informed me that due to funding, it is not the best time to submit an application. They will keep me updated as to when the funds may become available." Editor’s Note: The City held off applying for the SCC grant until 4/20/10, 8 months later, and was not accepted until 12/6/10, 17 months later.
7/16/09	Argus-Courier runs article about City Manager John Brown, who embraces Petaluma Economic Development goals (which included Trestle rehabilitation).
7/23/09	Chris tries to convince Heritage Homes board members to pay for WRA consultants to assist in creating the application for the State Coastal Conservancy grant. (Trolley Group actually pays for contract with WRA on 2/26/10) WRA wrote to Chris: "see if Heritage Homes would be interested in providing funding for us to assist in the preparation of the grant." Chris wrote to HH Board "We ask heritage homes to fund this grant to bring 2 million which will save the Trestle. If you think this worthy, I will make a formal letter to you requesting the $5,000 Grant application funding to set up the distribution and performance earmarks."
2/26/10	Trolley Group contributes $5,000 for contract with WRA to prepare grant application.
3/15/10	City Council resolves to authorize $13,000 to apply for a Caltrans grant of $80,000 to study feasibility of Historic Trolley (which is dependent on Trestle rehabilitation)
4/20/10	City submits application for State Coastal Conservancy grant. Document shows preliminary budget totaling $500,000.

Trestle History Page 4

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