Petaluma is officially kicking off a full-blown master planning effort for its 55-acre fairgrounds, and city leaders are making one thing crystal clear at the starting line: this land is staying a community hub, not a housing site.
The city has approved a consultant contract and is steering state mitigation dollars toward a new community resilience center and a campus-wide master plan. The goal is to keep the fairgrounds agriculture-forward and community-focused, while opening the site to the public more and shoring it up for emergencies. The planning work will also sort out how long-running fixtures like the speedway and the annual fair fit into that future.
The planning effort is backed by nearly $1.2 million from the state’s mitigation planning program, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development. That packet shows roughly $1.15 million earmarked for conceptual campus and facility design, including a roughly 10,000-square-foot Community Resilience Center, and sketches out an anticipated development timeline of about 36 months.
At its May 4 meeting, the City Council voted to hire San Francisco-based David Baker Architects to craft the comprehensive fairgrounds master plan and the resilience center concept. City staff told the council that about $885,560 of the grant could go to the consultant team, while roughly $308,925 would reimburse city staff and project management time. Those figures and the council action were reported by the Petaluma Argus-Courier.
Council members also drew a bright line on land use. Councilmember Karen Nau added that there are many opportunities, and housing is not one of them. Councilmember John Shribbs cautioned that the top design constraint will be the amount of land the raceway occupies. All quotes and reporting in this section are per the Petaluma Argus-Courier.
What planners will study
The scope of work covers a Community Resilience Center campus master plan, a conceptual layout for the resilience facility, an infrastructure-capacity analysis, and a suite of special studies, including aerial and site surveys, traffic analysis, and cost estimates. City materials highlight protecting the annual Sonoma-Marin Fair, maintaining agricultural programming, and expanding year-round public access, while improving emergency-response capabilities at the site. The City of Petaluma has posted guiding principles and outreach resources that will shape how the community engagement process unfolds.
Timeline and next steps
The California Department of Housing and Community Development packet lays out an estimated 36-month planning and development window for the One Petaluma Community Resilience Center work, which would put conceptual designs and cost estimates on the table in about three years. According to city staff, that process will include three community design charettes, targeted outreach to key stakeholders, and several technical studies before a final conceptual campus plan heads to the council for review and funding recommendations.
Land-use limits and oversight
The city took over property and event management for the fairgrounds on January 1, 2024, and the signed site license details a temporary, revocable arrangement with the 4th District Agricultural Association, recording a nominal $1 monthly license fee while planning is underway. That agreement and the city’s guiding principles underscore that any major move, including a sale or permanent change of use, would require formal council approval and additional rounds of public review. Related documents and correspondence are posted through the City of Petaluma’s online fairgrounds materials.
The next stretch belongs to the public. Design charettes, stakeholder briefings, and technical studies will provide the council with concrete trade-offs, whether the question is how to preserve the speedway, how far to open daily public access, or whether to reconfigure parts of the campus for new civic uses. Residents can track meeting agendas and sign up for fairgrounds updates to follow workshops and review draft plans as they come out.
