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Welcome to the Petaluma General Plan Website!
The City of Petaluma is updating its General Plan, the road map that will shape the future of the city for the next 20 - 30 years. The current General Plan is a comprehensive long-term plan for Petaluma that was adopted in 2008. Since 2021, we have been moving ahead in the General Plan Update process through extensive community outreach and deep technical analysis. This site provides up-to-date information about the General Plan, including ways to participate, reference documents and City contacts. We invite you to help shape the future of Petaluma!
Sign up for updates by visiting the Get Involved! page.
General Plan Vision Statement for Petaluma In 2045
Petaluma is a vibrant river town rooted in the relationship between our people and the land. We acknowledge that Petaluma is the traditional territory and unceded lands of the Coast Miwok peoples. We appreciate that our name springs from those tribes who first called this land home. Our identity also evolves from our deep agricultural roots, historic downtown, living river, and preserved open spaces. We honor this legacy to celebrate, protect, and restore our natural landscapes and habitats both within and outside our community. Together, we sustain a resilient ecosystem for humans, wildlife, and the earth.
We are caring and connected. We celebrate our differences by providing inclusive community spaces for the diverse people that form Petaluma and by cultivating a sense of belonging. We welcome newcomers seeking refuge, a place to call home, and new opportunity. Our engaged residents and local government ensure equity, livability, opportunity, and access for all residents. We embrace each other’s cultures, lift each other up, and move forward together.
We invest in each other. We are a community where children and youth thrive, families in all forms are supported, and our elders flourish as they age in place. We provide plentiful and varied housing choices, convenient access to healthy local food, and an educational system that builds leaders. We support all residents with accessible city services.
We are prosperous. We support our local businesses that provide jobs for our own residents and services to our city and region. Our economy is localized and self-reliant and builds wealth for residents of all socioeconomic backgrounds. We invite new businesses and development to join in our vision. Our city infrastructure and facilities are sustainably financed, resilient, and well-maintained.
We relish our spirited, distinctive neighborhoods where we live, work, and play. We enjoy active, animated communities throughout our city along with an energetic historic downtown. Our friendly, beautiful, and nature-filled streets, parks, urban forest, and accessible river, bike lanes and trails, and walking paths connect people and help keep residents healthy. It is safe, easy, and enjoyable to travel across and around town and to neighboring communities with human, electric, and hybrid transport.
We are creative. Our community is filled with art in a variety of colors, textures, materials, and forms. We build an environment that promotes beauty, resilient architecture, and inventive design citywide, where art, crafts, design, and economic innovation thrive. The arts bring meaning, whimsy, and imagination to our lives.
We are forward-thinking leaders. By achieving carbon neutrality in 2030, we demonstrate that equitable, carbon-neutral, regenerative communities and economies are possible through action and collaboration with other cities, communities, and our region. We have adapted to climate change with a community-driven, whole systems, and nature-based approach to development.
We are Petaluma.
about the project
background
The City of Petaluma is currently operating under the City of Petaluma: General Plan 2025, which was written in 2006-2007, adopted in 2008, and updated in 2012. As the 2025 planning horizon approaches, the City is preparing to update its General Plan. The General Plan serves as the guiding vision document and provides policies and implementation programs to achieve the City’s goals. There are eight mandatory topical areas, referred to as Elements, that must be included in a General Plan including Land Use, Open Space, Conservation, Housing, Circulation, Noise, Safety, and Environmental Justice. One of the City’s most significant elements is the Housing Element, which is required by State regulations to be updated every eight years. The City’s Housing Element (Chapter 11 of the current General Plan) was adopted by the City Council in March 2023 and has been certified by the State of California Housing and Community Development Department.
Petaluma has experienced a great deal of change since the adoption of the current General Plan. High priority concerns include availability and affordability of housing, climate change, public health, and sustainability. Residents of Petaluma are eager to respond to these changes through the General Plan Update process.
Taking a proactive approach to updating the General Plan positioned the City to adapt to significant changes in Housing Element Law. It will ensure a comprehensive update that takes into consideration the many challenges and opportunities the City faces.
The Process
The General Plan update process is designed to coordinate the renewal of Petaluma’s General Plan and Housing Element in order to adopt the Housing Element in early 2023 and ensure a comprehensive community conversation on the topics in the General Plan as a whole. The update process also includes ongoing long-range planning efforts, including updating planning documents that support the implementation of the General Plan. Following the adoption of the General Plan, updates to the City’s Zoning Ordinance, Station Area Master Plan, Central Petaluma Specific Plan, and Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) may move forward to implement the directions in the newly adopted General Plan. A schematic of the process is included below.
Climate action is an integral part of the General Plan update process. Petaluma adopted a Climate Emergency Resolution in May 2019, becoming the first city in Sonoma County to adopt such a resolution. Petaluma’s Climate Action Commission held its first meeting on November 14, 2019 and worked on the Climate Emergency Action Framework, which was adopted by City Council on January 11, 2021.
This hard work sets the stage for how climate change is addressed in the General Plan update, which will include a Climate Action Plan (CAP) as well as adaptation strategies in the General Plan– actions called for in the Climate Emergency Action Framework. This Climate Action and Adaptation Plan will be both a technical document used to guide city decision-making and a visionary document used by the public to understand the direction of the community. This plan will include a greenhouse gas inventory, a greenhouse gas reduction analysis, and a climate equity assessment that will serve as a foundation for the plan alongside community engagement and visioning. By incorporating both quantitative goals and policy language, the Climate Action Plan will work in connection with the broader General Plan to reach Petaluma’s climate vision.
Visit the Plan Documents Page to learn more about how the General Plan is addressing these topic areas!
Housing
Land Use, Community Character and Historic Preservation
Recreation, Parks, and the Arts
Sustainability, Climate Change, and the Environment
Transportation
Health, Resiliency, Safety, and Hazards
Social and Environmental Equity
Economy
Important Progress to-Date
The City has been making progress on developing a robust and comprehensive General Plan Update that reflects the community’s vision for the future.
Draft General Plan Policy Frameworks
The City has completed the public review of thirteen of the draft General Plan Policy Frameworks. Staff and the consultant team are reviewing the public feedback and will be working to prepare the draft General Plan with the public feedback. The draft Land Use Policy Framework is still under review and more information can be found here.
Housing Element Adopted by City Council & Certified by the State of CA
On March 20, 2023 the City Council adopted the General Plan Housing Element. The Housing Element was certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development in May, 2023.
On February 17, 2022, the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) made the unanimous recommendation that the City Council accept the following Vision Materials for the General Update. The Vision Materials were accepted by the City Council on March 21, 2022.
Visioning
In 2021, the City completed the Visioning Phase, the principal outputs of which are the Vision Statement, Pillars, and Guiding Principles and Supporting Concepts. Learn more here!
Detailed Schedule
Below is a detailed schedule of the General Plan Update process. Please note that this schedule is a living document, and dates are subject to change.
