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. We invite you to help shape the future of Petaluma!

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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 was designed to coordinate the renewal of Petaluma’s General Plan with the update of the Housing Element and the adoption of the City’s climate action plan. The process was designed to ensure a comprehensive community conversation on the topics in the General Plan as a whole.

The process began in 2020 with a robust public engagement process, the formation of the General Plan Advisory Committee and the selection of Raimi and Associates to prepare the General Plan Update. In 2022, the City released 19 existing conditions reports covering everything from socioeconomics, transportation, arts and culture, natural hazards, and public infrastructure. Also, to understand the impacts of climate change and sea level rise, the City engaged in a process to update flood and sea level rise information both for current and future conditions. This work was completed in 2023 and along with the vision, pillars, and guiding principles established by the community and accepted by the City Council in March 2022, lay the foundation for the General Plan.

In order to meet state mandated timelines, the 6th Cycle Housing Element 2023-2031 was completed and adopted by the City Council in March of 2023 and certified by the State in May of 2023.

The remaining topic areas were organized by subject matter and fourteen policy frameworks were released in 2024 for an extensive public review process. Thirteen policy frameworks were released in the Spring of 2024 and the Land Use Policy Framework was released in late summer 2024.

Currently, Raimi + Associates are using public feedback to revise the policies that will make up the General Plan and beginning the process of organizing the policies into the General Plan Elements that will make up the draft General Plan. Additionally, the public feedback on the Land Use Policy Framework is being used to draft the recommendation(s) for the Land Use Map alternatives that will be brought to Council in early 2025.

Simultaneously, Raimi + Associates have been preparing the Blueprint for Climate Action, the City’s climate action plan. The Blueprint was adopted by the City Council in November 2024. The Blueprint will guide the City’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and become carbon neutral by 2030.

Upon drafting the General Plan and selecting the preferred Land Use Map, the City will begin the environmental review process in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act and will prepare an Environmental Impact Report.

Upon completion of the EIR and finalization of the draft General Plan, the two documents will go to Planning Commission for a recommendation and City Council for approval.

News and Updates

The Draft Land Use Policy Framework is now available for public review here.

Detailed Workflow

Below is a detailed graphic of the General Plan Update process.