Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: CONSENT CALENDAR (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: CONSIDERATION OF A RESOLUTION NOMINATING PRIORITY
CONSERVATION AREAS
Date: May 27, 2025
Written by: Autumn Buss, Associate Planner
Recommendation
The Community Development Department recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution nominating Veronda-Falletti Ranch, the Laguna de Santa Rosa and Cotati Creek corridors, and the open space north of McGinnis Circle to be designated as Priority Conservation Areas by the Association of Bay Area Governments.
Background
Priority Conservation Areas (PCAs) are designated geographic areas identified to support the San Francisco Bay Area’s regional conservation, resilience, and sustainability objectives. First introduced in 2007 by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), the PCA program was updated in 2024 to ensure improved alignment with regional planning and funding opportunities. PCAs are characterized as one or more of the following types:
• Natural Lands (must be outside of city limits/growth boundaries) • Agricultural & Working Lands (must be outside of city limits/growth boundaries) • Urban Greening (must be inside city limits/growth boundaries) • Recreation
• Climate Adaptation (must overlap with at least one other PCA type) The PCA designation encourages the preservation or enhancement of areas with high conservation values or needs. The PCA nomination process is locally driven, allowing jurisdictions to identify and propose areas of regional significance based on local priorities and community input. Both publicly and privately owned properties may be nominated to be PCAs.
More than 180 existing PCAs have been adopted by ABAG to date. Attachment A includes an overview of the PCA Program. Further details are available at https://mtc.ca.gov/planning/land- use.
PCAs are voluntary designations, and as such, do not take precedence over local control.
Designation as a PCA does not change the property’s local land use designation, zoning, or the ability for the property to be developed in the future.
The initial step in the process of PCA designation is a preliminary nomination request by staff, which ensures that nominated areas are located at least 75% within at least one of ABAG’s predetermined eligibility areas. (See Attachment B, Urban Greening-Eligible Areas in Cotati and Attachment C, Recreation-Eligible Areas in Cotati). Staff completed the preliminary nomination request by ABAG’s deadline of May 2, 2025, working with ABAG staff to determine that three distinct areas in the city qualified for and merited nomination as PCAs.
The second step in the nomination process is the subject of this agenda item—a resolution conveying a formal request by the City Council to ABAG for PCA nomination, which must be submitted by June 13, 2025. The ABAG Executive Board will review and take action to confirm the PCA nominations on July 17, 2025.
Jurisdictions that nominate PCAs gain access to the PCA Grant Program, which provides funding for acquisition, restoration, and public access improvements in PCAs. The Grant Program was initiated by ABAG’s partner, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in collaboration with the State Coastal Conservancy. Since 2013, the PCA grant program has provided over $38 million to protect and enhance the region's natural and agricultural lands, improve outdoor access and urban greening, and build regional climate resiliency across Bay Area communities. MTC anticipates releasing another PCA Grant Program Call for Projects for $8 million in 2025.
Analysis/Discussion
Staff have worked with ABAG/MTC staff to identify three potential PCAs in Cotati, based on Cotati-specific priorities, ABAG’s PCA-eligible areas, and PCA criteria: Veronda-Falletti Ranch; Laguna de Santa Rosa and Cotati Creek; and McGinnis Open Space. Attachment D contains a map of the three proposed PCAs.
These areas correspond to some or all the following three PCA types and descriptions:
• Urban Greening: Existing and potential green spaces in cities that improve community health, capture carbon emissions, address stormwater, and enhance the public realm.
These spaces provide benefits including community health, climate resilience, urban riparian corridors, equity (community nature benefits), wildlife habitat, water quality, urban agriculture, and recreation.
• Recreation: Existing and potential parks, trails, and other publicly accessible recreation facilities that support community wellbeing. These areas provide benefits including recreation, community health, zero-emission travel, equity (community nature benefits), wildlife habitat, water quality, climate resilience, and connectivity. • Climate Adaptation: Areas that will accommodate habitat range shifts and buffer climate impacts to enhance ecosystem and community resilience. These areas provide benefits including climate resilience, community health, habitat migration, equity (community nature benefits), wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration, water quality, and recreation.
The following is a description of the proposed PCAs for Cotati.
Veronda-Falletti Ranch PCA
• PCA type: Urban Greening, Recreation, and Climate Adaptation • Community and Conservation Goals: The historic City-owned Veronda-Falletti Ranch has long been identified as a priority property for conservation, recreation, and climate adaptation goals, including its designation as park/open space in the General Plan, partnership between the City and the Sonoma County Agriculture Preservation and Open Space District to place a conservation easement on the property in 2008, and ongoing programming and funding support from the City to operate the Ranch as a public demonstration farm and community education facility. Cator Field and adjacent parking are included in the Veronda-Falletti Ranch PCA since there is potential for future shared programming and support between the two parks that would further PCA objectives. • Potential projects for future PCA grant cycles: Reconstruction of the barn for classes and community events; planting of native trees and plants; enhanced public access amenities such as paths, signage, parking, and street crossing improvements; construction of a produce stand; renovation of animal pens and shelters; and installation of demonstration gardens.
Laguna de Santa Rosa and Cotati Creek PCA
• PCA Type: Urban Greening, Recreation, and Climate Adaptation • Community and Conservation Goals: The City has many policy and project goals related to the Laguna de Santa Rosa and Cotati Creek, including General Plan objectives to protect and enhance riparian, wetland, and aquatic habitats, designation of these waterways as Open Space, and integration of stream corridors with trails and other open space. The City has invested in significant trails and open space amenities along the Laguna, and there are ample opportunities for more improvements to increase connectivity and restore the natural riparian environment. A significant portion of Cotati Creek is in culverts or concrete channels, and only a small area of the creek is accessible to the public; restoration and access projects would benefit the creek and community considerably. The Laguna and Cotati Creek both provide significant stormwater diversion and retention opportunities as well. Draper, Falletti, and Putnam Parks are also included in this proposed PCA due to their adjacency to the Laguna, potential for future PCA grant funded improvements, and location within the eligible PCA area. • Potential projects for future PCA grant cycles: Construction of bridge connecting Laguna trail system to Helen Putnam park; riparian habitat restoration; trail connections along Laguna and Creek corridors and related recreational improvements; and improvements in Delano Park adjacent to Cotati Creek.
McGinnis PCA
• PCA Type: Urban Greening and Climate Adaptation
• Community and Conservation Goals: The proposed McGinnis PCA is an undeveloped open space comprised of a City-owned lot and the eastern and southern portion of a lot occupied by Charles Street Village housing. Most of this open space is not accessible to the public, and its primary PCA value is as wildlife habitat and corridor, urban green area, oak woodland, and stormwater retention. The McGinnis PCA features vernal pools and connects to the Laguna de Santa Rosa and Cotati Creek. The publicly accessible portion of this PCA consists of trails connecting McGinnis Circle to Marsh Way and to the Laguna trail.
• Potential projects for future PCA grant cycles: Habitat enhancement, urban forest preservation and expansion, access improvements on existing public trails, and restoration of Cotati Creek channel.
In addition to meeting ABAG’s eligibility criteria for PCAs, selection of these areas as PCAs is based on a combination of factors, including the priority of these areas for future investment by the City, likely competitiveness for PCA funding, and relative availability of other types of funding for improvement projects. For example, although all of the parks in Cotati fall within the Recreation PCA-eligible area, only some of the parks are proposed for PCA inclusion due to relative potential for conservation-related projects. Furthermore, other sources of funding are likely to be available for recreation infrastructure projects in the remaining parks.
It should be noted that PCA boundaries are approximate and are not parcel-specific. In addition, inclusion of land in a PCA does not require any future improvements, projects, or other actions by the City or property owner. For example, a number of privately owned, residential or industrial developed parcels along the Laguna, particularly at its northern and southern ends within the city, are included in the Laguna/Creek PCA in order to meet the criteria that at least 75% of the area in a PCA be within the MTC-designated eligible areas. It is very unlikely that any projects or improvements would be pursued on those properties in association with the PCA, however.
Similarly, projects benefiting a PCA, including those that are the subject of PCA grants, may extend beyond the PCA boundaries within reason if the primary benefit is to the PCA. As an example, improvements in Delano Park might be funded by a PCA grant if they relate specifically to the creek, even though the only portion of the park technically in the PCA is the creek channel itself.
Financial Considerations
With the exception of the staff time needed to coordinate with MTC/ABAG and prepare the staff report and resolution, there are no direct financial impacts to the general fund associated with the adoption of the resolution. However, the PCA designation provides opportunities for the City to apply for and be more competitive for grant funding to support conservation, restoration, and recreational projects in the future.
Environmental Issues
The proposed resolution is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act as it is consistent with the program Final Environmental Impact Report (SCH# 2013082037) for the Cotati General Plan Update that was certified on March 24, 2015 (Resolution Number 2015-11) and the Mitigated Negative Declaration certified for the 2023-2031 Housing Element (SCH # 2013082037) adopted and certified on June 2, 2023. In addition, the proposed resolution is consistent with and implements the City’s adopted General Plan and no new environmental impacts peculiar to the project site(s) have been realized or identified. Therefore, no additional environmental analysis is required under CEQA Section 15183, and pursuant to Section 15168 of the CEQA Guidelines, no further environmental review is required.
Recommendation
The Community Development Department recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution nominating Veronda-Falletti Ranch, the Laguna de Santa Rosa and Cotati Creek corridors, and the open space north of McGinnis Circle to be designated as Priority Conservation Areas by the Association of Bay Area Governments.