Good building, great location, several ideas

The Sonoma City Council wrestled in a public study session Wednesday evening over what to do with the old fire station at 32 Patten St. It’s presently used as interim quarters for the police deparment, while its regular quarters on First Street West are being refurbished. That work is due to be complete shortly afer the first of the year, so a decision about 32 Patten St. needs to be made soon.
A Re-Use Committee was formed in 2006 to identify and study options, and its report was reviewed on Wednesday. While they found “widespread support for ensuring the property is made to be visually attractive, due to its plaza gateway location,” there was no consensus on what would be the most desirable use. General support was reported for “retaining the existing building if possible, and preserving or expanding its energy efficient features.”
Options being considered vary widely, from selling the property, which is council member August Sebastiani’s “first choice,” to housing city offices there, in order to relieve crowding at City Hall. Some speakers supported turning it into a small version of the open market in San Francisco’s Ferry Building, and others suggested making it a “green center” specializing in environmental sustainability services.
Council member Ken Brown was “not interested in selling” it but would consider leasing it out to generate revenue. Council member Joanne Sanders agreed that “This is certainly a revenue-generating machine.” Mayor Stanley Cohen said that if the city did decide to lease the property, a property manager could be hired to oversee it.
No conclusions were reached by the council, and in the end the city’s community development staff was directed to do additional research on various options contained in the staff report.