Up and down the North Bay, in towns with pear orchards or backyard chicken coops or caviar-tart restaurants, residents seem to agree on one thing: They love the SMART train.
That much was clear on Tuesday night, when more than 70% of voters in Marin and Sonoma County approved a measure to extend by 30 years a quarter-cent sales tax that provides about half the annual revenue for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit. The election results showed people widely embracing the rail system even though relatively few of them ride the train to work.
For communities in Wine Country and along the Highway 101 corridor, SMART is more than a commuter rail. It’s also seen as a centerpiece of future development, including the massive downtown project envisioned for Rohnert Park, a high-profile luxury hotel in Petaluma and the proposed Esmeralda tech enclave in Cloverdale. More than a hundred homes are currently under construction next to the Petaluma North Station…