Rohnert Park officials want the City Council to approve a new location for a planned train station projected to be built in 2014.
The change, said Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit officials, also might benefit the overall commuter train project by allowing it to plan for construction of a Novato station delayed by budget constraints.
The new proposed site of the SMART station would be off Rohnert Park Expressway at State Farm Drive. Currently, the site is planned for Roberts Lake Road at Highway 101.
There are distinct differences between the two, but the proposed alternative probably would not attract more train passengers, said SMART spokesman Chris Coursey.
Still, city Development Services Director Darrin Jenkins said, a recent SMART study outlined advantages to the Rohnert Park Expressway site.
Chiefly, the SMART study, which the city requested, found the location was nearer to more housing and would offer easier pedestrian access.
The study examined two variations of the Rohnert Park Expressway site. Both are more expensive than the Roberts Lake Road site, which is projected to cost $2.2 million.
The first variation would offer vehicle access only from State Farm Drive. That would cost at least $2.7 million, the study said. The second would require the construction of an additional access route from Seed Farm Drive. It would cost $3.1 million.
It's unclear who would pay the extra costs. SMART does not have the money, Coursey said.
"We're hoping that the city would ... contribute to the additional costs that this brings up," he said.
But Rohnert Park, after slashing costs for three years, still faces a $1 million deficit that officials are trying to trim.
Vice Mayor Jake Mackenzie said the new proposal is better for SMART and the city because it is next to property that State Farm Insurance plans to vacate by July.
That location, Mackenzie said, affords the opportunity "for public-private (funding) partnerships" because it could spur the development of mixed use projects on the 33-acre site.
That would have added benefits for a city that has no real center, he said.
"Hopefully the development of that property would result in finally establishing where downtown Rohnert Park really is," said Mackenzie, who is on the SMART Board of Directors.
And for SMART, he said, putting a station in an area where there is a higher housing density could qualify the rail agency for more regional transportation funds.
That might benefit the whole rail project, he said, allowing it to proceed with the Novato station, which along with a Petaluma station, SMART decided last week to postpone as a cost-cutting measure.
SMART's voter-approved sales tax revenues have been hurt by the recession.
The first segment of the commuter line is to run from Railroad Square to downtown San Rafael, about 40 miles. The eventual plan is a 70-mile route from Larkspur to Cloverdale with additional stops near Coddingtown in Santa Rosa and in Windsor.
The City Council is to take up the item Tuesday.
You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com.
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