SMART back on ballot for November election
Staff Report NOVATO PAPER
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 2:12 PM PDT



Citing the growing need for an alternative to driving on Highway 101, an antidote to skyrocketing gas prices and the desire to combat global climate change, the Board of Directors of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District on July 16 voted to place the SMART passenger train and pathway project back on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election.

The ballot measure will ask voters to approve a 1/4-percent increase in the local sales tax to fund the SMART project. SMART will provide a 70-mile passenger train service on the existing publicly owned right of way between Cloverdale and Larkspur. It includes a parallel bicycle-pedestrian pathway connecting all 14 train stations in Marin and Sonoma Counties.

In 2006, a similar ballot measure was approved by 65.3 percent of the voters – 1.4 percent short of the super-majority required to increase the sales tax.

The ballot measure put forward by the SMART board on July 16 is similar to that placed before voters in 2006, the primary difference being the addition of weekend passenger train service. A new expenditure plan also was approved.

SMART Board Chairman Charles McGlashan said, “At a time when climate change is the most important issue on our agenda, when gas is approaching $5 a gallon and when it can take an hour to drive on Highway 101 from Novato to San Rafael, the voters deserve another chance to decide on SMART. Almost two-thirds of Marin and Sonoma residents said they wanted SMART in 2006.”

SMART directors on Wednesday also certified a final supplemental environmental impact report on the project.

Novato’s representative on the SMART Board, Carole Dillon-Knutson, voted to put the measure on the ballot, but voted against certifying the final environmental impact report. The Novato City Council directed Dillon-Knutson to make those votes.