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Downtown Cotati Cotati, CA

EDITOR'S DESIGN CHOICE

Mixed use buildings and village square, just west of Old Redwood Highway.
Image courtesy of Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists

Landscaped downtown streets and sidewalks welcome pedestrians, bicyclists, cars, and buses, and also provide on-street parking.
Image courtesy of Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists

Performing arts center—diversifying the range of activities in downtown Cotati—with its entry off a pedestrian-scaled plaza.
Image courtesy of Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists

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The City of Cotati is located approximately 40 miles north of San Francisco. Cotati’s downtown is comprised of one and two-story buildings in a village-scale environment, organized around Old Redwood Highway (Cotati’s “Main Street”) and La Plaza Park. This hexagonal-shaped park, which originates in an 1892 hexagonal town plan, is Cotati’s central hub, hosting a farmers market and annual events such as an Accordion Festival. Over the past several decades, facing competition from newer shopping centers as well as population growth pressures, the City has been working to enhance its downtown. In 1990, the citizens of Cotati voted to forbid annexation of land beyond an established urban boundary, thus directing growth inwards. The 2009 Downtown Cotati Specific Plan and Form-Based Code proposes restoration of historic resources and development of new commercial space and dwellings. Under the plan, streets will be multi-modal, accommodating bicycles, pedestrians, buses, cars, and on-street parking; apartments over shops and a greater mix of housing types will be built; and downtown’s retail mix will be strengthened. La Plaza Park is currently cut up by roadways, but the plan proposes to strengthen the park’s role as a community focal point by reconfiguring the street network in its vicinity.