The Cotati City Council on Wednesday introduced and approved the first reading of an ordinance that creates two new zoning districts to implement Transit Oriented Community (TOC) policies around the train station and the Santerra/Centerra Way area, but it amended the staff recommendation to remove a proposed unbundled‑parking requirement.

Community Development Director Noah Hausch told the council the ordinance would establish residential density targets of about 25–35 units per acre, a commercial floor‑area ratio of up to 1:3, and parking maximums such as 1.5 spaces per residential unit and 4 spaces per 1,000 square feet of commercial space. He said the rules also remove minimum parking requirements in favor of parking maximums and add code cleanups (for example, moving tattoo studios from a restricted category into a general use category).

Hausch emphasized the council was not approving any development tonight: "No projects are being proposed tonight," he said, noting zoning changes would allow projects to build out over a 10–20 year horizon and that the environmental review for the Centerra Way specific plan was already adopted. He also reiterated the district proposals are mixed‑use, not light‑industrial, and explained that much of the half‑mile radius around the station actually lies outside Cotati in Rohnert Park.

Council debate centered on the policy direction on unbundled parking, a state‑favored strategy to let renters choose housing without an automatic parking fee. Vice Mayor Lemus and Councilmember Harvey raised equity and affordability concerns, arguing landlords could charge separately for parking and increase overall housing costs. Staff said removing the unbundled parking point would reduce Cotati's ABAG MTC compliance score by one point but not fatally affect eligibility for grants.

Council moved to introduce the ordinance as recommended by staff but amended (per counsel) to exclude the unbundled parking requirement for now and asked staff to return with parcel‑level impact information (notably for the Oliver's shopping complex) before the second reading. The motion passed on voice vote.