Bay Area city's ban on roundabouts now being reconsidered by voters

In communities across the Bay Area, busy intersections have been turned into roundabouts. Proponents say they are safer and traffic flows more smoothly because of them.

But in the small Sonoma County town of Cotati, the circular interchanges have become a political battleground that is once again being put before the voters.

Cotati has stop lights, stop signs, all the normal traffic management devices. But one thing you won't find there is a roundabout -- and if you ask people on the street about it, the opinions vary 180 degrees.

"It appears to be fairly effective and I don't know, really, what the downside of it might be," said resident Barry Marris.

"They wanted to put 'em through the downtown but there's not enough room here," said resident Jim Schneider.

The whole thing started in 2009 when city leaders came up with a redevelopment plan for the downtown area. It was designed to make it more bike and pedestrian-friendly, and one of the key elements was a number of roundabouts. But a lot of people didn't like it very much so three years later, in 2012, they came up with a creative idea for a voter initiative.

"The strategy was to ban roundabouts because that would slow down the downtown-specific plan," said roundabout opponent Laurie Alderman. "It did slow it down. They had to give up the whole plan."

The ban, known as Measure U, passed by a comfortable margin and that's how Cotati became the only Bay Area city with a law prohibiting roundabouts. But they have become so common in other communities that a lot of people, including Cotati Mayor Laura Sparks, just don't understand it.

"When I first moved here, I was very surprised to find out that we had a ban on roundabouts," said Sparks. "And as I've gone around talking to folks in town, a lot of folks who have moved here in the last 10 years are equally surprised to find that that is on the books."

But what goes around comes around, because in a few weeks, Cotati voters will be asked to consider Measure S, which would repeal the 2012 ban. City leaders have no idea if the electorate has changed its mind.

"It's really up to the people of Cotati, what they want to do. So, they'll get to vote on it and we don't have much of a say in it," said Sparks. "For some of us, it just kind of bothers us that we have this policy that doesn't make any sense because roundabouts are so much safer than other types of intersections."

But opponents of the roundabouts say it's not really about roundabouts at all. For them, it's about government trying to dictate to the people.

"It was all part of a grand scheme to get us out of our cars, onto our bicycles, on feet, pushing baby strollers down there," said Measure S opponent George Barich. "Roundabouts are a good idea. This is the wrong location. Good idea, bad location."

"It's that we are in charge of our own city," said Alderman. "We are in charge of our planning. And you have to listen to the people, and not go opposite of that, you know, if we said no roundabouts, we mean no roundabouts."

So, in a few weeks, it will be up to the voters to decide if that message still stands, or if the people's opinion has come full circle.