The One Big 'If' For Minor League Baseball In Petaluma

PETALUMA, CA — A no-frills ballpark surrounded by a golf course, a vineyard, and an airport in Petaluma could be the future playing field for a minor league baseball team.

Such is the vision of the field that runs along East Washington Street, where the Petaluma Leghorns youth baseball league plays — but without stands, lights, bathrooms, or concessions.

Two Petaluma men, Jonathan Dole and Chris Cort — chief executive officer of the Leghorn Baseball Club — have been trying to change that. They have not gotten as far as they might have expected.

The one big "if" standing in the way: an airport.

Dole and Cort laid out plans during a Nov. 6 Petaluma Airport Commission meeting for what they called a "serious, well-funded" minor league baseball team in Sonoma County playing at a destination ballpark.

They are pursuing a public-private funding model and partnering with the Pioneer League, an independent professional association with 12 teams across the country, including the Oakland Ballers, that play at Raimondi Park (Pioneer teams are unaffiliated with Major League Baseball).

Their plans call for an average attendance of 1,500 people, with some better-attended games offsetting those with smaller crowds.

They would also include as many as four community concerts to help fund the field, upkeep, and "overall profitability," Dole said.

Their bigger hurdle now is location: the field is next to the Petaluma Municipal Airport on the northeast edge of the city.

The site was approved in 2020 for baseball, and the Leghorns play there already.

But the plan to expand the ballpark and its uses means accounting for safety, noise, and parking, especially during concerts.

From a practical perspective, no aircraft fly directly over the field, Commissioner Jeff Domich said. And half of the golf course next to the airport serves as a buffer between people and the airport runway.

But the plan would have to take into account the safety of players, fans, and parked cars, especially during large events.

Cort and Dole's next step is to take plans to the Sonoma County Land Use Commission before returning to the Petaluma Airport Commission and, ultimately, the Petaluma City Council.

It could be a true community ballpark, Dole told the commissioners.

But, he added, "We don't want an uphill battle that will never get approved."