January 17, 2025
Cotati City Council
201 W Sierra Ave
Cotati, 94931
Re: Budget Planning Workshop
Dear Mayor Ford, Vice Mayor Lemus, Councilmembers, and staff:
Generation Housing looks forward to working with Cotati staff as the city advances its housing reform goals into 2025. Cotati leads the county in fast-tracking housing projects with a streamlined review process and, alongside Rohnert Park, has the lowest share of land zoned exclusively for single-family homes.
Fast-track approval is just one of many tools available to jurisdictions and isn’t sufficient on its own. As highlighted in our 2024 State of Housing Report, the share of Cotati’s workforce living outside the county has doubled since 2005, displacing core workers and increasing vehicle miles traveled. While Cotati prioritized housing for extremely low, very low, and low-income residents in the last planning cycle, it fell short of its 5th Cycle RHNA targets, as noted in its 6th Cycle Housing Element (Program 3-5).
In 2025, Generation Housing strongly encourages the city to pair its approval program with three key reforms to increase the likelihood that prioritized developments are successfully completed. These reforms, detailed below, will help ensure that housing for the city’s lowest-income residents secures necessary financing and that new developments are supported by parking policies designed to promote balance, sustainability, affordability, and accessibility.
+ Impact Fee Reform – Affordable housing development for low, very low, and extremely low-income residents in Cotati is both rare and urgently needed. Securing funds for these projects is complex, often leading to failure between entitlement and permitting. Impact fees significantly drive up costs, making Sonoma County projects even more expensive for residents. Cotati’s fees are among the highest in the region, reaching up to $2.3 million for a 50-unit multifamily project, as detailed in Figure 1 of Generation Housing’s 2024 policy brief on impact fees.
+ We urge Cotati to reduce fees for special projects, including housing for extremely low, very low, and low-income residents. By following models from Santa Rosa and Sonoma County, Cotati can prioritize desired units and add certainty to project financing. This approach supports Housing Element goal (Program 3-5) of using Housing Fund dollars to subsidize impact fees for these critical units. + Parking Maximums & Minimums – We recommend Cotati implement parking maximums and eliminate parking minimums to advance sustainable development and efficient transportation goals. To ensure these policies are effective, the City should commission a parking study, as outlined in General Plan Action CI-5.C, to assess current use, future demand, and impacts of the Active Transportation Plan and other planning documents. This study can guide smart, context-sensitive policies that support balanced, sustainable transportation options
Cotati’s General Plan prioritizes reducing VMT and greenhouse gas emissions (Goal CI-3) while optimizing parking supply (Goal CI-5). Parking maximums curb excess parking, encourage alternative transportation, and reduce car dependency.
Eliminating parking minimums removes outdated requirements that lead to overbuilt, underutilized parking. Together, these policies allow flexible, demand-driven designs, promote efficient land use, and create space for housing, green spaces, and community needs, while lowering construction costs to improve housing affordability.
Parking maximums and the elimination of minimums are already part of the Santero Way Specific Plan and will roll out as planning progresses. Expanding these principles citywide ensures consistent, sustainable development aligned with Cotati’s broader goals. Combining maximums and removing minimums creates a balanced, adaptable approach that meets real parking needs while advancing environmental and transportation priorities. To learn more about parking maximums and parking reform, refer to Generation Housing’s People & Planet Over Parking Brief.
Funding the Future Now:
As Cotati sets budget priorities, Generation Housing urges the City to focus on housing and development. Funding a parking study (General Plan Action CI-5.C) will provide essential data to implement parking maximums and eliminate minimums. These reforms, paired with impact fee adjustments, will promote sustainability, affordability, and accessibility while supporting the City’s environmental and transportation goals.
In partnership,
Jen Klose
Executive Director, Generation Housing