Santa Rosa City Council
January 25, 2022

Charles Evans P O Box 2345 Santa Rosa, CA 95405 707.321.7800 [email protected] VIA E-Mail: [email protected] January 24, 2022 Ms. Jill Scott Real Estate Manager, City of Santa Rosa RE: City of Santa Rosa, City Council, Downtown Asset Surplus Strategy - Study Session for the Council Meeting of January 25, 2022 Dear Ms. Scott I am the owner of 96 Old Courthouse Square, located immediately adjacent to Garage 5. I have read the correspondence from Airport Business Center, owner of 50 Old Courthouse Square, and concur with all the points made in that letter. In addition to the points raised in that letter, I would offer the following two points for the Council’s consideration: First, there are already several residential projects proposed for the downtown area by the private sector. These including 1 Santa Rosa Avenue [119 units], 420 Mendocino [116 units], 528 B Street [24 units], Ross Street [109 units], SMART Village [110 units]. These are in addition to those already under construction, located at 888 Fourth Street [107 units] and Carnitas Village. Accordingly, until the projects currently in the pipeline are constructed and occupied, it is very hard to argue that any immediate action by the City to demolish an existing parking structure is required to stimulate the production of more housing in the downtown core. Second, before the City declares “its” property as surplus, please remember that the purchase and construction of this parking structure [and all other downtown parking facilities] was paid for by the property owners within the Central Parking Service Facilities District, aka the Parking District. I would suggest that the City and the property owners within the district first evaluate the legal status of the City’s ability to dispose of Parking District properties. It would seem imprudent to proceed without agreement by the property owners that paid for the facilities, and a review and consideration of the commitments between the parties that were made at the District’s formation. Respectfully, Charles Evans