From: Andrew Smith
To: _CityCouncilListPublic; CMOffice; Nutt, Jason
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Santa Rosa Draft Housing Element for Public Review Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2022 12:10:05 PM
City Council, City Manager and Jason,
Greetings. Below is my first email sent to SR forward after getting the email from Amy Nicholson on June 3 to review the Housing Document.
Since we have a short timeframe to give our comments – 30 days – I did a quick review and even printed some pages.
An impressive document but not something that the general public will be able to read and digest. On this point, Santa Rosa government gets a big F for failure!
So my initial comments hit the nail on the head. The state of California has put a big legal gun to all the municipalities to build more housing especially affordable housing. A worth goal and much needed.
But then MIA from the state is issues such as water, infrastructure, fires, earthquakes and the state not giving local municipalities enough money to expand the infrastructure. Just a mandate to do it and that is because our state legislators don’t care about those that elected them. And we know there is plenty of money in Sacramento to help out the municipalities to meet their mandated objectives. Until our city council members lean on our state legislators and do it publicly, the money needed will hinder our city meeting the state’s housing goals.
Andrew Smith
Santa Rosa
From: Andrew Smith [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2022 12:02 PM
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: Santa Rosa Draft Housing Element for Public Review
I have started to do a quick review of this 322 page document. It is very thorough but asking for public input and not offering a hard copy is wrong!
I have printed some of the pages and lots of good information. Why didn’t the planning department offer a condensed version of maybe 30-40 pages at most? 322 pages online definitely discourages a lot of people from reading and reviewing the information.
I know that the state of California is forcing all municipalities to build without worry about infrastructure issues. Santa Rosa’s infrastructure built out so increasing density means more cars on the streets. That means more traffic and an increase in carbon pollution which supposedly it not the goal of the city council.
What about water with all the drought issues going on? Once you hook up a new housing unit, you can’t shut it off. Can only ask residents to conserve water which most of us do comply with.
Does Santa Rosa have enough water to increase the population to 230,000 – 250,000? I don’t see that happening unless the climate reverts back to more traditional rainy seasons and our reservoirs are filled up for the dry Spring to Summer to Fall months. Does Santa Rosa want to deplete its aquifer to meet these new housing goals mandated by the state of California? That would be terrible when there are big fires and lots of water needed.
How about our sewer system? Does it have to be enlarged to meet the demand of more residents in the future? Approximately 180,000 people live in our city but what about those that visit us here? How does a hotel deal with people using water and our sewers without regard to local residents?
What about future fires or earthquakes which we have not had to deal with in quite a while? The last big earthquake was in the Fall of 2014 but fortunately not adversely affect Santa Rosa. The city of Napa was hit hard by it. And having been evacuated multiple times due to the fires and my neighborhood of St. Francis Acres almost burnt down in the Glass Fire if not for the fire department and CalFire bringing in a bulldozer to make a 10 foot wide dirt fire break line in back the houses facing the open hill which worked!
How about future jobs in our city and county? That will be the big driver of population coming up to Sonoma County and living in Santa Rosa. It is not just the housing costs but all other costs that have risen substantially in the past decade. If the jobs to pay for the high cost of living are not here, that should stop people from moving up to Sonoma County and Santa Rosa.
Santa Rosa has to be smart in approving higher density housing which is much needed for the middle class whether for rentals or ownership. And for lower income families. Going vertical in downtown Santa Rosa a bad decision. The high rise on 4th Street just outside of downtown which was allowed to increase by two floors because the developer did not want to build parking underground as it was originally approved. The tower looks terrible sticking out like a sore thumb! Wait until all those people who move in try to get in and out of their parking garage.
For some reason the city council does not like housing built in the Western Area but there is lots of open lots. In fact if you drive on Guerneville Road out going west from Coddington Mall, you come to a large, open lot on the right side. Not sure who owns it but why does it sit empty?
So Santa Rosa is forced like every other municipality to build more housing that is affordable. A worth goal as not everyone can make an income of over $100,000 to live here comfortably. Then what happens to the quality of life that residents take for granted?
Andrew Smith
Santa Rosa
From: Nicholson, Amy [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2022 11:30 PM
To: Nicholson, Amy
Subject: Santa Rosa Draft Housing Element for Public Review
Hi all,
Thank you for participating in the City’s General Plan and/or Housing Element Update workshops! Santa Rosa’s first Housing Element draft has been released and will be available for public review for a period of 30 days. You can find the document on our Santa Rosa Forward website.
Engagement and Involvement Opportunities
· Review and provide comments on the Housing Element draft – through our website, or by sending an email to: [email protected] · Attend and provide public comment during Planning Commission & Housing Authority Study Session on the Public Review Draft Housing Element – June 9, 2022
· Attend and provide public comment during City Council Study Session on the Public Review Draft Housing Element – June 21, 2022 Next Steps
If you have comments or feedback on the Draft Housing Element, please send them to [email protected] or to Amy Lyle ([email protected]), Beatriz Guerrero Auna ([email protected]), and Amy Nicholson ([email protected]). Also, feel free to share this information or our upcoming press release with other stakeholders or community members that you think could be interested in reviewing the draft.
Once we integrate the comments and feedback provided by residents, the Planning Commission and Housing Authority (Meeting June 9th), and City Council (Meeting June 21st), a new revised draft will be created. There will be a second round of public review in the fall.
Finally, Planning Commission and City Council public hearings will occur in January of 2023 to adopt the Housing Element.
Schedule
The detailed Housing Element Update schedule is located on the website, and is included here as well:
We thank you for your support and continuous collaboration on the Santa Rosa General Plan Update.
Santa Rosa Forward Team
Amy Nicholson | Senior Planner
Planning and Economic Development |100 Santa Rosa Avenue, Room 3 | Santa Rosa, CA 95404 Tel. (707) 543-3258 | Fax (707) 543-3269 | [email protected]