From: Kate Murray
To: City Council Public Comments
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Comment on Surplus Parking for Housing Date: Monday, December 5, 2022 2:14:20 PM
Attachments: Santa Rosa City Council Surplus Parking Housing.pdf Hello,
Please share our attached letter with the City Council outlining our position for using surplus parking as housing. Thank you for your time and consideration.
-Kate Murray
Kate Murray
North Bay Leadership Council
775 Baywood Dr., Suite 101
Petaluma, CA 94954
707.283.0028
707.763.3028 Fax
[email protected]
www.northbayleadership.org
"Employers committed to making the North Bay sustainable, prosperous, and innovative."
December 5, 2022
Santa Rosa City Council
Via Email
RE: Item 14.2 - Declaration of Four City Owned Parcels in the Downtown as Non-Exempt Surplus Land
Dear Mayor and City Councilmembers:
North Bay Leadership Council is an employer -led public policy advocacy organiz ation committed to providing leadership i n ways to make the North Bay sustainable, pros perous and innovative. As business and civic leaders , our goal is to ensure economic health by building more housing, promoting better education, and creating jobs to ma ke our region a better place to live and work. Collectively, our members have over 25,000 employees.
In reference to Item 14.2 - Declaration of Four City Owned Parcels in the Downtown as Non - Exempt Surplus Lan d, NBLC understands there is real concern from local businesses about losing parking near their stores. In addition to seeing little evidence that pedestrian and car - friendly streets reduce business tr affic, we think Downtown Santa Rosa can better compete with more car-heavy areas by offering an experience that’s free from the hassle of parking. If these spots are absolutely necessary, can the city ensure that no additional parking is allowed and that t he existing 75 spaces will not interfere with developme nt in the ai rspace above a ground-level or below-ground parking lot?
North Bay Leadership Council agrees with Generation Housing and strongly supports requiring no additional parking for new affordab le housing projects on these sites. This is in accord with the findings of the Walker Memo that the City ’s Parking System is adequate to absorb public parking needs from all three sites. It also supports the long -term goal to maximize the potential for hou sing by limiting the cost -prohibitive requirement that new housing must come with new parking.
We appreciate your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Murray
President & CEO
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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PATTY GARBARINO
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Marin Sanitary Service
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KATE MURRAY
CAO
From: mark
To: City Council Public Comments
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Public comment on item 14.2 DECLARATION OF CITY OWNED PARCELS Date: Monday, December 5, 2022 6:08:27 PM
For the past 50 years the city of Santa Rosa has pursued a policy of making it easier to drive an automobile and park downtown. It has now reached the point of absurdity, where even on the busiest days less than half the parking spots in downtown are used and the parking program runs at a direct loss. Despite the millions of dollars of subsidies and redevelopment funds spent making downtown more auto-centric, business has been anemic for decades. Just take a walk down the downtown segment of Mendocino, you will find an inordinate number of empty storefronts and lack of people on the street.
It is time to abandon the failed policy of putting cars before people. So I am asking you to designate Garage 5, Lot 11, and the Whitehouse Site as non-exempt surplus land.
The are four big benefits to doing this:
1. The surplus land can be redeveloped for housing, providing a built in customer base helping downtown businesses thrive. Those new residents will find patronizing downtown business to be immensely convenient, and this will generate much more sales.
2. The added housing will provide much needed relief to the housing crisis, mitigating a lot of human misery and helping the city meet its Regional Housing Needs Assessment target.
3. It is the smartest move the city can make in regards to meeting its climate goals.
Since downtown residents would live in a walkable area rich in public transit options, they are no longer forced into car ownership. This has a huge payoff, a residence in a non-car dependent city produces a third of the climate killing CO2 compared to one in suburbia. If you are serious about meeting the CO2 emission targets, you have to build lots of downtown housing that does not require cars.
4. More revenue for the city. Converting parking lots into housing means the city will have a new revenue stream since they can now earn property tax and sales tax (assuming mixed use development) on that land.
Thank you for your time
Mark Franaszek