Dear Council Members and Don Schwartz,
Please do not confuse the public by implying that the St. Vincent De Paul’s Homekey project has any relationship to the RVs that are still parked on the St. Vincent De Paul lot and on the Highway 116, near the Redwood Market Place.
These RVs are the former clients of SAVS and used to be parked at Horizon Shine.
If St. Vincent De Paul builds their project, these RV dwellers will have ZERO preference in the SVP Project.
This is exactly like the Sebastopol Inn and Morris Street. Council Members mistakenly thought that RV dwellers and other homeless individuals living in Sebastopol would find housing at the Sebastopol Inn. They did not.
Not a single homeless person, not a single RV dweller that was within Sebastopol City limits got housing at the Sebastopol Inn. Not one person. Please don’t make the same mistake.
If St. Vincent De Paul builds its project, it must get applicants from a county list just like Elderberry Commons will have to take applicants from a list. This is basic housing law.
The SAVS RVs left on the Horizon Shine property are the responsibility of St. Vincent De Paul not the City of Sebastopol. St. Vincent De Paul needs to go through the eviction process to clear their lot.
The City of Sebastopol should enforce its RV Ordinance, which allows people to park in certain industrial zones at night. If there are legal questions around the ordinance, it is whether or not the ordinance is legal, not if it was enforced. Please enforce the law.
In light of this, I ask that this sentence of the Staff Report be eliminated: “There is a greater shortterm risk of RV encampments in the City should the project not be built.” There is no evidence that the St. Vincent De Paul project has any ties or relevance to the current RV encampments inside or outside of Horizon Shine. These encampments and illegal residencies on private property and public streets are in no way connected to the St. Vincent De Paul project just like there was zero connection between Morris Street and the Sebastopol Inn and zero connection between Morris Street and Horizon Shine.
The City of Sebastopol did not need to open Horizon Shine and could have avoided the messy and expensive situation.
It was revealed at the 1/18/22 City Council meeting that City and Council could have implemented parking regulations many years prior to 2022 to mitigate the impact of transients on local businesses, citizens, the Community Cultural Center and the High School. It is important to know that the RV Village was completely unnecessary and was pushed through, despite community opposition and a lawsuit, because Diana Rich and Una Glass wanted it.
You can see discussion of the RV ordinance starting on page 15 and then on page 30 the City Manager clarifies:
"City Manager/Attorney McLaughlin commented as follows:
• The question to legal counsel to address the legal issues, was, was the RV Village necessary to clear
Morris Street.
• If in fact it had a section that that, Morris Street will be no parking at any time. • The question would be, yes, we'd better have an RV Village. • However, it is treated the same as any other area.
• Therefore my answer is, you could adopt this ordinance without having to have RV Village." https://www.cityofsebastopol.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/APPROVED-January-18-2022- City-Council-Meeting-Minutes_1.pdf
As the City has been consistently plagued by bad information and misinformation at critical junctures regarding huge changes to both the economic infrastructure and the social fabric, it is especially important that the public have the correct information regarding the St. Vincent de Paul proposal as it is clearly a huge financial risk for the City of Sebastopol, will not guarantee any housing for those currently homeless in Sebastopol, brings risk to surrounding neighborhoods if management is not good (St. Vincent De Paul and the Gold Coin Motel do not bring confidence - https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/a-santa-rosa-charity-boughta-rundown-motel-to-help-homeless-people-two-ye/), and replicates the housing and services at the Sebastopol Inn/ Elderberry Commons.
I absolutely against the St. Vincent de Paul proposals as it puts the City at financial risk for 15 years, will require staff and police hours, and does not provide any housing for those currently experiencing homelessness in Sebastopol.
The only place that Sebastopol has control over and could place unhoused individuals is Park Village. If Council and City staff are concerned about housing RV dwellers within the City Limits of Sebastopol, I would suggest working with WCCS to create 8 RV spots at Park Village. As the Citizens of Sebastopol pay the mortgage, insurance and maintenance at Park Village and it is City land, it seems that that is the most viable option for placing Sebastopol located unhoused.
The Community Church on Gravenstein Highway also had a program. Perhaps their “pod” program could be replicated at Park Village.
St. Vincent de Paul will be bound by the exact same housing laws as Elderberry Commons, which means that there will be zero preference for the unhoused in Sebastopol.
This is a very bad deal for the citizens and businesses of Sebastopol. The City will have all the liability, all the financial cost, all the extra staff and police time and no benefit.
Thank you,
Kate Haug