Dear Council Members,
I urge you to pull AB 1033 and not approve it until you amend the City Ordinance regarding ADUs.
Currently, the City Ordinance allows Mobile Homes as ADUs. Recently, a mobile home was installed in the middle of a residential neighborhood (on Feller’s). Mobile homes are not architecturally consistent and represent a completely different type of housing stock. That is why there are mobile home parks that are distinct from constructed homes. Mobile homes are a fine type of housing but do not belong in established residential neighborhoods.
In addition, you have developers, who will currently add ADUs to large projects. On tonight’s Building Department Activity Report, a developer wants to build two high density projects on Valentine Avenue, which include ADUs for sale.
“On-going meeting with developer’s wanting to build on the two vacant sites on Valentine Av.
One proposed development is twenty homes with 19 ADU’s on the old LDS site and is just in the pre-development stage. The project intends to sell the homes and ADU’s separately under a new law approved by the state this past year. The second project is 60-75 units on the Valentine side of the Catholic Church, across the street from Libby Park.” https://www.cityofsebastopol.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/December-2025-MonthlyActivity-Report_Building.pdf Can these ADUs be Mobile Homes?
Will these ADUs pay impact fees?
In addition, parking requirements for ADUs need to be included in any development. If you have 19 ADUs without parking, that will be 19 or more cars parked on City Streets. Do we want the area around Libby Park crowded with cars, making the public park and tennis court hard to access?
Brookhaven school is also located on Valentine Avenue. The school hosts events and sports games. Families use street parking to attend school events.
If there is an additional 75 units added to the same block, how will that impact parking? Parking must be addressed to preserve access to public amenities and schools that are located in residential neighborhoods. Development needs parking for at least one car per unit.
The Council and Planning Department need to address the ADU ordinance in regard to parking, mobile homes and impact fees prior to adopting AB 1033. Why is Sebastopol the only City in Sonoma County adopting this? It seems like the tiny, budget constrained City of Sebastopol should wait and see how other cities work with AB 1033.
In addition, the City is looking at “reimagining the downtown” by reducing the amount of cars that can move around downtown.
https://fp.mysocialpinpoint.com/sebastopol-reimagining-the-core I am not sure how this will work if City is seeing an increase of housing units (Canopy, Habitat for Humanity, Valentine Ave) and cars. The vast majority of people drive to work, for groceries, medical appointments, sports, shopping and school. Given the amount of new residents and new cars, the City needs to plan for an increased volume of drivers and develop traffic patterns accordingly.
As the City has increased density, which I think is good, the City needs to be a responsible developer and make sure that there are enough parking spots within a development to meet the demand, make sure the construction of new units is consistent with neighborhood structures (ie no mobile homes in neighborhoods with built residences) and develop traffic plans that do not create undue congestion.
In addition, any new buildings need to pay impact fees to support City services. New residents need City services. If there is no funding, services will diminish and all residents will have a diminished quality of life.
Best,
Kate Haug