To: Planning Commission and City Council
Below is an attempt to show how ADUs can affect the character of a street. Essentially no front setback and no requirement the ADU meet any objective design requirements that make them fit better into the character of the neighborhood. This is not hypothetical. Also below are before an after for a Sebastopol resident that literally took out a large tree and garden and dropped a mobile home in the backyard.
The Legislature gave cities no choice with the ADU law in 2020. After six years they were unhappy with the lack of impact and added a financial incentive. They also left open the opportunity for the city to establish design criteria for ADUs approved for condo conversion, allowing a city to protect the character of their neighborhoods.
Somehow the Planning Commission and four members of the council didn't feel turning our residential neighborhoods into mobile home parks was a problem. The decision to approve condo ADUs without any design criteria whatsoever has opened the opportunity for wealthy corporations to come in and buy up properties, drop a cheap mobile home on the driveway, create condos and turn it for a quick profit.
The character of our residential neighborhoods and the value of neighboring properties apparently are not a concern of the city government. Planning and DRB spent hours debating the fine details of the Barlow Hotel project. Unfortunately based on votes at the last meeting, a non-profit can drop a “Low Barrier Navigation Center” on the Piazza property if they want to sell. The entrances to our city that the Planning Commission wants to improve can become mixed cottages and mobile homes. Probably not the vision you articulated when you asked the Barlow to make the back face of their building on highway 12 more attractive.
The city spends endless money (grant money) to reimagine downtown. At the same time elected officials make decisions that encourage homelessness downtown and in residential neighborhoods, allow individuals to profit off mobile homes with no design criteria and watch our streets continue to fall into disrepair.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
ACTUAL BEFORE:
ACTUAL AFTER