From: Mary Gourley
To: Mary Gourley
Cc: Victoria Henkel; Zulema Higgins; John Jay; Jane Riley Subject: FW: Public Comment:
Date: Monday, January 26, 2026 8:58:57 PM
Attachments: Public Comment Zoning approved for a Homeless Shelter Downtown.pdf Please see email submitted to the City of Sebastopol.
BCC:Email BCC to City Council and City Attorney
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Thank you
Mary Gourley
Interim City Manager
From: Lee Mathias
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2026 7:46 PM
To: Mary Gourley <[email protected]>
Subject: Public Comment:
Hi Mary,
Attached should go to council and the planning commission.
I discovered after two meetings spent discussing if ADUs should be allowed to be sold I got curious about what a "Low Barrier Navigation Center" might be. Although the definition in the staff report was pretty innocuous, other definitions at HUD website made it clear this is a homeless shelter. If the Piazza folks decided to sell their lot to a non-profit or the county, we could have an actual homeless shelter in the center of town.
The agenda item alluded to changes to be consistent with state law which may have lulled councilmembers into believing the changes were not important. The fact is the city does have a choice in how it defines zoning for downtown. If the mixed use and any permitted multifamily uses are removed from the downtown zones it would solve the problem, at least the way I read the law. I'm not aware of any mixed use downtown and certainly no multifamily. It might not be difficult to change zoning there.
No idea why the three residential zones are included. One is the single-family neighborhood directly adjacent to the High School. The law is pretty clear that only areas zoned multi-use or non-residential with multifamily zoning. These three residential zones do not have provisions, at least in the definition for mixed use. CO which includes the definition of mixed use and has mixed use (I think), is probably a little more difficult but a better place for a Navigation Center than downtown.
This agenda item should have been broken up into three parts. ADU/Condo, Zoning changes to comply with state law and Navigation Centers to clarify discussion and ensure the council and the public understand what being approved or not.
Lee