Greetings!
I attended two meetings recently at which the City told local business owners and developers that it is courting developers of potential housing projects. At the Downtown Subcommittee and the Economic Development Subcommittee, the Mayor and three members of the Council heard staff presentations which outlined both the housing developments currently being approved, as well as the opportunities being discussed with developers involving City property which it hopes developers will buy and turn into housing projects.
Approvals for six hundred and thirty-two units are being processed by the Council now, in addition to 306 new hotel rooms. On four City properties (Ross & B, 2nd & E, 3rd & D, and the City Hall), it is hoped that developers will take advantage of generous density bonuses and height limit variances to retain existing parking and build 7-10 story residential buildings. Here is a link to the Downtown Development Update PowerPoint presentation used in the meeting.
Why the interest in raising the roofs? If you'll remember, a series of workshops was sponsored by local architects last year in which the case was convincingly made that the best combination of increased tax revenues to minimum public infrastructure expenses was to build up in the city's core area. Given also that Santa Rosa's budget has a $5 million deficit, and it owns several large vacant or under-utilized parcels downtown, and you can understand some of the motivation.
Over the next few months, the city will be asking its citizens to comment on key components of the incentives offered to developers to get them to partner with the City on these projects. David Guhin, Director of the Planning and Economic Development Department, told the Subcommittee that he hopes to issue his "White Paper" soon on proposals for density bonus elements, low income inclusionary requirements in for-sale developments, and accessory and junior accessory development ordinances.
I attended two meetings recently at which the City told local business owners and developers that it is courting developers of potential housing projects. At the Downtown Subcommittee and the Economic Development Subcommittee, the Mayor and three members of the Council heard staff presentations which outlined both the housing developments currently being approved, as well as the opportunities being discussed with developers involving City property which it hopes developers will buy and turn into housing projects.
Approvals for six hundred and thirty-two units are being processed by the Council now, in addition to 306 new hotel rooms. On four City properties (Ross & B, 2nd & E, 3rd & D, and the City Hall), it is hoped that developers will take advantage of generous density bonuses and height limit variances to retain existing parking and build 7-10 story residential buildings. Here is a link to the Downtown Development Update PowerPoint presentation used in the meeting.
Why the interest in raising the roofs? If you'll remember, a series of workshops was sponsored by local architects last year in which the case was convincingly made that the best combination of increased tax revenues to minimum public infrastructure expenses was to build up in the city's core area. Given also that Santa Rosa's budget has a $5 million deficit, and it owns several large vacant or under-utilized parcels downtown, and you can understand some of the motivation.
Over the next few months, the city will be asking its citizens to comment on key components of the incentives offered to developers to get them to partner with the City on these projects. David Guhin, Director of the Planning and Economic Development Department, told the Subcommittee that he hopes to issue his "White Paper" soon on proposals for density bonus elements, low income inclusionary requirements in for-sale developments, and accessory and junior accessory development ordinances.
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