S.R. City Council Mtg Agenda, Nov 29th, 2016

Greetings!

Our thanks to our friend, Anne Seeley, of Concerned Citizens For Santa Rosa, for her analysis of this week's City Council meeting:

Friends:   There is no Study Session before the 4PM meeting.

6 Proclamations

    6.1 National Native American Heritage Month

    6.2 California Law Enforcement Challenge Award for Santa Rosa's Police Department.  The Police Chief will accept the award from the CHP.

Report

  14.1 Fiscal Year 2015/16 Measure O Annual Report.  This measure was amended by the voters on November 8 to good effect. In the link below, there's information on how the money from the tax was spent.  It's interesting that the Violence Prevention Program was moved in Fiscal year 2016/17 from the City Manager's Office to the Office of Community Engagement. 

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4802063&GUID=B8E0F707-B5EA-4A3D-BA42-CCE7467EDF01 Measure O Annual Report

  14.3 Roseland Pre-Annexation Agreement and Annexation Application.

Starting in 2014 the City of Santa Rosa and the County have been negotiating a Pre-Annexation Agreement to address cost-sharing and other commitments necessary for annexation.  

In October of 2016 the Council approved the EIR, adopted the Roseland Area/Sebastopol Road Specific Plan and various pre-zonings and re-zonings. The recommendation by the City Manager's Office is that the Council approve the agreement with the County of Sonoma, adopt a resolution directing the Planning and Economic Development Department to file an application with LAFCO, the local agency formation commission, for annexation of 5 unincorporated County islands.  In the link, there 's lots of information about how much improvements are going to cost, along with a map of the areas to be annexed.

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4800821&GUID=EAB7F1CF-A99D-4CE8-946C-F9FE44D46F27 Roseland Annexation

5PM Public Hearings

  15.2 Proposed Zoning Code Amendment to Allow Lodging - hotel or motel- land use upon approval of a Minor Conditional Use Permit for all properties in the city with the CO (Office Commercial) zoning.   This proposal is new to me.  It is perhaps meant to help with the glut of vacant office space we currently have.  The main areas on the map look like Bennett Valley and the Airway Drive area.

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4781349&GUID=88DA799C-0DDF-4318-8FFF-2F1D54AB042D Hotel Zoning

See you there!

Anne

S.R. City Council Meeting, Nov 29th

Greetings!

On Nov 29th, the City Council will consider allowing motels and hotels in all areas zoned for offices in the city.  The Planning Commission public hearing in September presents a great opportunity to learn not only the background on this vital land use issue, but contains some easy to understand information for citizens on the City's public notice practices.  It also will helps explain how a citizen can request that an particular use permit application can be elevated from an administrative hearing to a public hearing before the Planning Commission.

Click here for the link to the Citizens University post.

Sonoma County Takes Action to Ease the Housing Crisis

Santa Rosa, CA  –  November 15, 2016  –  Sonoma County took significant action today to ease the local housing crisis. With actions taken by the Board of Supervisors, the County is now set to expand emergency shelter capacity during winter months, implement innovative programs to boost homeless services, challenge federal Housing and Urban Development regulations to make housing vouchers work in Sonoma County, and invest nearly $4 million in new affordable housing construction in 2017.

“Housing is fundamental to the health of our communities,” said Board of Supervisors Chair Efren Carrillo. “Expanding housing opportunities for all in the County and providing the safety net of expanded shelters during the winter will save lives today and help families in the future.”

Covering a sweeping set of actions, the presentation given by the Community Development Commission highlighted a number of investments and programs to ease the housing crises. With the Board’s approval today, the County will now invest approximately $300,000 for a sustained expansion of emergency shelter capacity during the winter, and nearly $4 million for the development of additional affordable housing in 2017. In partnership with the City of Santa Rosa, the County will also gather the needed data to challenge existing federal criteria for housing vouchers that are dramatically out of step with local rents, making it difficult for low-income individuals and families to afford rent even with the vouchers. The County will amend its existing policies to make it easier for local veterans to use local financial assistance for housing.

In addition, the Board of Supervisors received updates about the County’s efforts to date on housing and homelessness. Highlights included the County’s investment of over $20 million in the last decade on affordable housing, over 450 homes that have been built or are in development, including the creation of nearly 300 additional units by private and non-profit developers.  The report emphasizes the collaborative work with community stakeholders to draw attention to the critical need of affordable housing in Sonoma County.

The presentation comes just a few days before the “Housing for All” summit organized by the Community Development Commission. The Executive Director of the Community Development Commissioner, Margaret Van Vliet, noted, “while these are major investments in resources and capital, we know that $4 million for new units is just the tip of the iceberg for what we need to do, and we know that making vouchers actually work for individuals in Sonoma is just the beginning of our advocacy in Washington. Our team is proud to have our leaders and community partners so committed to this issue.”

S.R. City Council Agenda, Nov 1st

Greetings!

Thanks to our friend, Anne Seeley, of Friends For Santa Rosa, for her analysis of this week's City Council agenda:

Friends:    Two important matters are before the Council on Tuesday:   

3:00 PM     First, a Study Session with the Planning Commisson on alternatives for the Southeast Greenway project. There are three alternatives for land use and circulation. The Council and Planning Commission are asked for feedback to guide the staff in preparing a preferred alternative.

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4729632&GUID=AFD3609C-3D26-47BE-B237-FE0FB620C48E SE Greenway

Report

14.1 Santa Rosa Housing Series   Report #6

In early 2016 the City Council began a 6-part housing series addressing supply, affordability and other issues.

This part considers housing as economic development and presents a draft plan for priorities in the housing plan development.

Please take a look at the priorities presented.  There are some odd choices, such as putting 'Amending the Hillside Ordinance' in the first priority, while some more easily obtainable goals are planned for next year.

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4742690&GUID=52322CD3-5E04-4F5A-B2F9-7E03F430A070 Prioritized Housing Plan

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4742689&GUID=1BAF9008-A2D2-41FB-BF74-1C2CF461D967 2016 Housing Plan

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4742707&GUID=4902F126-7F3F-4EAF-9FF8-3693F18006F1 Amend the Hillside Ordinance

I'll see you there!

Anne

Senator Mike McGuire's LiveSteam of Meeting on Housing and Homelessness

Greetings!

Here is a link (click here) to a 10/27 meeting on the "No Place Like Home" funding, held in Ukiah, in a Homeless Housing & Services Town Hall, sponsored by Senator Mike McGuire.  The meeting starts about 46 minutes into the tape.

S.R. City Council Agenda, Oct 25th

Greetings!

Thanks to our friend, Anne Seeley, of Concerned Citizens For Santa Rosa, for her analysis of this week's City Council Agenda.

Friends:    There is a 3PM Study Session before the 4PM meeting.

3.1 Groundwater Sustainability Agency Formation Update  This might sound esoteric, but it will mean a lot in the future for what water comes out of your faucet.

The State mandates that certain watersheds of concern will create oversight agencies to protect groundwater.  There are 3 in Sonoma County: Santa Rosa Plain, Petaluma and Sonoma Valley.

The way the State Board has this set up, the agencies will be lead by elected leaders from the cities and from the county.  There are some (such as the Sonoma County Water Coalition) who believe alternatives would better serve the area, especially since almost all city water users are served by water obtained from the Russian River.  A lot of rural well-owners will not be represented and/or part of the discussion.  This will be an interesting staff report. See below.

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4735498&GUID=A926516C-2CD6-4DD1-BC32-FB5365234788 Groundwater Agency

4PM Meeting

Consent

12.3 Ordinance Adoption regarding a change in zoning policy for certain designations of land use.   This is one of the votes (along with the next two items) to prepare for the annexation of Roseland, according to the plan approved by the Council last week.  These are confirmatory votes.

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4736401&GUID=2FB3B677-0921-432F-945F-3D6547602E52 Zoning Requirements

12.4 Ordinance Adoption regarding reclassification of 190 properties in the Roseland Area/Sebastopol Road Specific Plan (RASR Plan).

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4734995&GUID=72420AD5-8706-4330-90FE-004475A2DD84 Prezoning 190 Properties

12.5 Prezoning of 1606 Properties in the RASR Specific Plan area

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4736404&GUID=B80CD95B-E77A-496A-9869-49EC972FA094

   Here is a map of the proposed project area: http://ci.santa-rosa.ca.us/doclib/Documents/Location Map.pdf

Report

14.1 Extension of the Proclamation of Homeless Emergency  The Council first voted to Declare a Homeless Emergency on 8/9/16 and the declaration must be reviewed and renewed every 30 days in order for many types of funding and programs to be possible.

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4738971&GUID=B2FFA5B8-8832-412B-934C-A14369DC3E77 Homeless Emergency

Staff also recommend sending letters to our Congressional representatives seeking support for change to the  of Continuum of Care Care Funding Formula

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4738975&GUID=4E38E645-42D9-464E-887D-223673D3610E Continuum of Care.

20. Upcoming meetings

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4736406&GUID=1DBCBD12-108D-4D52-8324-F2838FE7775B

See you there!   Anne

Homeless Talk

Greetings! Here is the video which Homeless Talk has produced to use in its community discussions.