Santa Rosa City Council Regular Meeting - October 8, 2024
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Santa Rosa City Council Regular Meeting - October 8, 2024
The Santa Rosa City Council met on October 8, 2024, in a regular meeting that began at 1:00 PM with a closed session, followed by study sessions at 2:00 PM, and a regular session at 4:00 PM. The meeting included two study sessions, two proclamations, a consent calendar with two items, a public hearing, and public comments. The meeting adjourned at 5:26 PM.
Consent Calendar
- Item 13.1 (Ordinance Adoption Second Reading – Prezoning): Adopted Ordinance ORD-2024-011 to prezone properties on Barbara Drive, Robin Way, Eddy Drive, Moorland Avenue, and Bellevue Avenue into R-1-6 (Single-Family Residential) and R-2 (Medium Density Multi-Family Residential) zoning districts. Motion carried 7-0.
- Item 13.2 (Ordinance Adoption Second Reading – General Business Tax Amendment): Adopted, subject to voter approval, an ordinance amending Chapter 6-04 of the Santa Rosa City Code to increase the maximum business tax to $10,000 annually, adjust tax rates, and tax short-term rental businesses. Motion carried 4-0-3 (Mayor N. Rogers, Council Members Alvarez and Fleming recused due to owning rental property in city limits).
Public Comments & Testimony
- On Study Session 4.1 (Senior Housing Overlay): Eleven public speakers addressed the council. Ten spoke in support of the senior housing combining district for mobile home parks, citing the need to protect affordable senior housing and prevent displacement. One speaker (Ronna Herzig) opposed, arguing that park owners requested the overlay to eliminate rent control.
- On Study Session 4.2 (Vacant Parcel Activation): No public comments were made.
- On Item 10 (Statements of Abstention): Eric Fraser spoke, criticizing the city’s transparency and conflicts of interest.
- On Item 13.2 (Business Tax Amendment): Eric Fraser spoke in opposition, alleging the city spread misinformation and that the measure penalizes small businesses.
- On Non-Agenda Matters (Item 14): Six speakers addressed the council: Kathy Harris on potholes on Alderbrook Drive; Dave Krongberg (Kiwanis Club) promoting an Art and Wine Festival at Courthouse Square on October 12; Duane DeWitt on Burbank Avenue property acquisition and lack of collaboration; Adina Flores on gratitude to city staff, domestic violence experience, opposition to Measure I, and FPPC investigations; Eric Fraser on citizenry oversight; and Jason Sweeney on concerns about the Middle East conflict and calls for a symbolic resolution.
Discussion Items
- Study Session 4.1 – Senior Housing (-SH) Combining District for Mobile Home Parks: Staff presented a proposal to add a senior housing overlay to 12 existing mobile home parks that currently operate as senior parks. The overlay would restrict 80% of units to occupancy by at least one person age 55 or older. Key discussion points included enforcement mechanisms, impact on park ownership and redevelopment, pending litigation in Petaluma and Cotati, and the distinction between zoning and rent control. Council members expressed strong support for moving forward, with direction to staff to begin community workshops and develop a policy, while monitoring related litigation. Council Member MacDonald requested a future agenda item on the 10% in-place transfer tax (separate from this overlay), which was seconded.
- Study Session 4.2 – Vacant Parcel Activation Strategies: Staff proposed a pilot pop-up program to activate vacant privately owned parcels, vacant buildings, and underutilized public spaces, initially focused on the downtown station area. The program would involve the city acting as a convener between property owners and potential users (retail, food, art, recreation). Challenges discussed included utility availability, ADA compliance, short-term leases, and permitting for food vending. Council members were enthusiastic, emphasizing the need for quick, low-cost activation, and provided direction to staff to finalize program details by early 2025 with a launch target in Q2 2025. Council Member Okrepkie suggested adding small play structures in Courthouse Square to attract families.
- Public Hearing 16.1 – General Plan Amendment to Noise and Safety Element: Staff presented a minor text amendment to incorporate the City’s previously adopted Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) into the General Plan 2035 Noise and Safety Element, complying with Assembly Bill 2140 to make the city eligible for additional state cost-share on disaster projects. The Planning Commission had recommended approval. No public comments were made. The council unanimously adopted Resolution RES-2024-162 (7-0).
Key Outcomes
- Votes: Item 13.1 adopted 7-0; Item 13.2 adopted 4-0 (three recused); Item 16.1 adopted 7-0.
- Directives: Staff directed to proceed with the Senior Housing Combining District process (community workshops, policy development) and to develop a pop-up activation pilot program for launch in Q2 2025.
- Future Agenda Item: Council Member MacDonald’s request to bring back discussion on the senior park transfer tax was seconded and will be placed on a future council agenda.
- Closed Session: Items 3.1 through 3.3 (antitrust litigation and existing litigation related to PFAS) were continued to the October 22, 2024 regular meeting. Item 3.4 (conference with labor negotiators for Santa Rosa Firefighters Association Local 1401) was heard with no reportable action.
- Proclamations: The council proclaimed October 2024 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month and October 6–12, 2024 as Water Professionals Appreciation Week, presented to YWCA Sonoma County and Santa Rosa Water respectively.
Meeting Transcript
For those who are joining the meeting live occasion in Spanish is available for members of the public or staff we can be working in Spanish and join the Spanish panel by clicking on the interpretation icon in Zoom full bar. It looks like it's low. If you're on your cell phone or tablet, locate the three dots out of lightly and put a check mark on your preferred language. Click down to activate and begin. Zoom host Wiley, we cannot hear you very clearly in the chamber. All right. Technical difficulties corrected, I hope. Yes, thank you very much. Please restart. I'd like to ask the interpreter currently on the Spanish channel to commence interpretation of the meeting. For those just joining the meeting, live interpretation in Spanish is available and members of the public or staff wishing to listen in Spanish can join the Spanish channel by clicking on the interpretation icon in the Zool toolbar. It looks like a globe. Moving on to item three announcement of our closed session items for today. Hello, and welcome back, everyone, to our October 8th, 2024, Santa Rosa City Council meeting. It is now 2.03, and we will be resuming our meeting. Seeing a quorum. Madam City Clerk, may you please call the roll? Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Rogers. Councilmember O'Krepke. Councilmember McDonald. Councilmember Fleming. Here. Councilmember Alvarez. Here. Vice Mayor Stepp. Here. Mayor Rogers. Present. Let the record show that all council members are present with the exception of Councilmember McDonald. We will now proceed to item 4.1 and 4.2, our study sessions for the day. Madam City Manager. Good afternoon, Mayor and members of council. Item 4.1 is the senior housing combining district for mobile home parks. So I'll turn it over to the team and have them introduce themselves for the record. Good afternoon, Gabe Osburn, Director of Planning and Economic Development. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Christian Cannelaria City Planner. Okay, thank you, Council. The purpose of the study session today is to provide the council with an overview of our existing senior overlay district and to talk about a process that would involve annexing or rezoning properties that are existing into that district. And before I hand it over to the team to go over the really nuts and bolts of what we're looking at today, there's a few important points that I wanted to bring forward in the beginning that hopefully help frame the conversation. The first is a overlay district or a planning overlay is really specific for planning purposes. And in this particular case, it controls the use. And a senior overlay, in particular terms, controls the age range in which the individuals can occupy rent or own the units. And it's typically 55 or over, and it's generally a certain percentage of the units on site. That's been the very typical senior overlay. Our existing senior overlay was a product of a new development that the senior overlay was adopted with the development, and it was really an elective of the developer. So the developer knew going into it that the senior overlay would be on top of the parcel. In a case when we are rezoning properties without permission into an existing zoning district, it creates a different element because in some situations the property owner may not want that. There's more community engagement that goes into that, a better understanding of how that impacts the parcel.
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