It is uh it's four o'clock by my laptop.

Is everybody ready to go?

Are we ready?

Okay.

Then let's proceed.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I'd like to call to order the May 27th meeting of the Santa Rosa Planning Commission.

Uh before we start, I'd like to read the following statement.

Due to the provisions of the governor's executive orders, n 25-20 and n-29-20, which suspend certain requirements of the Brown Act and the order of the health officer of the county of Sonoma to shelter in place to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

The planning commissioners will be conducting today's meeting at in a virtual setting using Zoom webinar.

Commissioners and staff are participating from remote locations and or practicing appropriate social distancing.

Members of the public and listen to the meeting as noted on the city's website and it's agenda.

During item four public comment period or during our public hearings, we'll be able to do so by raising their hand and we'll be given the ability to address the commission.

And then can we do roll call, please?

Yes, let the record reflect that all commissioners are present except Commissioner Carter.

Thank you.

And I did want to mention for the public that we will be taking a short break between item 9.2 and 9.3.

Um so item 2.1 is study session.

And our study session today is a report on the 2020 general plan annual review, and uh supervising planner will be uh uh presenting this item.

Good evening, uh Chair Weeks and members of the commission.

Um this item will actually be presented by uh Sherry Meads, but I wanted to provide a quick little introduction and just give you a really concise um excuse me, I just didn't muted myself here.

Um so the first item, your study session tonight is on the general plan annual review.

So this is really a report out on um the progress we made on our existing general plan from last year.

And as you might remember in past years, this has been heard in a joint meeting with the city council and has been a larger presentation, representatives from various different departments coming forward.

So this year is a little more streamlined, and so I just wanted to provide a quick explanation for that reason.

Um so this year we are providing you uh a presentation and report tonight.

Um, and it will be more concise than what you're previously used to.

And then it will be moving forward to the city council on June 29th, and it will be on their consent agenda.

And the reason for the abbreviated streamlined process is really because we are in the midst of a general plan update and we will be bringing forward um more policy discussions in front of you related to that update.

So we are uh remaining compliant with state law.

So um city planner Sherry Meads is uh really focused on a lot of our reporting needs and has produced an annual housing report, housing community development, and also our general plan annual report goes to the Office of Planning and Research at the state level.

So those will continue to happen during our general plan update, but we will be asking the city council on June 29th if this streamlined process will be sufficient while we're in the midst of our general plan update.

The general plan update uh once it's complete, um which we are um hoping will be in early 2023.

That will kind of reset this process of reporting out on the progress of the um policies and programs, and we expect to have metrics and a lot more um information that will be tracked, uh, and we'll have a dashboard related to that.

So it will be kind of uh a different process moving forward once we get that work completed.

So for tonight, um we know you have uh an agenda in front of you, and so we want to be in as concise as possible.

Um so Sherry's gonna give a brief presentation and we'll be available for questions.

And we also do have um Nancy Adams from Public Works available to answer questions related to bike and pet or anything transportation related.

And then we also have Peter Martin, deputy director for our water department, who is available to answer questions related to water.

So with that, I'll introduce um our our city planner Sherry Needs to give you a brief presentation on the annual report.

Hi everyone, this is Sherry Made City Planner.

I'm going to do my best right now to share my screen, which see how that goes.

Hopefully, well.

You're able to see the see the right one.

Okay, wonderful.

Thank you so much.

So each year, actually, good evening, Chair Weeks, Vice Chair Peterson, and members of the commission.

Each year, the planning commission reviews the progress made toward implementation of general plan goals and policies and the growth management and inclusionary housing ordinances during the today's presentation will provide a few highlights of 2020 accomplishments.

And now I've just got to make sure I know how to advance.

Yay!

We'll start by diving into the housing element and looking at the positive residential development trend we have seen since 2015.

In 2020, building permits were issued for 625 residential units, not including the fire rebuild housing.

Of the 625 building permits issued, 251 were for single-family dwellings, 309 permits were for multifamily dwellings, and 65 were for second dwelling units.

Despite increased residential development, the need for additional housing for every income level is clear.

This table looks at the city's minimum association of Bay Area Governments, ABAG, regional housing needs allocation, and building permit issuance data.

In 2020, building permits were issued for 38 units designated for very low-income households, 49 for low-income households, 25 for moderate income level household, and 513 units are for above moderate, also known as market rate units.

The general plan calls for a positive business climate that includes retaining and expanding existing businesses and attracting new businesses to maintain the economic vitality of business locations in the city.

Despite 2020 being marked by the pandemic, caused economic crisis, Santa Rosa's diverse economy retained a level of stability, excluding businesses that are in or reliant on tourism and hospitality.

The city responded to business needs with policy and program development and zoning code interpretations, allowing businesses to pivot and make operational changes while remaining compliant with health orders.

Examples of this include a cannabis manufacturing facility that switched to making hand sanitizer and the creative reuse of a vacation vacant commercial space into a micro-entrepreneurial business site for historically marginalized community members.