Santa Rosa Planning Commission Special Meeting: Staff Briefing and Cannabis Dispensary Hearing (Nov 16, 2022)
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Santa Rosa Planning Commission Special Meeting - November 16, 2022
The Santa Rosa Planning Commission held a special virtual meeting on November 16, 2022, beginning at 4:30 PM. The meeting consisted of two main items: a staff briefing on new data dashboards and mapping portals for tracking housing development and downtown projects, and a public hearing for a conditional use permit for a cannabis retail dispensary (Nebrina Santa Rosa) at 3401 Cleveland Avenue, Suite 1. The meeting was adjourned at 5:14 PM.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Public Hearing for Nebrina Santa Rosa: One member of the public, Brian Hair, spoke in support of the project. He noted that he works in the area and believed the dispensary would be beneficial for the community, citing personal medical use and the potential to bring more business to the shopping center.
Discussion Items
- Staff Briefing on Downtown Development, Pending Development, and Housing Map Portals and Dashboards: Staff presented an overview of several recently implemented technological tools designed to increase transparency regarding housing development. Deputy Director Gabe Osburn, Quality Control Associate Joshua Damron, Deputy Director Jessica Jones, Housing and Community Services Manager Nicole Del Fiorentino, and Supervising Planner Amy Nicholson demonstrated the following:
- Downtown Housing Dashboard: An interactive map showing active housing projects and building permits in the downtown area. As of the presentation, 684 housing units were in applied status, 229 in construction, and 131 completed since 2016.
- Downtown Enhancement Map: Displays city investments such as capital improvement projects, transit features, and adopted plans.
- Citywide Housing Dashboard: Shows real-time data on active building permits citywide, broken down by unit type (single-family, ADUs, multifamily) and status (in review, issued, under construction, completed). As of October 11, 2022, there were 3,724 active permits for housing units.
- Affordable Housing Map: Interactive map showing multifamily affordable housing projects funded by the Housing Authority, with filters for project type, loan type, and council district. Projects are subject to 55-year regulatory agreements.
- Pending Development Report: A quarterly static report listing residential projects with five or more units and non-residential projects with 5,000+ sq ft of new floor area. Includes project status, planner contact information, and a citywide map.
- Commissioners inquired about community outreach for these tools. Staff replied that they are integrated into regular engagement, presented to community groups, and will be part of the upcoming "House Santa Rosa" grant-funded initiative. Commissioner Peterson commended the staff for the innovative tools.
- Public Hearing – Nebrina Santa Rosa (CUP22-021): Staff Planner Monet Sheikhali presented the project. The applicant, Brandon Banks (owner/founder of Nebrina Santa Rosa), requested a Major Conditional Use Permit to operate a Type 10 commercial cannabis retail dispensary in a 2,016-square-foot vacant storefront at 3401 Cleveland Avenue, Suite 1. Operations would be from 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week. The site is in a General Commercial zone, complies with the 600-foot buffer from schools, and shares 89 parking spaces (exceeding minimum requirements). The applicant submitted an odor control plan, security plan, and project narrative. No exterior changes are proposed. The applicant highlighted security measures (dual ID check, 24-hour monitoring, security personnel), local hiring, and community benefits (paid volunteer hours, living wage, health insurance). Staff received one concern from a nearby cosmetic school regarding student proximity; staff explained the security measures, and the caller did not submit formal comments. The project is CEQA exempt. The commission discussed the application and found all applicable findings could be made.
Key Outcomes
- Motion and Vote: Commissioner Cisco moved to waive reading of the text and adopt Resolution No. PC-2022-033 approving the conditional use permit for Nebrina Santa Rosa, as presented. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Duggan. The motion carried unanimously (5-0), with Vice Chair Peterson, Commissioners Carter, Duggan, Okrepkie, and Cisco voting yes. Chair Karen Weeks and Commissioner Jeffrey Holton were absent. The decision is final unless appealed within 10 calendar days to the City Clerk's office.
Meeting Transcript
Everyone is here that needs to be. So whenever you want to get started, we are ready. All right, thank you. Um, I'd like to call this special meeting of the Santa Rosa Planning Commission to order. 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 suspends 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 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 may view and listen to the meeting as noted on the city's website and as noted on the agenda. Members of the public wishing to speak during item four public comment or during our public hearing items will be able to do so by raising their hand and will be given the ability to address the commission. Madam Secretary, I'd like to ask for the roll call, please. Let the record reflect that all members are present with the exception of Commissioner Holton and Chair Weeks. Thank you. So now I'd like to turn to the commission business and provide the statement of purpose. The Planning Commission is charged with carrying out the California planning and zoning laws in the city of Santa Rosa. Duties include implementing of plans, ordinances, and policies relating to land use matters, assisting in writing and implementing the general plan and area plans, holding public hearings and acting on proposed changes to the zoning code, zoning map, general plan, tentative subdivision maps, and undertaking special planning studies as needed. Up next is any statements of abstentions by commissioners. Do any of the commissioners need to abstain from any of the items on today? Seeing none. Okay. Good afternoon, Vice Chair and members of the commission. My name is Gabe Osburn. I'm the deputy director of development services in the planning and economic development department. And we're very excited today to provide have an opportunity to provide an overview of some of the outwardly facing technological tools that the department has recently implemented to track housing development. The tools really focus on creating additional transparency in the process, and they give the public the ability to not only understand where housing development is occurring, but to also better understand where it is in the development process and to connect the public with some of the resources that go into the review and approval of housing projects. We'll discuss dashboards, which are usually static or dynamic data, very specific numbers and totals. And we'll also be talking about our pending development report, which is a static report that allows individuals to better understand where projects are in the entitlement phase. And as you can see, we have quite a few members of our team joining me today with the presentation. Some of them you know very well, and I'll begin with those in our introductions. And joining us today from our housing and community services department is Nicole Del Fiorentino, who is our housing and community services manager. Nicole will be focusing on our affordable housing maps. And Joshua is one of our very talented people working behind the scenes who actually create these products. Joshua, for most of the products you'll see today, he either created them or was heavily involved in the development. He also created many of the tools that we rolled out with from a dashboard standpoint in response to the 2017 tubs fire. Next slide, please. So with that, I will hand the presentation over to Mr. Dan Ron, and he will give an overview of our downtown mapping portal. Thanks, Gabe. Good afternoon, Vice Chair and members of the Planning Commission. As mentioned, my name is Joshua Danbron. I'm a quality control associate with the engineering development services team. And I oversee the implementation of various technologies, tools, and resources in the planning and economic development department. The first tool we'd like to provide an overview of is our downtown housing dashboard. As you're aware, since 2014 and through 2016, there have been a number of downtown housing related initiatives pushed forward by the city. As you'll see, the housing dashboards and these map resources really work to show the progression of these efforts into actual housing units. As an example of this, we can see the metrics at the bottom of this page. Provide a look at the building permits applied for since 2016, which are creating new housing units in the downtown. The numbers at this time are 684 housing units in the applied status, 229 in construction, and 131 units final since 2016. Next slide, please. The intent of this map is to show a high-level overview of what's happening right now in the downtown.
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