Santa Rosa Planning Commission Regular Meeting – June 27, 2024
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Santa Rosa Planning Commission Regular Meeting – June 27, 2024
At 4:30 PM, Chair Karen Weeks called the meeting to order with all six commissioners present (Chair Weeks, Vice Chair Duggan, Commissioners Carter, Cisco, Peterson, Sanders). The meeting adjourned at 4:58 PM. The primary action was a unanimous vote to grant a one-year time extension for the West Hearn Veterans Village tentative map (EXT24-0004), allowing the applicant until March 15, 2025 to record the final map.
Commissioner Reports
- Commissioner Sanders reported on the Waterways Advisory Committee meeting, noting that 82,000 pounds of trash are removed from Santa Rosa creeks annually, with 80% attributed to the homeless population. He also mentioned an upcoming Creek Week clean-up event and a tour of hidden creek areas (date not specified).
- Chair Weeks announced a new commissioner (Aaron Pardo) starting in July and a packet on Rosenberg's Rules distributed at a mayor's lunch, with an offer for a refresher course.
Department Reports
- Jessica Jones, Deputy Director of Planning, updated on the South Santa Rosa Specific Plan, which is in early community engagement stages. A mailer was sent to property owners and tenants in the plan area, and an Engagement Advisory Committee is being formed. She also noted site tours of the Cannery project are available, with the next tour scheduled for August 1, 2024 at 11:30 AM.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Non-agenda items: No public comments were made.
- Public Hearing – West Hearn Veterans Village Extension:
- Sav Flores (opposition): Resident on Hearn Avenue argued the project lot size (approximately 2.93 acres) does not meet the required 3+ acres for four single-family homes with ADUs under the rural heritage zoning. He presented survey documents claiming discrepancies and requested denial of the extension.
- Guido LaGuioni (support): A veteran and resident near the facility praised the operation (run by Nation's Finest) and urged approval to house more veterans.
Discussion Items
- Public Hearing – West Hearn Veterans Village Time Extension: Senior Planner Monet Sheikhali presented the staff report. The tentative map was originally approved by the City Council on March 15, 2022 (after a planning commission approval and appeal). The extension is the first of up to five possible one-year extensions under the Map Act. Staff received six emails and one phone call: one in support, the rest opposing based on rural heritage zoning concerns and an alleged survey inconsistency. Staff responded that the map findings were properly made, density meets the R-R-20 zone (minimum 20,000 sq ft per lot), and future development will comply with setbacks and height.
- Staff Engineer Jesus McKeag and applicant engineer Andrew Deserk (via Zoom) addressed public comments: the emergency vehicle access (EVA) driveway does not require pedestrian amenities and is not a street; a corner record survey confirmed the same boundary lines as the original Volker subdivision, so no change in lot size. Commissioners verified the information was accurate.
- Commissioner Cisco asked staff to address the survey and EVA questions; staff provided detailed responses.
Key Outcomes
- Motion and Vote: Commissioner Cisco moved to adopt Resolution No. PC-2024-010 granting a one-year time extension for the Hearn Veterans Village tentative map. Commissioner Sanders seconded. The motion carried 6-0 (all commissioners present voting aye). All commissioners stated they could make the required findings for the extension.
- Next Steps: The applicant must record the final map by March 15, 2025 and may apply for up to four additional one-year extensions if needed. The decision is final unless appealed within 10 calendar days.
Meeting Transcript
Yeah, but Okay, I think are you ready? Okay. So with that, um, I'd like to call to order the June twenty-seventh, twenty twenty-four meeting of the Planning Commission. And can we have roll call, please? Thank you, Chair Weeks. Commissioner Carter. Here. Commissioner Sisko. Here. Commissioner Sanders. Here. Commissioner Peterson. Here. Vice Chair Duggan. Here. And Chair Weeks? Here. I'll let the record reflect that all commissioners are present. Thank you. And we have no remote participation of planning commissioners. Um, so we go on to approval of the minutes. We have one set of minutes from June thirteenth. Are there any changes or corrections? Okay, then seeing none, do we have any public comments on approval of the minutes? Seeing none. So we'll go on to public comment on non-agenda items. This is the time when any person may address a commission on matters that are not listed on the agenda, but with are within our subject matter jurisdiction. Is that okay? Oh, goodness. Um, I'll go ahead and close a public comment period on this, and we'll go into commission business. Duties include implementing of plans, ordinances, and policies relating to land use matters, assisting in writing. Here comes the cavalry. So with that, we'll move into commissioner reports. Are there any commissioner reports? Commissioner Sanders. Um advisory committee meeting today. Um eighty-two thousand pounds of trash is picked out of our creeks every year. That's just astonishing to me. Um, which brings me to Creek Week, which is coming up. So we're gonna be uh cleaning uh up our creeks of some of the 82,000 pounds of trash that are being left on our creeks. Um and 80 percent of that trash is um left by our homeless population. So hopefully we can uh yeah as a city uh remedy that and uh help keep our creeks clean. Um I think that was it. Oh, the tour uh during Creek Week is great if you can sign it up because we go under the uh the hidden parts of the city. So they're gonna do that as an open house uh sign up this time to get more people interfacing with that. But uh the win. I'll have to get back to you on the win. I did not write that down, but um I do believe it's in September, but I don't know the exact date. Thank you.
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