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Record of Proceedings

Santa Rosa Planning Commission Regular Meeting – November 14, 2024: General Plan 2050 Draft EIR and Lance Drive Housing Development

Planning Commission — Thursday, November 14, 2024
BodySanta Rosa, California
SessionPlanning Commission
DateThursday, November 14, 2024
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim
5:08

Okay, uh it is now 4:30, so I'd like to call uh the meeting of November 14th, 2024 to order.

5:18

Um can you please take roll call?

5:22

Thank you, Chair.

5:23

Commissioner Carter.

5:24

Here.

5:25

Commissioner Sisko.

5:26

Here.

5:27

Commissioner Pardot.

5:28

Here.

5:29

Commissioner Peterson.

5:30

Here.

5:31

Commissioner Sanders.

5:32

Here.

5:33

Vice Chair Duggan.

5:34

Here.

5:35

Chair Weeks.

5:36

Here.

5:36

Let the record reflect that all commissioners are present.

5:39

Thank you.

5:40

And I would like to make an announcement that item 11.1 is continuing to a date uncertain and new noticing for the project with the new hearing date will go out when that date is set.

5:52

So if any of you are here for that item, I wanted to let you know that before we started the rest of the agenda.

5:59

Okay, so with that, um approval of minutes, we have one set of minutes from October 10th.

6:06

Are there any changes or corrections?

6:09

Okay, doesn't look like there's any.

6:12

So if you are in the audience and have any comments on the October 10th, 2024 minutes, please make your way to the podium.

6:23

Seeing no one going towards there, we'll go ahead and uh move on to item number four, public comment.

6:32

This is an item for non-agenda matters.

6:36

Um this is a time when any person may address the commission on matters that are not listed on this agenda, but which are within the subject matter jurisdiction of this committee.

6:46

So you'll have three minutes to make your statement, and if you'd like to make your way to the podium, and I see Mr.

6:53

DeWitt up there, so um, the overhead if I may.

6:57

Okay, and we'll get that set up in the timer.

7:01

Thank you kindly.

7:05

All right.

7:07

Are we ready?

7:09

Hello, my name is Dwayne DeWitt.

7:11

I'm from Roseland.

7:12

What I've brought you here today is a strategy from Copenhagen, Denmark involving what they call intelligent transportation systems that dealt with the bicycle approach.

7:23

Now, as you can see, this picture of all those people, that's actually rush hour.

7:27

Most of the time there's not that many folks.

7:30

But the main point of it is is that they have been spending lots of time on what they call the rhythm of the street, and they've been looking at these intelligation systems to get less people driving in cars, especially fast near bicyclists and pedestrians.

7:47

And you know we've had a lot of people killed on bikes and pedestrians here in our city by cars.

7:54

Those collisions are called accidents, but you might think it's just neglect on the part of many of these folks.

8:00

The reason I bring it to you is because you can advise the city council, whereas they might not listen to us regular folks as much.

8:08

You could tell them if you're gonna be doing general plans and making these big specific plans, such as the downtown specific plan, you should be looking into this type thing.

8:18

Over in Roseland, a portion is actually in the downtown specific plan now.

8:23

It's on Sebastopool Road with Dutton Avenue as its end point going towards the east.

8:30

And there's a lot of acreage there that has the Joe Redota Trail and a section along Roberts Avenue where in the future you might be able to get some really good housing and building going in there that's truly transit-oriented development where people wouldn't have to drive cars.

8:45

They could walk into the city and do good stuff.

8:47

Now, with that in mind, here's another one that's from Denmark also.

8:52

And unfortunately, it's in Danish.

8:53

I understand it, but you won't.

8:55

The main thing is this comes from uh the roads and parks department.

9:00

And they talk about how trees along the roads help to slow the traffic, help to clean the air because they pick up the pollution from the tailpipes of the cars, and basically also add shade in the summer for the urban heat island effect to be um less than it might be.

9:20

This is especially important in Roseland because we're going to be having even hotter summers in the future.

9:25

It's the kind of thing where if you don't say it, as I've mentioned before, the city might not act on it.

9:31

Do you know we don't even have a city arborist right now and haven't had one for many, many years?

9:37

So we need to take care of what tree stock we have, perhaps do a tree inventory, and then go out there into Roseland and start looking at how all these new houses you're pumping in there.

9:48

Thousands of housing units coming into our area.

9:51

And those folks are driving.

9:53

They're not walking or bicycling.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Planning And Zoning███████████████████████23%
Environmental Protection█████████████13%
Procedural██████████10%
Transportation Demand Management█████████9%
Public Safety█████████9%
Wildfire Management█████5%
Housing█████5%
Affordable Housing█████5%
Transportation Safety████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Santa Rosa Planning Commission Regular Meeting – November 14, 2024

The Santa Rosa Planning Commission convened a regular meeting on November 14, 2024, at 4:30 PM. The meeting included a public hearing on the General Plan 2050 Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR), a continuation of the Elm Tree Station item to a date uncertain, and a public hearing on the Lance Drive Housing Development project, which was approved unanimously. Commissioners also heard public comments on non-agenda matters, approved the October 10, 2024 minutes, and received a department report.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Duane DeWitt (Roseland resident) spoke on intelligent transportation systems from Copenhagen, Denmark, advocating for improved bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, tree planting along roads, and cautioning that new housing in Roseland is attracting commuters from other counties, increasing driving and water demand.

Discussion Items

Elm Tree Station EIR (Item 11.1)

Chair Weeks announced that this item, previously continued from October 24, 2024, was being continued again to a date uncertain. No further discussion occurred.

General Plan 2050 Draft Environmental Impact Report (Item 11.2)

Staff from the Planning and Economic Development Department (Amy Nicholson, Supervising Planner; Nancy Woltering, Senior Planner) and Placeworks consultants (Terry McCracken, principal) presented the Draft EIR. The 45-day public review period closes November 20, 2024. The EIR evaluates impacts of the proposed General Plan 2050, which includes land use changes to accommodate growth, a greenhouse gas reduction strategy targeting 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 85% by 2045, and carbon neutrality by 2045.

Key findings: The EIR identifies significant and unavoidable impacts in five areas: agricultural resources (conversion of farmland), air quality (exposure of sensitive receptors to pollutants), noise (construction and traffic), residential vehicle miles traveled (VMT) (increase of 57.9 million additional VMT per year, or about 158,630 daily VMT), and wildfire risk (exacerbation due to development in high-risk areas). Mitigation measures and policies are included but some impacts remain unavoidable at the program level.

Public testimony:

  • Alexa Forester (Bikeable Santa Rosa) opposed the project, citing the projected VMT increase and arguing that the impacts are avoidable with different priorities.
  • Ken McNabb (KMAC Advising, representing property owners in the Todd Creek area) opposed, stating the Draft EIR fails to acknowledge the South Santa Rosa Specific Plan process, which could lead to annexations and additional impacts not analyzed.

Commissioner questions and comments focused on VMT mitigation banks, autonomous vehicle considerations, consistency with the South Santa Rosa Specific Plan, and requests for clarifications in the final EIR (e.g., definition of “established community,” inclusion of street sign standards, updates on police and fire facilities, and corrections to school district references). Staff and consultants (Zach Matley, W Trans) responded, noting that VMT mitigation banks are in early development and that individual projects will still be held to VMT thresholds. The commission took no action; comments will be included in the final EIR.

Lance Drive Housing Development (Item 11.3)

Staff (Connor McKay, Senior Planner) and applicant representatives (Andrew Rosenberg and Sean Murphy, Pacific Development) presented a proposal for a 672-unit apartment complex, 98 single-family homes (small lot subdivision), and 4,800 square feet of community-serving retail on approximately 34.93 acres. The project is within the North Santa Rosa Station Area Specific Plan, near the SMART station. It includes 1,414 parking spaces, a 10-foot-wide Class I bike path along Guerneville Road, two new bus stops, a community garden, and 562 new trees. The project is planned in three phases, with all units electric. The applicant noted that affordable housing will be provided on-site (inclusionary units in phases 1 and 3, in-lieu fee for phase 2). The project is exempt from further CEQA review under the Specific Plan EIR.

Public testimony:

  • Paula Souffle (President, Westbury Condominium HOA) opposed, citing evacuation safety concerns from the 2017 Tubbs Fire and traffic on Guerneville Road.
  • Susan Hicks (Westbury resident) opposed, raising concerns about health impacts of power lines, flood mitigation, noise, and inadequate affordable housing.
  • Azita DeVinci (Westbury homeowner) opposed, emphasizing public safety and evacuation risks.
  • Cassandra Boyd (homeowner on Ponemos Street) opposed, recounting personal experience during the 2017 fire and questioning evacuation planning.
  • Unidentified Spanish-speaking speaker opposed, citing parking issues and wildlife habitat loss.
  • Adrian Covert (Santa Rosa YIMBY) supported, highlighting the project’s proximity to transit and retail as a model for reducing VMT.
  • Calum Weeks (Generation Housing) supported, noting the site is an infill opportunity near a SMART station and critical for meeting housing goals.
  • Abby Arnold (Santa Rosa homeowner) supported, emphasizing the need for housing for workers who currently commute long distances.
  • Alexa Forester (Bikeable Santa Rosa) supported, but urged the city to provide safe bike/pedestrian connections and evacuation plans.

Staff and the Fire Marshal (Paul Lowenthal) and Traffic Engineer (Rob Sprinkle) responded to evacuation concerns, citing improvements since 2017: zone-based evacuation system (project falls in Northwest 2 zone), battery backups at traffic signals, real-time camera monitoring, and phased evacuation plans. The Fire Marshal noted that during the 2020 Glass Fire, the east side of Santa Rosa was evacuated in about 2.5 hours due to these improvements.

All seven commissioners expressed support, stating they could make the required findings. They noted the project aligns with the North Santa Rosa Station Area Specific Plan, provides much-needed housing near transit, and incorporates thoughtful amenities.

Key Outcomes

  • Elm Tree Station EIR (Item 11.1): Continued to a date uncertain.
  • General Plan 2050 Draft EIR (Item 11.2): Public hearing held; no vote. Commission comments will be incorporated into the final EIR, which will return for certification in spring 2025.
  • Lance Drive Housing Development (Item 11.3): Two motions were made by Commissioner Sanders, seconded by Commissioner Pardo, and passed unanimously (7-0):
    • Resolution No. PC-2024-024: Approved a Conditional Use Permit for Phase 2 (98-unit small lot subdivision).
    • Resolution No. PC-2024-025: Adopted the Tentative Map for the entire Lance Drive Housing Development.

The decisions are final unless appealed within 10 calendar days.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved minutes of October 10, 2024, as submitted.

Commissioner Reports

  • Vice Chair Duggan noted she would read notes from her phone due to a hand injury.

Department Reports

  • Deputy Director Jessica Jones reminded that November has only one meeting due to Thanksgiving, and the December 12 meeting will include legislative code amendments and proposed changes to the Lemark alteration permit process.

Meeting Transcript

Okay, uh it is now 4:30, so I'd like to call uh the meeting of November 14th, 2024 to order. Um can you please take roll call? Thank you, Chair. Commissioner Carter. Here. Commissioner Sisko. Here. Commissioner Pardot. Here. Commissioner Peterson. Here. Commissioner Sanders. Here. Vice Chair Duggan. Here. Chair Weeks. Here. Let the record reflect that all commissioners are present. Thank you. And I would like to make an announcement that item 11.1 is continuing to a date uncertain and new noticing for the project with the new hearing date will go out when that date is set. So if any of you are here for that item, I wanted to let you know that before we started the rest of the agenda. Okay, so with that, um approval of minutes, we have one set of minutes from October 10th. Are there any changes or corrections? Okay, doesn't look like there's any. So if you are in the audience and have any comments on the October 10th, 2024 minutes, please make your way to the podium. Seeing no one going towards there, we'll go ahead and uh move on to item number four, public comment. This is an item for non-agenda matters. Um this is a time when any person may address the commission on matters that are not listed on this agenda, but which are within the subject matter jurisdiction of this committee. So you'll have three minutes to make your statement, and if you'd like to make your way to the podium, and I see Mr. DeWitt up there, so um, the overhead if I may. Okay, and we'll get that set up in the timer. Thank you kindly. All right. Are we ready? Hello, my name is Dwayne DeWitt. I'm from Roseland. What I've brought you here today is a strategy from Copenhagen, Denmark involving what they call intelligent transportation systems that dealt with the bicycle approach. Now, as you can see, this picture of all those people, that's actually rush hour. Most of the time there's not that many folks. But the main point of it is is that they have been spending lots of time on what they call the rhythm of the street, and they've been looking at these intelligation systems to get less people driving in cars, especially fast near bicyclists and pedestrians. And you know we've had a lot of people killed on bikes and pedestrians here in our city by cars. Those collisions are called accidents, but you might think it's just neglect on the part of many of these folks. The reason I bring it to you is because you can advise the city council, whereas they might not listen to us regular folks as much. You could tell them if you're gonna be doing general plans and making these big specific plans, such as the downtown specific plan, you should be looking into this type thing. Over in Roseland, a portion is actually in the downtown specific plan now. It's on Sebastopool Road with Dutton Avenue as its end point going towards the east. And there's a lot of acreage there that has the Joe Redota Trail and a section along Roberts Avenue where in the future you might be able to get some really good housing and building going in there that's truly transit-oriented development where people wouldn't have to drive cars. They could walk into the city and do good stuff. Now, with that in mind, here's another one that's from Denmark also. And unfortunately, it's in Danish.

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