Santa Rosa Planning Commission Meeting – March 27, 2025: Annual General Plan Review
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Santa Rosa Planning Commission Regular Meeting – March 27, 2025
The Planning Commission met on March 27, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber. The main agenda item was the presentation and discussion of the 2024 General Plan, Inclusionary Housing & Growth Management Annual Review Report. The commission unanimously voted to recommend forwarding the report to the City Council for approval. No public comments were made on any agenda item.
Discussion Items
10.1 – 2024 General Plan, Inclusionary Housing & Growth Management Annual Review Report
City Planner Sheila Wolski presented the report, which summarized progress on 12 General Plan elements during calendar year 2024. Key highlights included:
- Economic Vitality: Adoption of the Economic Development Strategy in April 2024; creation of a business concierge program and a work café at City Hall; ongoing investment in Montgomery Village Shopping Center; preliminary discussions with the United Soccer League for professional teams; and a pop-up business initiative for vacant downtown storefronts.
- Downtown Revitalization: Free weekend parking in city garages from Thanksgiving through January 1; installation of Tavoli-style string lights along 4th Street; progress on the Santa Rosa Public Art Walk.
- Housing: 297 residential building permits were issued in 2024 (156 Reserve A, 141 Reserve B). Notable projects included Mahonia Glen (99 affordable units), South Park Commons (62 affordable units), the Cannery (129 affordable units), 420 Mendocino (the Felix), and Fountain Grove Apartments (239 units). Approved but not yet built projects include Cornerstone (114 units), Cherry Ranch (67 units), and Lance Drive (672 multifamily units, 98 small-lot single-family homes, plus retail).
- Inclusionary Housing: All 297 permits issued were for market-rate units; $1.52 million in lieu fees were collected to support affordable housing.
- Growth Management: The ordinance caps residential growth at 800 allotments per year. The city’s estimated population as of 2024 was 174,890. The city is working to align the growth management ordinance with the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) and may remove the growth management element in the General Plan update (2050).
- Transportation: Multiple bicycle and pedestrian improvements were completed, including class II and IV bike lanes; the Southeast Greenway acquisition closed; the Finley Aquatic Center spray ground is expected to open summer 2025.
- Open Space & Conservation: The Creek Stewardship Program engaged 9,968 residents, removing 1,160 cubic yards of trash; lower Colgan Creek projects continue; zero waste efforts included 1,104 site visits and 187 trainings by Recology.
- Climate & Greenhouse Gases: A draft community-wide greenhouse gas reduction strategy is being prepared as part of the General Plan update, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2045.
- Youth & Family: The Youth Unlimited Rides program (free bus rides for youth) is funded through June 2025; the city’s violence prevention partnership (funded by Measure H) launched a Clean Slate Tattoo Removal Program in 2024 and a street outreach/crisis response team in January 2025.
- Public Safety: Police response times for priority one calls averaged 6 minutes 31 seconds in 2024 (down from 6:57 in 2023). Fire services are conducting a standards of coverage study. The In-Response mental health crisis team handled 4,977 calls in 2024, diverting the majority from police officers and improving priority one response times to sub-six minutes.
Commissioners asked questions and provided feedback on housing production, inclusionary fees, growth management, public safety staffing, greenhouse gas targets, street performers, Fremont Park, Roseland Creek Park, the Zawa Fountain, and the In-Response program. Staff committed to including more longitudinal data (e.g., year-over-year response times) in future reports. No members of the public spoke.
Key Outcomes
- The commission voted 7-0 (motion by Vice Chair Duggan, seconded by Commissioner Sanders) to recommend the 2024 General Plan, Inclusionary Housing & Growth Management Annual Review Report be forwarded to the City Council for approval.
- Staff noted that the report will be submitted to the state Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation after council acceptance.
- The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. Um I'm like to call the March twenty-seventh, twenty twenty-five meeting of the planning commission to order. And could we please have roll? Thank you, Chair. Commissioner Carter. Here. Commissioner Sisko. Here. Commissioner Pardot. Here. Commissioner Peterson. Oh my gosh. Commissioner Horton. Here. Commissioner Sanders. Here. Vice Chair Duggan. Here. Chair Weeks. Here. Let the record reflect that all commissioners are present. Thank you. And we don't have any remote participation. We have one set of minutes, March thirteenth, twenty twenty-five. Are there any comments? I'll abstain because it wasn't at the last meeting. Thank you. So any other comments or questions? Okay. So those will stand as approved. Okay, I'm going to call a public comment on this because we need to, but there's nobody in here. So if you do have a comment, please on the minutes, please make your way to the podium. Seeing no one rise, I will close that. And we will move on to the public comment portion. Seeing no one rise, I will go ahead and close the public comment on this and bring it back to the commission, and we go on to commission business. Duties include implementing of plans, ordinances, and policies relating to land use matters, assisting in writing and implementing the general plan and area plan, 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. So congratulations, Miles. And I now that I've thoroughly embarrassed you and myself. So if there are any public comments on item 5.2 commission reports, please go to the podium. Seeing no one, we will go on to item 5.3. We have nothing on that, and so item six. Um Amy Nicholson is sitting in today for Jessica Jones. So, Amy, do you have anything to share with us? Thank you, Chair Weeks and members of the commission. Just um a few items that may be of interest. Uh, one is that the cannery uh apartment project is um in the process of leasing units, and they will be holding a um a ribbon cutting in the near future. Um, also there's a large project, uh multifamily project on Humboldt Street. So this is 425 Humboldt Street, which contains uh 299 proposed units that was approved by the city zoning administrator last week. And um just a note that the application period for the design review and preservation board has been extended to April the 7th, and the city council um still plans to hold interviews for that board at its April 15th meeting. And that concludes my update.
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