Okay, everyone.

I'd like to call the August fourteenth, twenty twenty five meeting of the planning commission to order, and if we could have roll please.

Commissioner Carter.

Commissioner Sisko.

Commissioner Horton.

Commissioner Pardo.

Commissioner Sanders.

We have one set of minutes from July 24th.

Are there any changes or corrections, additions?

Okay.

So none for that.

If you are in the chambers and wish to make a comment on the minutes, please make your way to the podium.

Seeing no one, I will go ahead and close the public comment period on the minutes, and then we go to public comment period on non-agenda items.

And Ms.

Carmen, do you want to go first?

Yes, thank you.

Good afternoon, uh Planning Commissioners, Janice Carmen.

Um I just want to uh bring up the importance of trees in Santa Rosa and or Sonoma County too, um, including um the clear cutting.

And you know probably what I've talked about before about the clear cutting that has happened in my neighborhood.

And um I think that there should be uh greater education on uh trees and how our environment uh evolves, not just specific thing like uh about the creeks or cleaning up the creeks or the ocean and cleaning up the ocean, you know, things like that.

I I think that it should be part of everyone's education.

And I studied uh forestry in a different state, but um once the trees are gone, they're gone.

And and it's very, very tragic.

And uh there's also uh infrastructure with the trees that has just come to my attention recently about how the street has imploded and is caved in and cracked.

And uh these were very old trees, over 75 years old, and uh there were about 48 to uh 48 trees, I believe, that were cut uh to the ground.

And it's also a flood um floodplain.

So there's underwater running beneath the trees, and it's a sustainable uniquely um applicable um plan with with the trees, and I feel like the trees get sort of uh short-shifted, uh, and we have a lot of them here, and we're very, very fortunate.

And the trees are largely responsible for uh the air quality and uh also our mostly good water.

And um, I think people need to really realize that they're a leave living breathing thing, and during COVID, uh someone said to me we're all in this together, and they were talking about COVID, but we're all in this together for the climate, whether we like it or not, whether you believe in science or you don't believe in science, it's all related.

And that's just what I want to communicate today is that we get more efficient and motivated to do more education around trees, and that we're also very careful when we cut and allow uh public building or any kind of building.

Thank you.

I'd like to check you down there.

Okay, Mr.

DeWitt, when you're ready and when the overhead's ready.

Hello, my name is Dwayne DeWitt.

I'm from Roseland.

I brought this document from 28 years ago when the City of Santa Rosa was part of what was called a RUDAT, American Institute of Architects came to the town, talked with us about how they were gonna make things better.

And I do believe we need to have a root at right now over for Roseland.

Basically, planning is politics, and the politics right now is that housing gets to go in anywhere it wants to, especially in Roseland, and they're not paying attention to the larger uh issues at hand.

One of those issues is that the infrastructure hasn't kept pace with what's going on.

I have a document here from the uh county permit and resource management department.

It's only uh 18 years old, but basically it pointed out that back in the day that the uh Roseland School District in the city had not adequately prepared to take care of the walkways along Burbank Avenue as it was improved that the risk to pedestrians by a new school that was being put in was high.

And what's happened now is two housing developments have gone in along Burbank Avenue also, and they're not preparing the entire street for the needs of the community.

With this in mind, there's been uh a rumor that we may be able to get um what's known as a traffic signal at the corner of um Hearn Avenue and Burbank Avenue.

We've been asking for that for 20 years.

They're saying it might happen this year.

One of the things to keep in mind is the people who live in the community the longest do pay attention to what happens, and they're very concerned that the city allows numerous things to happen without catching up on the cumulative impacts that those things will have on the neighborhoods.

It's really, really important that you folks be those advocates for the community.

You may see them yourselves and the district uh elected official that appointed you as all you're answering to.

But it's really important that you, as this planning commission, take on the advanced planning and not just rely upon staff, but you yourselves talk with the community.

We haven't had a forum out there in over a decade about what's going on.

Now they're putting in this new development up at the Roseland Village Shopping Center, plowing in hundreds and hundreds of more housing, which has been going on along Sebastopol Road all the last two to three years.

So thousands of new residents and thousands of more cars have come into Roseland since we've had any kind of a real RUDAT type of approach to what's going on.

You folks could ask for that, and we could get it going.

We'll be asking our elected official, Mr.

Alvarez to do that.

We understand, though, that it's the majority rule, and the downtown city folks have never really cared about us over there.

So please speak up for the disadvantaged, underserved, overburdened of community of Roseland.

Thank you kindly.

Thank you.