Santa Rosa Planning Commission Meeting – January 22, 2026: General Plan Amendment Package
Santa Rosa Planning Commission Meeting – January 22, 2026
The Santa Rosa Planning Commission met on January 22, 2026, at 12:30 PM to consider the first General Plan Amendment Package of the year (PLN 25-0650) and other routine business. The commission approved three resolutions recommending adoption of an addendum to the General Plan 2050 EIR, land use diagram and text amendments, and zoning map amendments for 10 properties.
Consent Calendar
- The minutes from the January 8, 2026 meeting were approved as submitted with no changes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Janice Carman spoke during non‑agenda public comment, urging the commission to limit construction hours to Monday–Friday, 5:30 PM, with no weekend work. She cited personal experience with noise and traffic disruptions in her neighborhood near the hospital.
- Janice Carman again during the public hearing on the General Plan amendment, reiterating her concerns about zoning compatibility and traffic impacts, and referencing a large development project in Solano County.
- Ken McNabb (KMAC Advising), representing the owner of the Maxwell Drive properties, expressed support for the proposed changes and asked the commission to forward a recommendation of approval to the City Council.
Discussion Items
- Department Report (Ms. Jones): Upcoming zoning code amendments for beekeeping regulations and conditional use permit streamlining are open for public review. The South Santa Rosa Specific Plan land use and circulation alternatives report will be released next week, with community workshops in February/March. The City Council will hold a study session on entertainment districts next week.
- General Plan Amendment Package (PLN 25-0650): Staff (Amy Nicholson) presented the package, which includes:
- Land use diagram changes for 33 properties (7 within the Downtown Station Area Specific Plan).
- Addition of two new figures (3A and 3B) to the Circulation Element reflecting bicycle and pedestrian improvements from the Active Transportation Plan.
- Zoning map amendments for 10 properties to align with proposed land uses.
- An addendum to the General Plan EIR concluding no new significant environmental impacts.
- Key clarifications:
- The Maxwell Drive properties (asphalt plant) would be rezoned from neighborhood mixed-use to maker mixed-use to match surrounding parcels; the current use is non‑conforming under existing regulations.
- The Janet Drive property would receive a medium density residential land use and missing‑middle housing overlay, enabling future development including an ADU.
- The Parker Drive neighborhood (20 properties) would be changed to low density residential, except for office‑designated portions on Montgomery Drive.
- Commissioner questions: Addressed details of the proposed changes and confirmed that the eight properties added to the Parker Drive/Montgomery Drive area would be rezoned to low density residential.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution 1 – EIR Addendum: Moved by Vice Chair Duggan, seconded by Commissioner Sanders. Adopted unanimously (6‑0).
- Resolution 2 – General Plan Amendment & Text Changes: Moved by Vice Chair Duggan, seconded by Commissioner Sanders. Adopted unanimously (6‑0).
- Resolution 3 – Zoning Map Amendments: Moved by Vice Chair Duggan, seconded by Commissioner Sanders. Adopted unanimously (6‑0).
All three resolutions recommend approval to the City Council. The meeting adjourned after the votes.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. Okay. Everyone, um, we're gonna get started. And with this, I'd like to call the meeting of the January twenty second, twenty twenty six planning commission to order. If we could have rolled, please. Thank you, Chair. Commissioner Carter. Here. Commissioner Siska? Commissioner Horton? Here. Commissioner Pardo is absent. Commissioner Sanders. Here. Vice Chair Dagan? Here. Chair Weeks. Here. Thank you. Let the record reflect that all members are present with the exception of Commissioner Pardo. Thank you. We have no remote participation. We have one set of minutes from January 8th. Are there any changes to the minutes? Or corrections? Okay, so with that, they will be approved as submitted. And then we will go on to public comments on non-agenda matters. If you are in the audience and want to make a comment that is on an item that is not on our agenda, but with but is within the subject matter jurisdiction. Please go to the podium and I see you up there, Ms. Carmen. And you will have three minutes. And there you go. All I have to say is you have good peripheral vision. Janice Corman here. And I'd like to make a comment, a comment and a request. And that is that I look over a lot of documents in between being here, and it's not just planning or zoning or any of this stuff here, it's a lot of other things as well. I also followed the county in the counties where I started before I came here. I was there for a year and three months before I came here. But anyway, that's because I ran for city council. And with that said, I think that uh I should mention that Terry Saunders was appointed by uh Diana, and uh Diana is from district three, not district four, and that we currently have no one representing us from our district, and that a lot of things get okayed, and it's not very uh happy road for the people that have to put up with what gets okayed, and part of it is that we have no representation for actual area where we live. He lives on McDonald Avenue, which is far away from us. Okay, that said, uh my main thing is having to do with zoning, and this has to do with a draft that I happen to see, and I can't even remember like when I saw it, but it's fairly recently, and it may have to do it with uh other things that are evolving right now, and this is that on Saturday, the hours would be from I believe it was eight o'clock until seven o'clock at night, and this is absolutely horrifying. Nobody should have to come home with the soccer kids, and after having a nice round of tennis at the local park, and have to listen to construction, have to put up with trucks that are near or on their driveway, uh, all the noise and the uh chaos that goes with uh the building, and I happen to know about that because when I first came here, it was clear cut, it was illegal, and nothing was done about it, but I had retaliation about the fact that I outed it. So uh I would like to see Monday through Friday, no later than 5 30, 5 30, and it cuts off. That's it. It had been five o'clock as far as I know. Uh but there should be no machines going on, there should be nobody over on the property from the job, uh, none of it. And I've put up with all of it over the last year and a half that this has happened to me. So I have personal experience with it. It's ugly, and you shouldn't be doing this to the good people of Santa Rosa.
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