By GEORGE LAUER
THE SANTA ROSA PRESS DEMOCRAT
Article published - May 25, 2007
Santa Rosa's "extreme makeover" plans for downtown drew sharp criticism Thursday, almost all of it from people urging the Planning Commission to add affordable housing and green building standards to the 20-year plan.
Close to 100 people, many of them wearing green stickers saying "Housing for All" and Build It Green," raised hands in agreement with calls to add specific numbers for affordable housing units and to adopt environmentally friendly building requirements.
Organized by the Accountable Development Coalition, a group of 13 organizations, speaker after speaker urged the commission to require 20 percent low-income housing, 20 percent low- to moderate-income housing and 60 percent market-value housing.
"Our concerns in this plan are aroused not by what's in the plan, but what isn't in it," said Julia Prange, representing the coalition.
In addition to affordable housing and green building standards, she urged the commission to add pedestrian and bicycle accommodations and to pay attention to mass transit needs.
Several other special interest groups -- from the Council on Aging to a member of the city school board -- called for affordable housing requirements.
Among the approximately 70 speakers was Bill Kortum, the dean of Sonoma County environmental activists. He called the downtown plan an opportunity to develop "a model of transit-oriented development."
"I urge you to listen to the suggestions you're hearing tonight," he said.
After listening to about three hours of testimony, commissioners asked planning staff to examine possible amendments to deal with affordable housing, green building and other issues raised at the hearing, among them parks, parking and bicycle accommodations.
The meeting was the final public hearing for the Santa Rosa Downtown Station Area Plan, a mammoth proposal to create a denser, more urban downtown centered around a proposed commuter rail line.
The plan calls for taller, denser buildings than allowed elsewhere in the city, with businesses on the ground floor and living quarters above, all built around a commuter rail line known as SMART, for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit.
The Santa Rosa station in Railroad Square is expected to be the busiest of 14 stops on the line that would run between Cloverdale and Larkspur.
The 70-mile rail system is still a proposal, not a reality. Marin and Sonoma voters failed to come up with enough votes in November. The issue probably will be on a ballot again next year.
The Planning Commission plans to certify the plan's environmental impact report at an upcoming meeting. The commission then will make a recommendation to the City Council.
The Downtown Station Area Plan calls for 3,249 residential units, nearly 2,300 of them within a mile-wide circle extending from a train station proposed for Railroad Square.
City planner Ken MacNab said the downtown development study, funded by a $450,000 grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, is part of an attempt "to create a transit-supported environment" by building up instead of allowing Santa Rosa to sprawl at its edges.
The development envisioned in the downtown plan would accommodate an estimated 6,000 residents above the 210,000 now expected to call Santa Rosa home by 2020.
Although the plan was developed with the commuter train in mind, city officials said it can be pursued even if the tax is never approved.
The underlying idea is to de-emphasize reliance on automobiles by developing high-density residential, commercial and office buildings along major rail and transit corridors.
Most of that development would be concentrated in two areas, downtown west of E Street and in mostly industrial areas along Cleveland Avenue, Wilson Street and Sebastopol Road that are bisected by the railroad tracks.
You can reach Staff Writer George Lauer at 521-5220 or george.lauer@pressdemocrat.com
THE SANTA ROSA PRESS DEMOCRAT
Article published - May 25, 2007
Santa Rosa's "extreme makeover" plans for downtown drew sharp criticism Thursday, almost all of it from people urging the Planning Commission to add affordable housing and green building standards to the 20-year plan.
Close to 100 people, many of them wearing green stickers saying "Housing for All" and Build It Green," raised hands in agreement with calls to add specific numbers for affordable housing units and to adopt environmentally friendly building requirements.
Organized by the Accountable Development Coalition, a group of 13 organizations, speaker after speaker urged the commission to require 20 percent low-income housing, 20 percent low- to moderate-income housing and 60 percent market-value housing.
"Our concerns in this plan are aroused not by what's in the plan, but what isn't in it," said Julia Prange, representing the coalition.
In addition to affordable housing and green building standards, she urged the commission to add pedestrian and bicycle accommodations and to pay attention to mass transit needs.
Several other special interest groups -- from the Council on Aging to a member of the city school board -- called for affordable housing requirements.
Among the approximately 70 speakers was Bill Kortum, the dean of Sonoma County environmental activists. He called the downtown plan an opportunity to develop "a model of transit-oriented development."
"I urge you to listen to the suggestions you're hearing tonight," he said.
After listening to about three hours of testimony, commissioners asked planning staff to examine possible amendments to deal with affordable housing, green building and other issues raised at the hearing, among them parks, parking and bicycle accommodations.
The meeting was the final public hearing for the Santa Rosa Downtown Station Area Plan, a mammoth proposal to create a denser, more urban downtown centered around a proposed commuter rail line.
The plan calls for taller, denser buildings than allowed elsewhere in the city, with businesses on the ground floor and living quarters above, all built around a commuter rail line known as SMART, for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit.
The Santa Rosa station in Railroad Square is expected to be the busiest of 14 stops on the line that would run between Cloverdale and Larkspur.
The 70-mile rail system is still a proposal, not a reality. Marin and Sonoma voters failed to come up with enough votes in November. The issue probably will be on a ballot again next year.
The Planning Commission plans to certify the plan's environmental impact report at an upcoming meeting. The commission then will make a recommendation to the City Council.
The Downtown Station Area Plan calls for 3,249 residential units, nearly 2,300 of them within a mile-wide circle extending from a train station proposed for Railroad Square.
City planner Ken MacNab said the downtown development study, funded by a $450,000 grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, is part of an attempt "to create a transit-supported environment" by building up instead of allowing Santa Rosa to sprawl at its edges.
The development envisioned in the downtown plan would accommodate an estimated 6,000 residents above the 210,000 now expected to call Santa Rosa home by 2020.
Although the plan was developed with the commuter train in mind, city officials said it can be pursued even if the tax is never approved.
The underlying idea is to de-emphasize reliance on automobiles by developing high-density residential, commercial and office buildings along major rail and transit corridors.
Most of that development would be concentrated in two areas, downtown west of E Street and in mostly industrial areas along Cleveland Avenue, Wilson Street and Sebastopol Road that are bisected by the railroad tracks.
You can reach Staff Writer George Lauer at 521-5220 or george.lauer@pressdemocrat.com
See what's free at AOL.com.
