We request that the city of Healdsburg’s 2017 goals include a plan for sustainable tourism. The plan would initiate a study and eventually create a set of measures to balance tourism growth with the needs of residents and the economic and social costs associated with tourism. Importantly, to maintain the land use status quo while a study is pending, the city should immediately enact a moratorium on new hotel and tasting room approvals.
Benefits, impacts of tourism. Tourism has many benefits, particularly on economic health and cultural development, and it should continue to play a vital role in our community.
However, tourism has negative impacts. These include: low paying service jobs in hotels, restaurants, wine bars, etc.; rising housing and rental prices that price out workers and families and displace retirees; high business rents that diminish shopping choices for locals; promotion of Healdsburg as a destination contributes to the rise of second- and third-home ownership, and vacation rentals, further eroding the housing stock; visitors increase congestion and parking problems; tourism creates unrecovered infrastructure/municipal costs; and a sense the downtown has been taken over by tourist-oriented special events, that fulltime residents have lost our common area to out-of-towners.
Future growth. Tourism is poised for future growth, which will intensify impacts on residents and increase the ratio of tourists to our small population. There are 37 tasting rooms in town, and we apparently have about 900 lodging rooms operating or approved for construction. In addition, based on zoning and demand, several hundred more rooms (estimated 350 to 800) can be built. (Compounding the growth impacts, there are at least 200 vacation rental rooms in the unincorporated area surrounding Healdsburg.)
Plus, various touristic proposals such as additional tasting rooms, bars, wineries, and event centers are under consideration. There is no plan for managing this growth.
Bring back R/UDAT. Given the 1982 R/UDAT (Regional Urban Design Assistance Team) report recommending a tourism plan (encouraging balance between residents and visitors ― page 7) and the current need to manage tourism growth, the city should invite the American Institute of Architects team back to help develop a Sustainable Tourism Plan.
The community has repeatedly called for balancing tourism and residents’ needs. For example:
The general plan states the city will “balance resident and visitor needs,” promote a “balanced economy” to guard against a downturn in any single sector, and “avoid an over-concentration of a single type of use” (e.g., wine tasting rooms) in the downtown;
The 2013 community and stakeholders’ charette meetings requested better balance;
The community successfully opposed the Kessler hotel proposal;
Both sides in the Measure R campaign warned of excessive tourism;
Numerous public comments (letters to the editor, commentaries, and city council meetings) warn of quality of life and other impacts, and foresee a tipping point;
Locals raised an outcry over Fitch Mountain events associated with tourism.
Here is a proposed version of the goal:
The goal: Sustainable Tourism – Strategic Initiative: Quality of Life; Economic Diversity and Innovation; Infrastructure & Facilities
Description: Conduct a comprehensive study of tourism impacts, including future growth in the industry. It should include: impacts on residents’ quality of life; small town character; housing; municipal budget (both revenues and burdens); zoning; the local environment (e.g., traffic, parking, water supply); and the goal of economic diversity.
“Tourism” includes but is not limited to hotels and tasting rooms.
To aid the study, conduct a public outreach program in the neighborhoods including a survey to understand residents’ concerns about the effects of tourism.
Develop a Sustainable Tourism Plan with measures to balance tourism with residents’ needs and to promote a balanced economy.
Please tell us how we can help the city move forward on the tourism management issue.
Signed by — Denise Hunt, Gail Jonas, Richard Clar, Todd Everett, Warren Watkins, John Diniakos, Vesna Breznikar, Elizabeth Holmes, Sue McMillan, Maureen Mousley, Tim Meinken, Marian Murphy, Joel Billman, Martha Sherratt, Laura Beach, Bonnie Grini, Hank Skewis, Janis Watkins, Merrilyn Joyce, Robert Nuese, Heidi Marino, Kate Desmond, Michael Hogan, Bob Combs, Nancy Combs, Claudia Barron, Sophie Phelps, John Bishop, Linda Cook.
