Cooler heads prevailed during a Healdsburg Planning Commission meeting March 12.
The meeting was a continuation of the last meeting regarding the North Entry Area Plan (NEAP), which was cancelled midway due to flooding concerns.
Discussion regarding changes to the NEAP became tense at the last meeting, where the commission heard from public comment and had lengthy discussion on several directions to staff.
Time may have been a factor in the calm, allowing more thought in between meetings, but one other event seemed to play into the commission’s new direction — the passage of the Mill District development agreement on March 11 by city council.
The commission’s recommendations for the area at the northern part of town will now use the master conditional use permit (CUP) as a framework similar to the development agreement Replay had with the city, and can encourage a developer to enter into such an agreement.
Meanwhile, it was also brought up that the conversation had become so complex in terms of defining units built due to the city’s growth ordinance.
The commission is moving ahead with the possibility of a hotel at the site. The cap of 130 units will remain. Staff noted the environmental report would then be valid no matter the end units as that was the cap in place during the study.
In order to qualify for that hotel, however, the developer must provide a minimum of 280 residential units on the site.
This does not specify what types of units, though there are already requirements placed on developers for inclusionary housing. Working with the developer to increase that number would come during the CUP.
Height limits on the possible hotel and residential units was also taken away from the NEAP, as there are already limits on them through the city code. It was said that a favorable plan would build higher parts of the hotel toward Highway 101.
The diagram map was scrapped, as it did not reflect the spirit of the NEAP. Instead, language added will require a grid-like series of roads and walkways that will both connect the development and provide emergency access.
Senior housing will now be included in residential units and not separate as before.
Square footage limits on floor area were also lifted for the project.
The final draft of the NEAP and the environmental report will be read next, likely in late April.
