Planning commission’s first look at lumber yard redevelopment proposal
The Mill District, a new neighborhood proposed for a 10-acre parcel just south of downtown Healdsburg, will get its first public airing next week, in front of the Healdsburg Planning Commission.
The project proponent, Replay Destinations, is based in Vancouver, British Columbia and bills itself on its website as a “highly skilled and innovative developer of destination resorts.”
Replay purchased the former Nu Forest Products site three years ago, which helped Nu Forest move to a larger location in Cloverdale.
Since then, Replay representatives have moved to Healdsburg, set up an office and presented their ideas to community and business groups in a series of forums.
The overall concept for the project has always included a hotel, shops, green space and market rate housing, but the proposal has evolved in one significant way, the affordable housing component.
The city’s inclusionary housing rules require Replay to make sure at least 15 percent of the housing units are affordable to low and moderate income families. Given that Replay hopes to build 140 units of market rate units, the math works out to about 24 additional affordable units.
Replay’s David Hill said that his firm commissioned a study of housing types in Healdsburg, which identified a gap in small rentals that might be suitable for one or two people.
“We are proposing 48 units of affordable, twice what the city requires,” said Hill, explaining that after seeing the gap in small units and hearing city leaders say that affordable housing is a top priority, Replay decided to build smaller units, 500 square feet each, that will serve those who can’t afford rents in the community. Hill said Replay is working with Eden Housing to manage the rentals.
Hill said the market rate housing will also be somewhat different. “This is a new model for small cities like Healdsburg,” he said, noting that most of Healdsburg’s market rate housing consists of single family, detached homes. The Replay vision is for large buildings, with multiple attached living units in sizes up to 3,000 square feet, with parking underneath. “This is multi-family living in a small city,” Hill said.
In addition to housing, the project preserves a small grove of redwood trees near Healdsburg Avenue, in what Replay describes as a “publicly accessible open space” that will include an “adventure play” area open to the community. Replay has also proposed community gardens, a 53-room hotel and 15,000 square feet of commercial spaces. None of the spaces are spoken for, but Hill said he hopes that at least one of them will include a small tavern that caters to residents and visitors.
Hill said he understands that parking is important to the community, and said the project, when built out, will provide 432 parking spaces, more than what is required by city ordinances.
The Replay request of the planning commission next week includes subdividing the parcel, allowing the historic mill buildings to be demolished and the removal of four trees that qualify as heritage trees under the city tree ordinance.
Hill said that if the requests are granted, his crews will begin clearing the site and demolishing the mill buildings. “We’d like to have it cleaned up by the time the roundabout opens, so people don’t have to see the abandoned buildings.”
The meeting next week is not the only chance the public will have to see the project. Hill said he expects multiple public hearings to consider various aspects of the project.
Hill also acknowledged that the Mill District’s market rate housing will be subject to Healdsburg’s growth management rules, which allow a maximum of 90 market rate units to be built in a three-year period. While the affordable units are exempt from growth controls, the 140 market rate units are subject to competition for housing allocations. Hill said building out the $250 million Mill District project will take six to eight years, at least.
The Healdsburg Planning Commission meets next Tuesday, April 24 at 6 p.m. at Healdsburg City Hall. For more information on the Replay proposal, visit http://milldistricthealdsburg.com.
