On April 4, the Healdsburg City Council will be considering ordinances amending the development agreements between the city and the developers for the Enso Village senior living project and the North Village project, a project that includes low and middle-income housing, a hotel and a senior retirement community at the north end of town on Healdsburg Avenue.
The council will also consider adopting a resolution approving the first amendment to the franchise agreement between the city and Recology Sonoma-Marin, which would come with trash hauling rate increases.
The city council meeting starts at 6 p.m. and will be held in-person at Healdsburg City Hall and online via Zoom.
Presentations
Monday’s regular council meeting will start off with the recognition of various city employees with milestone anniversaries. The council will also receive a presentation from the Healdsburg High School Eco-Arts Club.
Healdsburg City Manager Jeff Kay will provide a COVID-19 and drought/water supply update.
Enso Village
The council will consider approving an amendment to the development agreement that changes the affordability levels of 10 of the 30 affordable units in the Enso Village senior living community.
On Feb. 23, the Healdsburg Planning Commission adopted a resolution recommending that the city council approve the amendment to the Enso Village development agreement.
According to the agenda report — which can be found here — the amendment is being requested because the developer determined that not all of the employees and volunteers who will utilize the affordable housing portion of the project have incomes that are within the very low to low-income threshold.
When the city first approved the development agreement for the project, it intended to have a portion of the senior living community to be reserved as housing for employees. The developer’s intention is to house 20 senior zen teachers at the facility.
The Enso Village is being developed via a partnership between the San Francisco Zen Center and the Kendal Corporation.
North Village amendment
The next development agreement amendment the council will consider is in regards to the fire substation that was originally intended to be designed and constructed in conjunction with the Montage Healdsburg project.
In 2011 when the Montage development agreement was approved with developer Sonoma Luxury Resort LLC., the developers’ capped contribution amount for the substation was $1.75 million, an amount that was expected to be enough for station construction. Yet, cost estimates came in at $3.5 million and it was clear that the city would need to find an additional funding source.
In early 2020, the council directed city staff to identify potential revenue sources for the funding shortfall and in April 2020, the city entered into a development agreement with developer Comstock for the North Village project. The agreement requires Comstock to construct the fire substation and to contribute $2 million to the project.
An amendment to the Montage project development agreement removed Sonoma Luxury Resort, LLC’s obligation to construct the substation and instead required them to place the balance of their $1.75 million contribution into escrow.
Fast forward to 2022, and construction costs have once again gone up and the city and Comstock have discussed the possibility of constructing the substation in a phased approach and that the city would complete the interior, however, it was determined that this approach isn’t feasible. This proposed amendment would modify the responsibilities of the parties so that city public works can oversee construction of the substation.
According to the agenda report, “Specifically, the amendment would allow Comstock to fulfill its obligation through a cash payment to the city equaling the maximum amount of construction costs Comstock would have been responsible for under the DA (development agreement). The City would then use the contributions from Comstock and SLR (Sonoma Luxury Resort) in combination with other funding sources to complete construction of the Fire Substation.”
Recology Sonoma-Marin amendment
The proposed amendments to the city’s agreement with Recology Sonoma-Marin requires the city’s waste haulers — Recology — to offer organic waste collection services to all customers, perform route reviews, contamination monitoring, noticing, reporting services and education and outreach.
In order for Recology to perform these extra services, a special adjustment to the regularly scheduled 2023 rate increase needs to be adopted to account for the additional annual expenses incurred and resources needed by Recology.
The proposed rate increase for these additional services is 3.30%.
To view the agenda and the agenda packet, click here and click on April 4 agenda or agenda packet.
