Editorial

Appreciates Shaffer

The planning commission met last week and approved the Replay Mixed Use Project for a 53-room hotel and 206 residential units. They did not recommend more middle income and affordable housing to meet the city’s targeted housing goals. It was very disappointing. Approximately 146 units (70 percent) will be high - end market rate homes, speculated to be over $1 million each. This will encourage out of town and second-home buyers. About 80 percent of the residents will not be able to afford these units. They also recommended 40 affordable units (less than 80 percent median income), and 22 middle-income units (120-160 percent median income) -- very few in the big picture of 208 units. What has been the recent community discussion on affordable and middle-income housing? In the past two years there has been an emphasis on this type of housing by the city council, the community housing committee, ballot measures, and other public processes. This is reflected as follows: Housing Action Plan (HAP), Measure P passage (more middle income rental units) city sponsored community survey (extreme concern on high housing costs), the SDAT (recommendations for affordable and middle income housing), and rejection of Measure N in 2016 (residents not wanting more market rate housing). Replay is well aware of all this. If the community wishes to encourage housing affordability and homes that are “affordable by design,” they need to be pro-active and write letters and show up. This is the largest proposed residential project since the late 1990’s with Parkland Farms. The developer is proposing a minimal number of affordable and middle income housing units. There are recommendations that Replay should provide another 20-40 middle-income units, especially since most of the market rate units (146) will likely cost over $1 million each and are unaffordable to most of the residents. They have a right to make a profit, but the city needs to tell them what also needs to be built in order to meet our housing goals and aspirations. The next step is for the city council to review this in March. All of the council members ran on pledges of more affordable housing. They have both a challenge and an obligation to help the City meet its housing goals with this 208-unit project. Let’s see what they can do.

Parking courtesy

No Cloverdale casino

EDITOR: I am writing to you about something that feels so wrong

I was recently reminded of a 1912 article published in The Healdsburg Tribune which reported that Healdsburg would soon have eight passenger trains daily. The article describes the increased convenience for Healdsburg businessmen who would be able to make a round trip to the City in one day, and for the San Francisco businessman “whose family might be spending the summer at one of the many resorts” in our area. I assume the link across the bay to San Francisco was a ferry from Sausalito. Anyway, it sounds pretty good to me and I hope I'm alive and kicking if and when the SMART train is running along the same route as 1912 trains and replicates their service.

After Thanksgiving dinner at my brother-in-law’s, the conversation turned to politics. It had been proposed earlier in the day by someone who doesn’t particularly like a ruckus that this year we avoid talking about politics. It’s not as if someone says, OK, we are now going to talk about politics. Around the table were extended families members from Amador County (where we gathered), Sonoma County, Kern County, and Shasta County. We were talking about how disparate parts of California see themselves and each, about sports, schools, the environment, agriculture, jobs, churches. Having gotten that far down the road, the next step into politics was probably inevitable. My brother-in-law said, “No offense, Marvin, but the religious right scare the bleep out of me.” Someone else said, “Marvin’s not that conservative.” He said, “He is about some things.” The other person said, “He’s liberal about some things.” I didn’t have to say anything, and so I didn’t. The conversation continued on its way without me.

A lot of public interest has been expressed regarding the new building on the corner of North and Center Streets. Questions related to parking requirements, changes to the Development Agreement (“DA”) and the impact the changes of the building’s tenants have on the DA have been recent topics of conversation in our community. We have prepared this information in an effort to inform residents of the changes to this project.