Both aim to tackle affordable housing and balance needs of residents and tourists
After bins full of mail-in ballots were counted, the official Sonoma County election results were finalized on Monday, Dec. 3 and the results remain the same with incumbent Leah Gold and newcomer Evelyn Mitchell getting the most votes for the two council member seats. Now that Gold and Mitchell have officially secured the seats, the Tribune sat down with the two council member-elects individually to discuss their goals for the new term, and both cited the desire to tackle affordable housing and balance the needs of both residents and tourists in regards to hotel development.
And while both have similar goals, they both have a unique set of skills and viewpoints to bring to the dais in the new year.
In addition to affordable housing, Gold, a seasoned city council member, wants to focus on improving connectivity between parks and schools and perhaps moderating second homeowners, while Mitchell wants to provide a fresh take on infrastructure and a renewed sense of concise goal setting when it comes to topic discussion and meetings.
With these various goals, we broke down what each one means and how each council member hopes to accomplish them.
Gold
Affordable housing is often on the minds of many in Sonoma County and especially in Healdsburg due to extremely high costs of living, making it even difficult for middle- income families to secure an adequate home. According to the state of California, households considered to be very low income earn, “50 percent or less of area median income,” with low-income households defined as earning 50 to 80 percent below area median income. Moderate-income households are typically defined as 80 to 120 percent below the median income.
The median income for Sonoma County is currently at $84,100 per year, meaning 50 percent less, or $42,050, would be considered very low, $67,280 low and around $75,690 to be moderate.
Consequently, one of Gold’s goals for the new term is to focus on creating more affordable housing for low and moderate income families and while that task may seem daunting with the lack of funds from the city’s redevelopment agency, Gold is up to the task.
“Affordable housing is only going to be built if we have some sort of public participation,” Gold said, referring to securing funds through sales tax or nonprofits. “Historically we had our redevelopment agency where we got to keep a lot more of our property taxes local and send less to the state. It was a steady income stream that was basically dedicated to affordable housing and that’s how we built all of the affordable housing we have, but we lost that stream when the governor abolished the redevelopment agencies during the recession and I don’t think they are coming back, so that leaves us with a lot fewer options.”
So how can the city afford to create more affordable housing? Measure S, a two percent sales tax increase that was passed by voters, may help by putting more coin in city coffers.
“That doesn’t really net a whole lot of money so in addition we will need to find some other funding sources whether its grants, bonds or a sales tax,” Gold said.
She added, “We have to explore these options because I feel like affordable housing is the right thing to do for people who are struggling, but it is also the right thing to do for our community, culturally and economically.”
And while grants or sales tax for the creation of more affordable housing may be part of the solution, Gold expressed concerns over second homes/vacation homes, which limit housing inventory and can drive up prices.
“I feel very concerned about how the central part of Healdsburg is being transformed by second homeowners — basically full blocks are kind of being emptied out and this has an affect on the fabric of our community living here, but it also drives up home prices and can really slow our progress on dealing with a housing shortage,” Gold said.
To address this Gold and her fellow council members will discuss in the new year how the city can analyze how many homes are second homes and what percentage of home sales go towards folks who do not intend to use it as their primary residence.
“We will then look towards some sort of legal measure that could be used to discourage it or provide some additional funding for affordable housing,” Gold said of the plan.
Like Mitchell, she also wants to focus on carefully balancing the needs of residents and tourists when it comes to hotel development and activity.
Gold’s approach towards this sticky issue is keeping a fair and balanced outlook. For instance, Gold recently supported a city ordinance that was passed during a December city council meeting that will limit hotel rooms in the downtown plaza to 67, but will allow for hotels with no more than five rooms to be developed in the city’s commercial district.
This policy addresses resident’s hotel boom concerns by capping development in the Plaza, but also keeps the needs of tourists in check by still providing plenty of current and future lodging options around town.
“We started down the path of limiting hotel development,” Gold said. “But I don’t see tourism as sort of a negative as some people seem to. It is our industry and I think it creates a lot of cultural advantages… and we offer wonderful community events, cultural activities and recreation for both our residents and tourists to enjoy.”
A unique vision for the city
In addition to working on affordable housing and scaling back hotel development, honing in on park expansion and connectivity is another important objective for Gold.
“We want to create more river access and generally I am really more interested in connectivity between our river, Fitch Mountain and our Healdsburg Ridge open space and just making it more of a walkable circuit,” Gold said.
She also mentioned a dream project of hers would be to create a safe, off-road cycling path adjacent to the vineyards where bicyclists could safely bike without having to worry about sharing the road.
Lastly, she cited working to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging more residents to use green energy (City operations such as the water treatment plant already use 100 percent renewable energy).
Mitchell
Even though Mitchell is a newcomer to Healdsburg’s city hall, she carries similar goals as Gold, also embracing the tourist/resident balancing act and expressing a desire to create more affordable housing.
When asked of her opinion on hotel development, Mitchell said, “I think there has been a frenzy of hotel development with Hotel Trio and the Montage… it feels like too much too fast, yet I would like to see what their impacts and effects on traffic are before we take a stance. We need to be sure of all the facts.”
Yet, Mitchell is sure of one thing, which is the importance of retaining that equilibrium between the needs of both tourists and residents.
“It is a double-edged sword. There is so much charm at the Plaza with the farmers’ markets, etc. It has a wonderful small town feel, which is what tourists and our residents like. I want to keep that and continue to keep people engaged,” she said.
In regards to housing, Mitchell also expressed a desire to create more affordable housing throughout Healdsburg.
“I think there are a lot of great things in Healdsburg but I think affordable housing is one issue that needs attention,” she said. “I don’t pretend to be an expert on low-income housing financing, but I do like (solutions) like Burbank Housing and I think we could use financing, government programs and city land for (housing) projects.”
When asked her opinion on the issue, which not only affects low-income but also middle-income families, Mitchell said, “We are missing the middle income. We are doing some apartment projects right now like the Grove Street project, but I would like to see more projects like that continued.”
Different sets of goals
Even though both Gold and Mitchell share a similar vision of goals for the city in the new year, Mitchell added a different set of aspirations that she would like to work on — infrastructure, meeting agenda goal-setting and local business advocacy.
When asked what she would like to improve and or change about the city, Mitchell mentioned working on continuing to improve the city’s infrastructure such as bridges and roads.
She cited the roundabout as a major infrastructure accomplishment and said she would like to see the city continue that focus on improving roads.
However, since Mitchell hails from a business, nonprofit and leadership background, she said a goal very important to her is to create a renewed sense of just how important local businesses are to the community.
“I would like to work in changing what businesses in Healdsburg means to the community,” she said, adding she would bring a viewpoint of considering the effects on businesses when it comes to deciding on an ordinance or agenda item.
Yet, perhaps the most important mantra she’ll keep in mind as a new city council member will be “getting things done.”
“I want to make sure the goals we set actually get on the agenda and I want to work with city council members and staff closely to get as many things done as possible and to be comprehensive,” Mitchell said.
