By Shaun McCaffery
It seems everyone in Healdsburg knows someone who grew up here or works here but is struggling to make ends meet because of the incredibly high price of housing. For 24 years we haven’t been able to keep up with our housing needs because of the far-from-perfect Growth Management Ordinance (GMO). The GMO is one of the major driving factors behind the tremendous increase in housing costs. Fortunately we still have a chance to start fixing it.
Measure O, which is on the ballot this November, responds precisely to this problem by making adjustments to the GMO in the two specific areas best suited for the kind of housing that can do the most to alleviate prices for middle-class families. This housing would be state-of-the-art, water-smart, economically designed multi-family units (apartments, mainly)—all close to transportation. These geographic areas, adding up to just 15% of the town, are filled with under-utilized and neglected parcels, like the old gas station on Piper Street. These lots are perfect sites for the type of housing that can begin alleviating prices for all of us. But this will not happen without Measure O. Sadly, nothing would happen.
Now the flipside: Healdsburg residents are deeply concerned about how growth impacts our town’s unique charm and livability. We always have been. In last week’s issue of The Healdsburg Tribune, we saw an argument that New York City-style density has no place in our town. I totally agree. But there’s just one problem. That argument is a red herring. Measure O has no impact on zoning density. It protects our downtown and existing residential areas from overdevelopment and makes absolutely no changes to our zoning or allowed density.
With Measure O we have a simple, thoughtful and focused approach to housing policy that is informed by years of public input. There is no fine print or hidden agendas. For those community members seeking a civil discourse without rumors of “land grabs” or “superdensity,” the city website explains what Measure O does in plain, straightforward language. (Visit Healdsburg.gov/1126/Measure-O.)
Please, before you vote, learn the facts. Talk with the housing experts. Measure O is founded on solid principles that are in tune with our small-town character, our concerns about water and climate, and our desire to address the very real housing needs of our fellow residents. For these reasons, Measure O is endorsed by Corazón Healdsburg, Generation Housing, the Sonoma County Democratic Party, Reach for Home and State Sen. Mike McGuire. It deserves your support and your vote!
Make no mistake—fixing Healdsburg’s housing crunch is a long process, and it will not happen overnight. As a county planning commissioner, I know the challenges we face, the hurdles to housing and the pace at which projects make their way through the planning process. I am certain that even with the planning tools permitted by Measure O, this will not be “too much too fast.” There is still much work to be done to create a Healdsburg with housing we can all afford, and we will not get there without Measure O.
Shaun McCaffery has lived in Healdsburg for 21 years. He served on the Healdsburg City Council from 2012 to 2020, sits on the board of Reach for Home and currently serves as chair of the Sonoma County Planning Commission.
This article starts with a sign picture that says Measure O will lower your water bill and continues with more lies, misrepresentations and lack of transparency. The first thing it does not mention is that Measure O has “no annual limit” on the number of multi-family units which can be built. We have had a 30 market-rate unit per year limit since 2000 and an additional 50 income-restricted unit per year limit since 2018. We have received the State’s Pro-Housing Designation this year while building over 300 units of housing in the past two years. So why are Measure O promoters asking for unlimited building?
Measure O will not just be building on abandoned gas stations. Read the property listings along the Healdsburg Avenue corridor. Parcel listings with active businesses and housing are mentioning that they may be developed into high-density housing. Then there is Mr. McCaffery’s biggest lie. “Measure O has no impact on zoning density. It protects our downtown and existing residential areas from overdevelopment and makes absolutely no changes to our zoning or allowed density.” The March 29 Downtown Housing Capacity Recommendations Memo recommends 852 high-density units be built on 10 lots on the Healdsburg Avenue corridor.
https://www.ci.healdsburg.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/17971/HDH_Recommendations-Memo_Final-Draft
It also recommends that density limits be raised from our current 16 units per acre to 65 units per acre. Some City officials have stated that this is “hypothetical,” but why would the City spend $139,000 for a study for which it had no plan in enacting. The fact that density limits would have to be increased was discussed at the September 3 Council meeting, and I have written communications from one Councilmember and the City Manager stating that density zoning will be increased if Measure O passes.
So why are the promoters of Measure O lying? Why were no limits included in Measure O? Mr. McCaffery wants you “to learn the facts.” He is invited to a public forum with a panel discussion on Measure O. Perhaps he can explain them himself. Residents deserve to know the truth behind Measure O, but you won’t find it on the City’s website. Go to: HealdsburgMeasureO.com
“ There is still much work to be done to create a Healdsburg with housing we can all afford, and we will not get there without Measure O.” Truth: Healdsburg will never be a town “we can afford.” Measure O is a ballot initiative to address our Middle Class, our vital workers: school teachers, city employees, police and firefighters. That is what the ballot measure’s question, its language, its reason for any voter to open up growth For That demographic, my demographic.
Please read it carefully and look at the map along our main artery, Healdsburg Avenue., and see that these three geographic-selected land areas, especially south of Memorial Bridge, are sensitive to more than an open market that, if built densely enough, will produce middle income units.
Former Mayor McCaffrey and current planner for the county ought to know better than to trust an inflated real estate market and he should acknowledge “market rate” means unaffordable to teachers like me.
Planning commissioners should know the value of planning ahead and revealing that plan explicitly and logically.
Voters need more than huge centrally-located land and areas as precious as adjacent to our Russian River watershed, south of the bridge, need our stewardship and a whole community vision.
Voters want to do the right thing. As a recent city council member and mayor of Healdsburg in 2018, I saw Measures R then P then H, all supported by McCaffrey, either failed in the election or failed to make a difference in the creation of Missing Middle” housing.
So it goes.
I will be voting No on O because I want to get this right. I sure wish I could trust the market, the city council and the Planning Commission that just approved another tasting room designed by Alan Cohen displacing a long-time, 47 yrs? shoe repairman, Ramos, who is actually needed in town! If Measure O could assure voters that at least half of all these housing units would be for middle class earners, I could do it.
Without that, and it is not possible to assure that, 50 percent!, I am not cool with this opening of our GMO for this long corridor of town. I am surprised the city council chose to do so much, so broadly, with assurances.
I will continue to support a created Housing Trust for locals, more protection for our current housing stock, more enforcement of our illegal vacation rentals in our neighborhoods, and I will vote for people who are not in the pocket of the building industry that does not serve the hardworking people of Healdsburg.
Central planning never works. It never has, and it never will. Let the free market decide where and what is built.
PS: Old Healdsburg is gone. Housing will never be cheap here or “affordable” (whatever that means). The soil, climate, scenery, and amenities are very good. Healdsburg is even close to a freeway and an airport.
Housing will NEVER be cheap here, and utilities, food, fuel, etc., will always be expensive.
I hope voters can see through these shenanigans. The voters decided to limit growth in 2020. Now the council has come up with a plan to subvert the will of the voters. This is not the right fix. The council cannot magically produce middle income housing. The city’s own website states unambiguously that the population has been declining. https://healdsburg.gov/408/Demographics This measure seems like a solution in search of a problem.