The Windsor Town Council is meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 1 and is slated to discuss the appointment of an interim town manager, the possible approval to the second amendment of the town’s exclusive negotiating agreement with the Robert Green Company for the Civic Center project and the implementation of SB 1383. The council will also be holding a public hearing for its multi-family residential objective design standards. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. and will be over both Zoom and in-person at the council chambers. Those attending in person will be required to wear masks. The full council agenda can be found here.
During presentations and proclamations, the council will be recognizing planning commissioner Don Albini for his work on the council, and will be receiving an overview of the draft Santa Rosa Plain Sub-basin Groundwater Sustainability Plan.
Public Hearing: Objective Design Standards
For months, Windsor’s been working to establish its objective design standards related to multi-family residential developments. As a result of various state bills aimed at increasing development — including SB 35, which requires jurisdictions to use a streamlined, ministerial review process for some multi-family housing developments — the town set out to create objective design standards that would ensure that projects approved using SB 35 would still possess the same design character as Windsor’s other housing projects.
Objective design standards are ones that don’t allow personal or subjective judgement. As explained by the town council agenda packet, for example, a subjective guideline might be “Parking lots should be generously landscaped with shade trees,” whereas an objective standard would be “Parking lots shall be landscaped with shade trees at a ratio of one tree for every six parking stalls. All pedestrian pathways within and connecting to parking areas shall also be landscaped with shade trees.”
The process has been underway since April 2020, with group interviews being conducted with local housing developers, landowners and others, as well as a three-part community workshop, two joint meetings between the council and the planning commission and a public hearing through the planning commission.
Interim Town Manager
The council has tapped Mark Linder to serve as the city’s interim town manager, and will be voting to approve and appoint him on Wednesday night. Linder is taking over for current town manager Ken MacNab whose last day of employment with the city will be Dec. 29. Linder is expected to begin his post in mid-December.
Extending the Civic Center Negotiating Agreement
The Windsor Town Council will be discussing whether it wants to give the OK for the town to extend its exclusive negotiating agreement with the Robert Green Company for the Windsor Civic Center Project. The extension as proposed by town staff would extend the timeframe for completing Phase II and Phase III of the process for developing, selecting and implementing a plan for development for two additional years.
Phase II sets forth the process and requirements for preparation, refinement and evaluation of the “preferred development alternative,” as well as identification and approval of development terms by the council, according to the Dec. 1 meeting agenda.
Specifically, town staff is recommending that the timeline for completing Phase II goes from 150 days to 450 days and the timeline for Phase III goes from 120 days to 275 days.
Phase III involves negotiation and preparation of a Disposition and Development Agreement for the sale and/or lease of town-owned land to the developer.
Robert Green Company has asked for the extension due to delays caused by and related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SB 1383: Solid Waste Management
Senate Bill (SB) 1383 establishes statewide targets to reduce methane gas by reducing organic waste that’s being disposed of in landfills. The 2016 bill required CalRecycle to set regulations to outline policy-related requirements for jurisdictions, generators and other entities to hit statewide reduction targets — the regulations are effective Jan. 1, 2022.
According to the town council agenda, “To meet the Statewide target goals, SB 1383 Regulations requires jurisdictions to establish programs and policies mandating organic waste generators, haulers, and other entities to comply with SB 1383 Regulations or be subject to monetary penalties for non-compliance. To ensure the Town is compliant, the Town will first need to amend Title XI – Solid Waste Management and follow by amending the Town’s solid waste franchise agreement with Sonoma County Resource Recovery, Inc (SCRR), and update the Town’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy which will come before Council at a future meeting.
Therefore, the proposed amendments to the Town Code, Title XI – Solid Waste Management will update and add new definitions, add new language specific to SB 1383 Regulations and modify existing language for compliance that includes the following:
• Mandatory Recyclable Material and Organic Waste Collection Service
• Education, Outreach, Compliance, Monitoring, and Recordkeeping
• Waiver and Exemptions
• Self-Hauling
• Edible Food Recovery
• Oversight and Enforcement
• Franchises for Collection Services
As part of this plan, the council is considering approving a memorandum of understanding with Zero Waste Sonoma to assist the town with education and outreach, food recovery and donations, investigating non-compliance and a host of other duties.
