I love this…and just to add that we need this type of advocacy not just in Sonoma County, but all over CA and the country. Especially for disabled adults. I have big dreams about how to provide housing, community, medical support, and therapeutic support to disabled adults as they age in their own communities. But we need the funding. There are incredible opportunities for wealthy elderly folks to live in assisted living communities. But unless disabled adults are older (60 or so), they do not qualify for those living options. And obviously most cannot afford these incredible places. As the parent of a newly turned disabled adult, this has been on my mind daily and keeping me awake at night. So great to read about others who are thinking more about how to provide and advocate for better housing for all. Super resource! Thanks.
Bring on the housing. Anything & Everything is welcome, in my book. Watching council members freak out over their own actions and coming to the realization that their greedy "we all want ADUs for our own benefit" legislation enable developers to come in and play by those rules that they created was a joyful experience for me. I'd watched many smarter community members like Kate Haug sternly and articulately warn them as they passed the boomer-greed-fueled ADU stuff, calling out that it would lead to oddly dense, conflicting developments in currently "classically suburban" neighborhoods, and, sure enough, like so many things Council gets warned will happen, it happened. Watching Zollman squirm as he realized that the EXACT thing Kate had sternly warned them about was happening was oddly pleasurable. Sometimes the only way to teach stubborn children not to touch a stovetop flame is to allow them to just touch the flame and discover things in their own slower ways. To then see him scowl and make his absurd "Karma" statement at the developers, who were simply playing by the rules that he had helped create, was pure cinema. All this said, as much as I appreciate the non profit "administering" or otherwise "aiding" housing, in all actuality, we need boatloads of Market-Rate housing to help drive down costs. I have lived through most of the major Califronia housing recessions as well as living in California during it's most rampant free-market-free-for-all over-development phases, and the bottom line is all that frenzied over-supplying is, invariably the only thing that ever leads to meaningful levels of affordability. We're starting to see it a little bit, with some cracks in the armor up north, as Canopy units are lingering on the market and selling VERY slowly and for a LOT less than those developers were scheming they'd sell for. All you have to do is imagine a Sonoma County with 200 Canopy type developments, and the writing appears on the subway walls (if we only had a subway!). Just like Canopy, who's signs first said "In the low 800s," 18 months ago, they will all be desperately selling units in the 600s or lower if banks have to take them back and short sell units for 400-500. The only thing that's going to bring back affordability is actually ALLOWING developers to run wilder and build more. All of the most unaffordable zip codes in the US are all in overly blue, overly "managed" NIMBY zones, which is exactly what Sebastopol has been for 50 years. I admire the spirit of this article, but it won't be non-profits that bring us the healthy housing collapse we need. It'll be greedy developers zealously over-supplying the county with TOO MUCH housing. If that doesn't happen we'll still be crying in our Blue, Self-Righteous pillows about how exensive everything is. Nurses, Postals Workers and Teachers will be feeding on the carcasses of those over-zealous developers and finally be able to get a piece of the action. Look at Florida and other states that allow over-development. They're all infinitely affordable due to the boom and bust cycles of an over-supplied inventory.
I, too, loved watching all the council members squirming, especially Sandra since she is running again and she was the one most adamantly opposed to creating design criteria. However, not all the council members were squirming in that way, Jill McLewis was probably squirming in another way - she was probably trying desperately not to stand up and say, "This is what I was emphatically trying to tell you people". Just another example of council members voting without knowing what they are voting for, not being curious about unintended consequences. Or was it more sinister?
I would like to know how many of those thousands of "affordable" units in Santa Rosa are vacant and where all the water is for the ones that are not. Canopy: I drove by there many times with the sign reading "High 800's". I pity anyone who is actually buying one now because at some point their neighbors will be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars less.
When Sebastopol adopted our urban growth boundary in 1996, the promise was that we would “grow up, not out.” To protect our open space, ag land and wildlife habitat and to provide the housing we need, it is imperative that Sebastopol encourage and permit higher density development within our existing sphere of influence. Reducing parking requirements and minimum lot sizes as well as condominimizing ADUs are necessary steps. Councilmembers must have the courage to resist NIMBYism.
I agree with a lot of what Klose says. Except for the parking. Plus she isn't bringing up the traffic issue. Which is a Huge issue in Sebastopol because we have two major highways running through town. She is talking about building home for people who work and unless they can work from home how are they supposed to get to their jobs. This is a small town and doesn't even come close to supplying enough jobs for all the people who live here and want to live here. So how exactly are they going to get to work? For the most part they are going to drive a car. I know some can bike, car pool or take a bus. But that is a mere fraction of the people going to work. So where exactly are these people supposed to keep their cars if there is no parking where they live?!
"Asked to comment on the recent housing project to build 39 housing units on a three-acre site on Valentine Avenue, Klose said a lot of the city officials’ comments and public testimony demonstrated why many potential housing developers have avoided Sebastopol in the past."
Ideally, our region would have a choice of infill projects and living clusters...a competition for the best instead of endless optimizing of the few who dare to tread here.
So glad to hear this.
I love this…and just to add that we need this type of advocacy not just in Sonoma County, but all over CA and the country. Especially for disabled adults. I have big dreams about how to provide housing, community, medical support, and therapeutic support to disabled adults as they age in their own communities. But we need the funding. There are incredible opportunities for wealthy elderly folks to live in assisted living communities. But unless disabled adults are older (60 or so), they do not qualify for those living options. And obviously most cannot afford these incredible places. As the parent of a newly turned disabled adult, this has been on my mind daily and keeping me awake at night. So great to read about others who are thinking more about how to provide and advocate for better housing for all. Super resource! Thanks.
Bring on the housing. Anything & Everything is welcome, in my book. Watching council members freak out over their own actions and coming to the realization that their greedy "we all want ADUs for our own benefit" legislation enable developers to come in and play by those rules that they created was a joyful experience for me. I'd watched many smarter community members like Kate Haug sternly and articulately warn them as they passed the boomer-greed-fueled ADU stuff, calling out that it would lead to oddly dense, conflicting developments in currently "classically suburban" neighborhoods, and, sure enough, like so many things Council gets warned will happen, it happened. Watching Zollman squirm as he realized that the EXACT thing Kate had sternly warned them about was happening was oddly pleasurable. Sometimes the only way to teach stubborn children not to touch a stovetop flame is to allow them to just touch the flame and discover things in their own slower ways. To then see him scowl and make his absurd "Karma" statement at the developers, who were simply playing by the rules that he had helped create, was pure cinema. All this said, as much as I appreciate the non profit "administering" or otherwise "aiding" housing, in all actuality, we need boatloads of Market-Rate housing to help drive down costs. I have lived through most of the major Califronia housing recessions as well as living in California during it's most rampant free-market-free-for-all over-development phases, and the bottom line is all that frenzied over-supplying is, invariably the only thing that ever leads to meaningful levels of affordability. We're starting to see it a little bit, with some cracks in the armor up north, as Canopy units are lingering on the market and selling VERY slowly and for a LOT less than those developers were scheming they'd sell for. All you have to do is imagine a Sonoma County with 200 Canopy type developments, and the writing appears on the subway walls (if we only had a subway!). Just like Canopy, who's signs first said "In the low 800s," 18 months ago, they will all be desperately selling units in the 600s or lower if banks have to take them back and short sell units for 400-500. The only thing that's going to bring back affordability is actually ALLOWING developers to run wilder and build more. All of the most unaffordable zip codes in the US are all in overly blue, overly "managed" NIMBY zones, which is exactly what Sebastopol has been for 50 years. I admire the spirit of this article, but it won't be non-profits that bring us the healthy housing collapse we need. It'll be greedy developers zealously over-supplying the county with TOO MUCH housing. If that doesn't happen we'll still be crying in our Blue, Self-Righteous pillows about how exensive everything is. Nurses, Postals Workers and Teachers will be feeding on the carcasses of those over-zealous developers and finally be able to get a piece of the action. Look at Florida and other states that allow over-development. They're all infinitely affordable due to the boom and bust cycles of an over-supplied inventory.
I, too, loved watching all the council members squirming, especially Sandra since she is running again and she was the one most adamantly opposed to creating design criteria. However, not all the council members were squirming in that way, Jill McLewis was probably squirming in another way - she was probably trying desperately not to stand up and say, "This is what I was emphatically trying to tell you people". Just another example of council members voting without knowing what they are voting for, not being curious about unintended consequences. Or was it more sinister?
I would like to know how many of those thousands of "affordable" units in Santa Rosa are vacant and where all the water is for the ones that are not. Canopy: I drove by there many times with the sign reading "High 800's". I pity anyone who is actually buying one now because at some point their neighbors will be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars less.
Couldn't agree with ratepayer more.
Follow the money. We can predict where Generation Housing's funding comes from.
When Sebastopol adopted our urban growth boundary in 1996, the promise was that we would “grow up, not out.” To protect our open space, ag land and wildlife habitat and to provide the housing we need, it is imperative that Sebastopol encourage and permit higher density development within our existing sphere of influence. Reducing parking requirements and minimum lot sizes as well as condominimizing ADUs are necessary steps. Councilmembers must have the courage to resist NIMBYism.
I agree with a lot of what Klose says. Except for the parking. Plus she isn't bringing up the traffic issue. Which is a Huge issue in Sebastopol because we have two major highways running through town. She is talking about building home for people who work and unless they can work from home how are they supposed to get to their jobs. This is a small town and doesn't even come close to supplying enough jobs for all the people who live here and want to live here. So how exactly are they going to get to work? For the most part they are going to drive a car. I know some can bike, car pool or take a bus. But that is a mere fraction of the people going to work. So where exactly are these people supposed to keep their cars if there is no parking where they live?!
"Asked to comment on the recent housing project to build 39 housing units on a three-acre site on Valentine Avenue, Klose said a lot of the city officials’ comments and public testimony demonstrated why many potential housing developers have avoided Sebastopol in the past."
Ideally, our region would have a choice of infill projects and living clusters...a competition for the best instead of endless optimizing of the few who dare to tread here.