Large townhome development behind the O'Reilly building moves forward
Recap of the April 2 Sebastopol City Council Meeting
All members of the city council were present for the April 2 council meeting, including Mayor Diana Rich, Vice Mayor Stephen Zollman, Councilmember Sandra Maurer, Councilmember Jill McLewis, and Councilmember Neysa Hinton.
There were a lot of hot button issues on the agenda that night: the Canopy and Gravenstein Commons developments, the Gaza ceasefire resolution, and a proposal to pause public commenting via Zoom. The room bristled with unhappy neighbors, Gaza ceasefire advocates and ceasefire opponents with signs, as well as first amendment defenders.
The crowd was, for the most part, on their best behavior. There was a small fracas when, later in the evening, Mayor Rich announced that due to lack of time the proposal to end public comment on Zoom and the Gaza ceasefire resolution would be pushed to the next meeting. As ceasefire activists filed out chanting “Ceasefire now,” a pro-Israel supporter grabbed the public comment microphone to make her case, but she was quickly shut down by Mayor Diana Rich and Councilmember Stephen Zollman. A Jewish attendee from Santa Rosa said she felt unsafe and asked for an escort to her car, and Councilmember Neysa Hinton escorted her out. (Perhaps being from Santa Rosa and unfamiliar with Sebastopol politics, she misread the pro-ceasefire crowd, which was likely more than half Jewish.)
Except for this brief moment of drama, the evening proceeded sedately.
Proclamations
The meeting began as usual with proclamations—the most important of which was a Years of Service Award to Volunteer Fire Fighter Douglas Buonaccorsi for his 35 years of service to the city. In addition to fighting fires and answering emergency calls, Buonaccorsi is a master mechanic who has kept all of the fire department’s trucks and equipment working all these years. “He can fix anything,” Interim Fire Chief Todd Derum said of Buonaccorsi, among other paeans. Buonaccorsi got many rounds of applause, including a standing ovation.
Other proclamations included recognizing the Week of the Young Child (April 6-12, 2024), National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week (aka dispatchers) (April 14-20, 2024) and recognizing April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month. Mayor Rich blessedly refrained from reading all the whereases and briefly summarized these latter proclamations.
Consent calendar
The council made quick work of two consent calendar items, which included approval of the previous month’s meeting notes and a resolution stating the city’s opposition to AT&T’s application to stop being the “Carrier of Last Resort.” According to the staff report, “AT&T has requested to be relieved of its Carrier of Last Resort obligations in certain areas of California. lf approved, AT&T California would no longer be required to offer landline telephone service where it is currently required to offer Basic Service in those areas. Basic Service includes nine service elements, such as Lifeline rates for eligible customers, free access to 9-1-1, Telephone Relay Service, and directory and operator services.” The council voted 4 to 1 (Hinton abstaining) in favor of opposing this application.
Public hearing on the Canopy Project
The meat of the meeting began with a public hearing on the Canopy Residential Project, an 80-unit townhome development, which is slated to be built between the O’Reilly building and the West County Trail in north Sebastopol. City Ventures has been working on this project since 2018.
Many of the development’s neighbors appeared to express their dissatisfaction with the project. Most objected to the height of the townhomes (three stories), which they feared would dwarf their one-story, ranch-style homes on Hurlbut and Winona and wreck their viewshed. They also said it violated the city’s general plan. Policy CD 1-2 states, “Ensure that new residential and commercial development is sensitive to the surrounding architecture, topography, landscaping, character, scale, and ambiance of the surrounding neighborhood.” They also had concerns about traffic and evacuation capability. (See our earlier coverage on neighborhood complaints about the Canopy Project here.)
The developer had attempted to mitigate these concerns by increasing the setbacks between the development and neighboring houses, increasing the trees and vegetation in the setbacks, and installing high clerestory windows on the third floor of homes facing the surrounding neighbors. (Clerestory windows let in light but are too high on the wall to allow residents to see outside (or down into the neighboring yards.)
Several people also spoke in favor of the development, arguing that at $600,000 to $800,000 per unit, they would be the most affordable market-rate housing in Sebastopol and might attract young families, which the town and local schools dearly need.
Planning director Kari Svanstrom noted that the City Ventures could have applied under the state’s SB35 ministerial approval process, which allows developers to skip, for the most part, local design/planning review, but she said, “They’re not that kind of developer.”
Ultimately, the council approved the following entitlements for the project: a conditional use permit to allow a 100% residential project within an Office Light Industrial District; a Major Tentative Map to subdivide two parcels into 80 townhome lots, plus common areas; a Density Bonus (under State Law and City Ordinance) for increased building height; and, certification of the project’s Environmental Impact Report, required by California Environmental Quality Act.
The vote to approve was 4 to 1. Councilmember Maurer was the sole dissent. She agreed with the neighbors that the development was out of scale with the surrounding properties and thus violated the General Plan. Planning Director Kari Svanstrom pointed out that neither she nor the planning department found the project to be in violation of the General Plan.
The project will now move on to the Design Review Board. See Canopy plans here.
Fee waiver for Apple Blossom
The Sebastopol Area Chamber of Commerce produces the Apple Blossom Parade and Festival. It is the Chamber's only annual fundraiser, and the funds raised go directly to supporting the Sebastopol business community.
The Chamber asked to have permit and staff time fees waived for the Apple Blossom Festival 2024 as follows:
Special Event Permit Fees: $1,750
Public Works Staff Time: $3,867.75
Materials: $3,500
Police Department Staff Time: $5,664
TOTAL COST: $14,781.75
The council voted 5 to 0 to waive these fees, but in a separate 4 to 1 vote asked the Chamber to reimburse the city for the $3,500 in material costs if possible. (Councilmember Maurer was the sole dissent on the request for material fees reimbursement.)
Evaluation criteria for solid waste RFP
Instead of renewing its contract with Recology, the council decided at a previous meeting to release a Request for Proposals (RFP), hoping to find a cheaper solid waste hauler. The city hired a consultant, R3, to run the RFP process. In this item, R3 was asking the city to approve its evaluation metric for proposals. Councilmembers Jill McLewis and Sandra Maurer, who comprise the council’s Solid Waste Committee, asked that R3 weight the residential garbage rate higher than any other values. The council approved this change 5 to 0.
Gravenstein Commons, a low-income development that was slated be built on the site of Horizon Shine
In May 2023 the Sebastopol City Council agreed to apply for state Project Homekey funding in partnership with St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) to create a 22-unit apartment complex at 845 Gravenstein Highway North, the former Horizon Shine site. The development, called Gravenstein Commons, was designed to provide permanent supportive housing for the homeless. At this week’s meeting, in a 3 to 2 vote, the council voted to withdraw from this partnership, effectively killing the project. See the full story on this item here.
Watch the full April 2 Sebastopol City Council meeting here. The next city council meeting is scheduled for April 16 at 6 pm at the Sebastopol Youth Annex, 425 Morris St., Sebastopol.
I think that cities should not get involved in the problems in the Middle East.