Both Hotel Sebastopol and The Barlow Hotel are ambitious projects that would make a lot of local businesses—and the city—richer, but some locals worry about losing Sebastopol's small town vibe
Hi, folks, if you are a property owner, take a look at your property tax statement and all the bond measures we are currently repaying - too many. If you are a resident of Sebastopol, but not a property owner, take a look at the potential for an increase in sales tax with the proposal in November. Now, take a look at the revenue tourists could bring to our community. Yes, we will see an increase in traffic, but slowing down sebastopol, is an okay thing. Adding the hotel - one or two- will increase job opportunities and revenue for our locals and local businesses. We need these hotels to further support our community. Let’s do this!
Easy to understand why some folks against and some folks for. It's pretty clear the City needs a new funding source(hotel room tax) to balance their budget. And not likely a vibrant downtown could be sustained with only locals. Seems with the new jobs the old hotel that was turned in homeless housing should be converted to worker housing, not free but with reasonable rent.
Considering Sebastopol's current fiscal situation, I easily see the acceptance of two new hotels. My first concern is increased traffic! Adding nearly 150 new hotel rooms virtually is adding 150 more vehicles to an already strained traffic volume entering/exiting the City, particularly on Highways 12 & 116!
I would love to see Sebastopol slow down and bring back Longs and Sprouse and the train through town. But it ain’t gonna happen. A shuttle to and from downtown to one or more of the smart train stations (maybe the airport and downtown SR) would be a way to bring in visitors and keep the cars out. And as a local, I’d love and use a shuttle to the train station. There would be opportunities for designated drivers to bring folks wine tasting. And marketing our bike paths to get to the train would bring more people without cars.
The proposed Sebastopol Hotel is attractive and fits in to the style and energy of Sebastopol and it’s something that we Sebastopudlians have been watching and waiting for for years. I have no idea where the Barlow project came into play but it certainly hasn’t been well advertised. The Barlow Hotel, honestly is a monstrosity. The design is really unattractive, a great monolith with flat surfaces and zero interesting design features. Also, simply cannot begin to imagine the need for 2 more hotels in our little town!
TWO hotels is too much. The long proposed one across from the plaza is in a good location. Another one two blocks away in the Barlow is too much! Back off Barney! Turn that building into low cost housing - more customers for the Barlow.
When I worked in Petaluma I got asked a few times where I lived and when I said Sebastopol the folks would say “oh I love the Barlow”. The town is not just the Barlow, but that’s all people see. I’m 30 and grew up in Healdsburg and I saw the town change so much from a cute family town to over priced wine capitalism.
Traffic will be awful, it’s already not great. We are seeing it in Europe and popular destinations that tourism is not the answer to all of our problems. Hotels are not for the locals and it’s ridiculous to have two. One is bad enough. I would love to have a family here but housing is very expensive. If young people can’t afford to build their lives here then it’s not really a sustainable community. I don’t think hotels will fix any of that. They are great for the rich to get richer and the out of towners to pretend they get to live here for a weekend.
Hi, folks, if you are a property owner, take a look at your property tax statement and all the bond measures we are currently repaying - too many. If you are a resident of Sebastopol, but not a property owner, take a look at the potential for an increase in sales tax with the proposal in November. Now, take a look at the revenue tourists could bring to our community. Yes, we will see an increase in traffic, but slowing down sebastopol, is an okay thing. Adding the hotel - one or two- will increase job opportunities and revenue for our locals and local businesses. We need these hotels to further support our community. Let’s do this!
Easy to understand why some folks against and some folks for. It's pretty clear the City needs a new funding source(hotel room tax) to balance their budget. And not likely a vibrant downtown could be sustained with only locals. Seems with the new jobs the old hotel that was turned in homeless housing should be converted to worker housing, not free but with reasonable rent.
Considering Sebastopol's current fiscal situation, I easily see the acceptance of two new hotels. My first concern is increased traffic! Adding nearly 150 new hotel rooms virtually is adding 150 more vehicles to an already strained traffic volume entering/exiting the City, particularly on Highways 12 & 116!
I would love to see Sebastopol slow down and bring back Longs and Sprouse and the train through town. But it ain’t gonna happen. A shuttle to and from downtown to one or more of the smart train stations (maybe the airport and downtown SR) would be a way to bring in visitors and keep the cars out. And as a local, I’d love and use a shuttle to the train station. There would be opportunities for designated drivers to bring folks wine tasting. And marketing our bike paths to get to the train would bring more people without cars.
That picture of Hotel Sebastopol is SO UGLY. Is that the best they can do? Are we really going to have to look at this for years to come??
SO ugly!
The proposed Sebastopol Hotel is attractive and fits in to the style and energy of Sebastopol and it’s something that we Sebastopudlians have been watching and waiting for for years. I have no idea where the Barlow project came into play but it certainly hasn’t been well advertised. The Barlow Hotel, honestly is a monstrosity. The design is really unattractive, a great monolith with flat surfaces and zero interesting design features. Also, simply cannot begin to imagine the need for 2 more hotels in our little town!
TWO hotels is too much. The long proposed one across from the plaza is in a good location. Another one two blocks away in the Barlow is too much! Back off Barney! Turn that building into low cost housing - more customers for the Barlow.
When I worked in Petaluma I got asked a few times where I lived and when I said Sebastopol the folks would say “oh I love the Barlow”. The town is not just the Barlow, but that’s all people see. I’m 30 and grew up in Healdsburg and I saw the town change so much from a cute family town to over priced wine capitalism.
Traffic will be awful, it’s already not great. We are seeing it in Europe and popular destinations that tourism is not the answer to all of our problems. Hotels are not for the locals and it’s ridiculous to have two. One is bad enough. I would love to have a family here but housing is very expensive. If young people can’t afford to build their lives here then it’s not really a sustainable community. I don’t think hotels will fix any of that. They are great for the rich to get richer and the out of towners to pretend they get to live here for a weekend.