Paulina Pineda, PRESS DEMOCRAT
Santa Rosa will now allow duplexes and small apartment buildings on nearly 2,000 properties zoned for single-family homes — a sweeping zoning change that city officials say will expand housing options but some residents fear could push them out.
Under the changes, duplexes, townhomes and garden-style apartments with up to 20 units would be allowed in areas on the edges of the city center and near some commercial corridors.
Such missing middle housing was common decades ago but has largely given way to larger single-family homes and bigger multifamily projects.
Planning officials and housing advocates say the new small- to-midsize-density housing could help fill a gap in the local market and better serve working-class residents, young families and older adults who want to rent or own in a city that has become increasingly out of reach.