Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa approves redrawn fire hazard maps

Paulina Pineda, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Roughly 3,100 more properties fall within risk zones; opponents fear insurance rate hikes

Santa Rosa leaders approved updates to the city’s fire hazard areas in what they described as a push to better safeguard the city from another destructive wildfire.

About 3,100 properties across parts of Bennett Valley and in Oakmont will be added to the city’s so-called wildland urban interface, or WUI, under the expanded boundaries.

The approval Tuesday by a 6-0 vote came over objections from a group of residents who have raised questions about the process used to craft the maps and the implications for their properties.

The neighbors, who live in the area surrounding Matanzas Creek south of Hoen Avenue, worry they could see property insurance rates rise or lose coverage altogether by being included in the updated boundaries.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/05/13/santa-rosa-approves-redrawn-fire-hazard-maps/

Climate Change & Energy, Forests, , ,

Santa Rosa opens single-family neighborhoods to duplexes, small apartments

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.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2025/11/07/sweeping-santa-rosa-zoning-changes-to-spur-multifamily-housing-stir-neighborhood-concerns/

Land Use, , ,

Santa Rosa slow walks proposal to close Fourth Street to vehicles

Paulina Pineda, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Santa Rosa officials are slow walking a proposal to close a segment of Fourth Street to vehicle traffic as they mull over how to transform the space for pedestrians and seek to assuage skepticism from affected businesses.

Council members in spring 2024 asked staff to look into converting the major downtown street into a walkable and bikeable path that could draw more visitors to the area.

Officials with the Planning and Economic Development Department returned Tuesday with several options that included moving forward with the idea, scrapping the proposal, or exploring alternative locations where the city could pilot a street closure.

Council members appeared supportive but didn’t outright endorse shutting down the street.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2025/09/15/fourth-street-closure-downtown-santa-rosa-discussions-continue/

Transportation,

Stop the Wright Rd. gas station!

CONGAS

In April 2025, environmental and health advocates celebrated the rejection by Santa Rosa Planning Commission of the proposal for a new gas station at 874 North Wright Road in Santa Rosa (at Hwy 12/Fulton/Wright).

However, at the last moment the developer submitted an appeal to the Santa Rosa City Council, and the appeal will be heard by the City Council on August 19, at a meeting that begins at 4pm, at the Council Chambers, 100 Santa Rosa Avenue.

So once again, the Coalition Opposing New Gas Stations and many other organizations and individuals that are part of and support the coalition are asking for support, to urge the City Council to uphold the well-considered decision of the Planning Commission and reject the proposal.

This proposal has been in the works on and off since 2007, rejected, appealed, rejected; approved in 2013 but never built; came back in 2024 and after two postponed Planning Commission Hearings, rejected once again by the Commission on April 10.

The proposal is based on an outdated 2013 environmental report. Much new information has come to light since then about the serious health impacts of gasoline, both from toxic vapors and from leaking storage tanks, and the inevitable leaks and spills which contaminate surface water, soil and groundwater. Many local residents who are on wells are rightly concerned about impacts to the quality of their water supply.

In addition, increased traffic on an already busy and congested road is a concern. The site is in a seasonal wetland that floods in winter, is adjacent to the Joe Rodota trail, adjacent to land zoned for multi-family housing and adjacent to the Blue Star Gas facility which would place two highly flammable facilities right next to each other.

Abandoned gas station sites can become a major liability for cities, with clean up costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For further information see www.con-gas.org or contact congas.contact@gmail.com, and to contact the City Council see https://www.srcity.org/1322/City-Council

Climate Change & Energy, , ,

Seismic retrofit, repairs planned at regional wastewater treatment plant

Paulina Pineda, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Improvements are planned at the regional Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant serving Santa Rosa and other cities to reduce risks of failure during an earthquake and repair other damage at the aging facility.

The repairs are planned within the headworks facility, the plant’s so-called workhorse where raw sewage is first collected and pretreated before it flows through the rest of the facility.

A city-funded study of the facility’s seismic loading and structural condition found significant deficiencies.

Gases emitted during the treatment process also have led concrete and metallic components of the facility to crack and corrode, said Tetyana Mokvyts, a water reuse engineer with Santa Rosa Water.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/santa-rosa-laguna-wastewater-plant-repairs/

Water, , , , , ,

Developer Bill Gallaher sues Santa Rosa over natural gas ban as city doubles down on climate goal

Will Schmitt, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Santa Rosa has a new goal of drastically reducing or offsetting its carbon emissions by 2030, a target set by city leaders this week hours after discussing one of many fronts in Santa Rosa’s fight to shrink its climate footprint: a lawsuit over the city’s pending natural gas ban for new homes.

The City Council in November, seeking to curb future use of fossil fuels in houses, unanimously approved the ban over the objections of home builders, who fear higher prices for all-electric homes will deter buyers. Some concerned residents also pointed to the recent reliance on natural gas during the series of prolonged power outages imposed last fall by PG&E to prevent its equipment from starting wildfires.

The city’s prohibition, which needs approval from state regulators, requires most new homes three stories or less to use appliances — stoves, water heaters, dryers — that run on electricity instead of natural gas.

But the ban now faces a lawsuit from local developer Bill Gallaher, owner of a Windsor-based home building company and a chain of senior living facilities located across California and Nevada. He and a development group also lodged separate lawsuits against Windsor last year over its natural gas ban, which is similar to the measure advanced in Santa Rosa. Dozens of municipalities in the state have considered or adopted a similar ban.

All three suits are pending in Sonoma County Superior Court. At least one mandatory settlement conference on the litigation against Windsor has taken place, and another such meeting with Santa Rosa is set for early February.

Santa Rosa council members discussed Gallaher’s lawsuit Tuesday in closed session, directing City Attorney Sue Gallagher to defend the city’s ordinance. In the open portion of the same meeting, the council unanimously adopted a resolution declaring a climate emergency and setting the citywide goal of carbon-neutrality by 2030 through a combination of reducing emissions and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

“I do think it would be a dereliction of duty if we did not take individual and systemic actions to curb our greenhouse gas emissions,” said Councilman Chris Rogers.

At his direction, city staff will develop a public tracker so residents — many of whom urged the council to take action Tuesday — can follow the city’s progress toward achieving its climate goals. In an interview Friday, Rogers noted that city officials were aware of the potential threat of litigation when they voted unanimously to adopt the natural gas ban and that the city might have to fight a lawsuit as a result.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10587634-181/developer-bill-gallaher-sues-santa

Climate Change & Energy, , , , ,

Santa Rosa officials to review new plan that envisions more of a ‘big city’ downtown

Will Schmitt, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Santa Rosa planning officials hope a new 12-page document holds the key to unlocking the future for a city center replete with new, taller mixed-use buildings and vibrant ground-floor commercial spaces that draw in foot traffic.

A draft plan for Santa Rosa’s future downtown will go before the City Council and Planning Commission on Tuesday afternoon in a joint meeting at City Hall. It’s predicated on the idea that Santa Rosa’s “suburban downtown” needs to “grow up” to better accommodate its population of roughly 180,000, according to Patrick Streeter, a city planner overseeing the effort.

“The direction that we got from council was that they want to see us go big and go bold with a new idea for downtown,” Streeter said. “That’s what we’re hoping to deliver to them on Tuesday.”

The plan redesign comes as Santa Rosa has fallen well behind the housing growth goals it set more than a decade ago. The city has slashed fees and tried to streamline its development processes, but a large apartment tower — coveted by officials as proof of concept and a precursor to future tall buildings — has yet to materialize.

Santa Rosa’s “big city” downtown would include new apartments for residents and places to work for downtown employees, aided in part by a new method of determining height limits meant to encourage taller buildings near Old Courthouse Square.

This new method, which would replace the more rigid current height caps, involves city-determined ratios of floor area to lot size. In theory, it could allow for much taller buildings than Santa Rosa sees now, including the potential for a 20-story building with more than 600 apartments and some commercial space on the site of the defunct Sears at the downtown mall, according to city documents.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10382760-181/santa-rosa-officials-to-review

Land Use, Sustainable Living, , , , ,
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